THE BACK AND FORTH:
WHAT OF BARRY BONDS?

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Where will history regard this man?

One year ago today, Barry Bonds connected off Mike Bacsik to sweep Hank Aaron from No. 1 all-time on the HR list. Bonds hasn't played this season and his legacy remains sketchy at best: if he never laces 'em up again, do you vote him into the HOF off his remarkable talent and numbers before he presumably started juicing? Or do you punish him? We recruited two ESPN The Magazine editors who run our baseball department, Jon Scher and Ed McGregor, to discuss the issue. These guys have been around baseball for decades; heck, in 1988 Scher was working in Durham and McGregor was working for the Cubs (shameless promotion of content right there). When we approached them about doing it, Scher says to McGregor, "Come on, we've been having this argument for six years. Let's go!" Indeed. Let's go.

ED MCGREGOR
All I'm saying is, if you have to lie to the feds about it, you know you did something wrong. Just like your other hero, Pete Rose.

JON SCHER
Glad you mentioned No. 14. The same thing that made Pete the Hit King is what made Bonds the Home Run King—an insane competitive drive. You've gotta be crazy to put up those kinds of numbers for so many years. So we're supposed to be surprised that these guys are obsessively focused on doing everything they can to get an edge? I'm sorry. Pete bet on baseball (I'm thinking of paying him $300 to write that on a baseball for me), but I can't get worked up about Barry's alleged juicing at a time when more than half of his peers were doing it. People hate him because he's a jerk, and also because he allegedly juiced more effectively than everyone else did. I say he's always been a jerk and borderline sociopath, so he wins points for never changing, AND he's the greatest hitter I ever saw. If someone signs him, I'll go watch him take BP.

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Makes you wonder what kind of luggage Pete Incaviglia had.

ED MCGREGOR
I say it's poetic justice that these guys are in limbo. The only remorse they have is for getting caught. And your argument is like a kid who's throwing rocks saying, "Well, Johnny's doing it, too." Doesn't matter. It's still wrong.

And as for teams not signing Bonds, as Milton Bradley says, "If I've got baggage, he's got Louie Vuttion baggage."

JON SCHER
You're quoting Milton Bradley now? At least Bonds never did anything to hurt his team—his only "crime" was in trying to be the best, with the ultimate end goal of helping his team win. He's being scapegoated, and you know it. Sanctimonious sportswriters will get their revenge by heaping love on boring old Hank Aaron and withholding their Hall of Fame votes, all the while writing glowing stories about how this year's crop of sudden sluggers are hitting so many homers because they're swinging harder (uh-huh). Can we please stop with the selective punishment?

ED MCGREGOR
Yeah, he did it all to help his team win. Barry was always about the team. How many rings does he have? I hope Barry enjoys his record, because in the minds of a lot of baseball fans, his career is tainted. In the end, if you can't achieve something legitimately, what good is it? I'll take boring old Hammerin' Hank any day. He showed incredible consistency and even more dignity in his career. As for any sudden sluggers cheating, I hope they're watching when Bonds goes on trial next March.

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"I WANT YOU, BONDS!"

JON SCHER
If those self-aggrandizing feds get him on a perjury rap, so be it, but I'll believe it when I see it—they work for the Bush Administration. In the meantime, I'd like to see Barry take a few turns in the batter's box in Minnesota or St. Pete or the Bronx. I'm pretty sure he can still hit the baggie, or the ray tank, or the short porch in right in the House that Ruth Built and Steinbrenner Tore Down. Bonds is like the ultimate bad-guy wrestler, and really, who didn't love to see Sgt. Slaughter come to town? You say he's tainted, but that's selective too—tell me again why the moralists in the media hate on Bonds, McGwire, Palmeiro and Sosa but give so many other stars with suspicious stats a free pass?

ED MCGREGOR
Maybe Bonds should face Sgt. Slaughter in Summer Slam XXIV. That would be a fitting career move for him. Putting Bonds on the Rays would ruin the feel-good story of the summer. And now you're going back to that tired old argument: What about this guy? What about that guy? We're talking about Bonds, and nothing anyone else did or didn't do changes his situation, which is sitting at home waiting for Sgt. Slaughter to call.

JON SCHER
Maybe we should cover pro wrestling instead. It's so much easier to settle things in the squared circle.

ED MCGREGOR
Agreed.

Let's end this. I was tired of Bonds before we started.

NEXT WEEK: THE MEN'S HOOPS TEAM AT THE OLYMPICS

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