Best of 2007: Barry Bonds Hits 756

Bonds does not deny using steroids.  He’s being indicted for saying he didn’t know he was using them.  I don’t want to talk too much about drugs and the legal process; I want to pick a great sport story.  So here is all I will say.  In 2004, after Major League Baseball instituted drug testing, Bonds had the highest OPS (on base percentage plus slugging average) of all time.  And he was 39! 

Then in the 2007 season, he trailed only Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz in OPS! 

Drugs aside, Bonds is the most amazing, exciting ballplayer the game has seen since his godfather, the incomparable Willie Mays, patrolled center field—or even since the Bambino, Babe Ruth, hit more home runs than most teams.  Whenever I can, I turn on the radio or TV every time Barry is up.  Not for Albert Pujols, not for Ryan Howard, but for a 43-year old guy with gimpy knees.

Pitchers use drugs, too.  (Okay here I am still talking about drugs.)  In fact, the hurler for the Nats who served up Mr. Bonds’s 756th had been suspended for steroid use himself.  Why is Bonds picked on then?  Because he’s private, cantankerous, selfish, and African-American? 

Now as readers of Bleacher Report know, I have a soft spot for Bonds.  I passed Barry walking his fatally ill father up and down the corridor at Stanford Hospital in the summer of 2003, while in the midst of another all-time great season.  When members of the media were thumping their chest and asking where the heck Bonds was when he should be talking to them, he was taking care of his father like a good son.  In this, he was being a better role model than he’s ever given credit for.

Others have said there is no more revered record in sports than the career home run title.  We might know that Jerry Rice has the career touchdown record and that Gretzky and Kareem hold the points records in their respective sports, but we don’t have a clue about the precise number. 

But we know 756—and I was there when Bonds hit it.  Even if I hadn’t been, that would be the sports story of the year.

Keith Raffel is the author of Dot Dead: A Silicon Valley Mystery
Website: www.keithraffel.com
Blog: www.keithraffel.typepad.com 

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