Barry Bonds: How His Trial Will Impact MLB Moving Forward

The 2011 Major League Baseball season opens today. Twelve teams hit the slate today, looking to pick up their first wins and begin the 162-game march toward the postseason.

However, with all the incredible baseball today, when you flip on SportsCenter this evening, tucked away in the middle of the show will be another report from the Barry Bonds perjury trial in San Francisco.

Bonds was one of my favorite ballplayers growing up in the 1990s. I vividly remember sitting at the new Pacific Bell Park, witnessing one of his three-home run games back in the early 2000s. He was a god.

Many fans will say that the game of baseball was tainted in the late '90s/early '00s by sluggers like Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Jose Canseco and Barry Bonds and arms like Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte.

Whether Bonds is proven guilty or innocent in the trial, most fans will still view him as a cheater. If proven guilty, it’ll confirm their presumptions. If found innocent, it’ll mean he got lucky.

The fact of the matter is Bonds will still struggle to get into the Hall of Fame despite being the top hitter of his era.

As the baseball season springs upon us and the perjury trial pushes on through its second week, I find myself asking:

Do we even care? Should we even care?

To the casual sports fan, the Bonds perjury trial may look like the downfall of a sport.

Bonds, easily the most decorated ballplayer in the history of the game, is being tried for lying to a grand jury about cheating on the game of baseball.

While it may seem huge on the surface, baseball fans have moved on.

Fans have come to accept the steroid era of baseball as one filled with cheaters, big muscles and lots of home runs.

Since those times, stars like Albert Pujols, Roy Halladay, Evan Longoria and Carlos Gonzalez have risen into the spotlight.

We fans still remember the absurd, inconceivable days when 60-plus home runs was considered normal, but the focus of the sport has been turned to what is happening now—not what happened then.

Football may not have a season in 2011. The NBA needs to work on a new collective bargaining agreement, or it too may be locked out.

Baseball is at the forefront of the sporting world. The Bonds trial will not change that.

Note: The Bonds perjury trial will slightly affect the proceedings of Roger Clemens' perjury trial this upcoming July. It too, however, will not affect the sport itself. Clemens is highly unlikely to make the Hall of Fame despite pitching his way to a clearly Hall of Fame-worthy career. Instead, he is viewed as a liar and cheater as well.