Barry Bonds: Face of Steroid Era Shouldn't Serve Jail Time

Barry Bonds is the face of the steroid era in baseball and in sports. After what has seemed like an eternity, Bonds will be sentenced today in his federal case on steroids. He faces jail time, but should not be sentenced to a federal prison. 

Bonds has been involved in this steroid case for the last four years. He was convicted back in April of 2011 on a single count of obstruction of justice. Bonds could be sentenced to a possible 10 years in a federal prison. However, the prosecutors in this case are seeking a 15-month prison sentence. 

Both of those outcomes are ludicrous when you really think about it. 

Why would a judge sentence someone who has a clean past to such a long jail term? 

According to The San Francisco Examiner, probation officers have urged that the former Major League Baseball player receive community service and not jail time, saying

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“Mr. Bonds’ capacity and willingness to contribute to the community is verified by many of the letters submitted on his behalf,” attorney Allen Ruby wrote in a sentencing memo.  He cited a Sept. 28, 2011, letter from a nurse at UCSF’s Children’s Hospital calling Bonds a “wonderful benefactor” of the hospital’s new Barry Bonds Family Foundation playroom.

“Barry is always unfailingly kind and attentive to the many young children who flock to his side,” the employee wrote. “Most often these are unannounced and unpublicized visits. Frequently he will go to the bedside of a particularly ill child and gently give him/her words of encouragement to ‘never give up.”

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If the federal jury could have convicted Bonds on if he lied about using performance-enhancing drugs, then he should spend time in a federal prison. However, Bonds is only convicted of one of the four charges that were brought against him. 

With only one conviction, Bonds should skate by with just probation and community service. He should not be taken away from his family and his charitable work that he has been involved in. 

When San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow was brutally beaten outside of Dodger Stadium, Bonds not only visited Stow in the hospital, but he is going to pay for Stow’s children’s college educations. 

Bonds has never come across as a nice person. However, he does a lot of good things in his personal life, and should not be punished with jail time for being found guilty of one count of obstruction of justice. 

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