Major League Baseball announced last week that it is not planning any celebration for if and when Barry Bonds eclipses Babe Ruth’s mark of 714 homeruns.
That makes two of us.
Commissioner Bud Selig’s announcement comes two weeks after news broke that the federal government may initiate an investigation as to whether Bonds, who stands three home runs shy of tying Ruth for second place on the MLB all-time home run list, committed perjury in his reported grand jury testimony.
The sheer number of alleged incidents of steroid abuse by Bonds in the book “Game of Shadows” juices up long-maintained speculation that Bonds knowingly used performance-enhancing drugs.
This directly contradicts statements he’s made under oath.
The book, written and released this past spring by investigative reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, uses over 200 separate interviews and documents to allege that Bonds, among other things, started taking performance-enhancers after the 1998 season.
Among the substances Bonds took, according to the book, was a drug used to improve the muscle quality in beef cattle.
Bonds attorneys have since responded by suing the authors-not for libel, but for leaking grand jury testimony, giving them an unfair competitive edge in the marketplace.
“The true victim is not Barry Bonds but the sanctity and integrity of the grand jury process,” one lawyer wrote last March.
What?
Apparently, despite being kneedeep in home run chases, steroid allegations and the never-ending struggle against the national media and the court of public opinion, Bonds is, in actuality, primarily concerned with protecting freedom, justice and the American legal system.
I do not know about the rest of you, but when I look at Bonds, a notedly sullen and uncooporative character, I do not see a man who’s ultimate goal in life is to use his fame to champion the cause of unilateral justice.
What is not being charged by Bonds’ legal team, however, is anything resembling defamation or that any of the allegations are false.
Why even bother taking the authors of a book that makes a pejorative assault on your character to court without bringing up the pejorative assault on your character?
If the book is false, then file libel charges.
Or are we to believe that Bonds is more concerned with stopping the authors from profiting off of leaked grand jury testimony (which would probably happen anyway, if the book was proven to be a lie)?
Sure.
I haven’t taken a logic class at Mississippi State, but I know a red herring when I read one.
However the issue plays out, it’s best that the San Francisco Giants and their fans will be the only ones celebrating Bonds eclipsing Ruth’s mark.