This article first appeared in RedMatchday Magazine, Aberdeen Football Club's award-winning publication, on August 19, 2007.
On 7th August 2007 at 8.50pm Pacific time, San Francisco Giants’ left fielder Barry Bonds finally surpassed all before him to become the outright leading home run hitter in Major League Baseball history, overtaking Hank Aaron’s 33 year record of 755. That Bonds is one of the greatest ever players is not in question. However, his dramatic improvements and enhanced physique after the age of 35 will forever cast aspersions over his achievements.
Bonds, an outstanding University prospect, was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1985, debuting shortly before his 22nd birthday in May 1986. In his first seven years, he hit 176 home runs and was named National League MVP in 1990 and 1992 due to his ability to steal bases, field with speed and accuracy and bat with expertise. In 1993, he followed in his father’s footsteps by signing with San Francisco Giants. His debut season saw him lead the National League with 46 home runs, a personal best, and receive the MVP award for the third time.
Events in 1994 would come back to have a major effect on Bonds’ career. An ongoing labour dispute between players and team owners, who demanded salary caps to control rising expenditures, led to the Players Association announcing a strike which lasted from August 1994 to April 1995. As a result, the 1994 season was cancelled with the play-offs approaching and the 1995 season was shortened due to the late start. When games recommenced, players found themselves routinely abused by dwindling crowds for their perceived greed. The future of professional baseball seemed in jeopardy.
Throughout the decade, Bonds continued posting good numbers averaging 37 home runs per season from 1994-1999 and being selected for the National League All-Star Team in five of those six years, but in 1998 he was left as an envious observer as the single season home run record of 61 held by Roger Maris came under attack.
With four players hitting 30 home runs by mid-season the 37 year record, which replaced Babe Ruth’s previous 34 year record of 60, seemed set to fall. Chicago Cubs’ Sammy Sosa would eventually hit 66, but even this failed to match Mark McGwire’s monumental 70 for St. Louis Cardinals. Maris’ benchmark was again passed by both players in the following year as McGwire hit 65 to Sosa’s 63.
With crowds flooding back in record numbers to witness history being made and media interest at an all time high, doubts about the legitimacy of the players’ performances remained conspicuously absent as league commissioners revelled in the game’s new-found popularity. Indeed, despite increased attempts to eliminate drug use in sport since Ben Johnson’s tainted 100 metre victory in the 1988 Olympics, Major League Baseball had still not introduced their own testing policy.
Bonds, meanwhile, had witnessed his elite status slipping. Fan adulation, media attention and big-money contracts were being afforded to the power hitters which tempted him, now at an age where his performance level would be expected to decline, to transform himself with help from a local sports nutrition firm called Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO).
By 2000, at age 36, Bonds’ appearance had changed from the lithe, agile athlete of his twenties into fifteen stones of solid muscle. He hit a new personal best of 49 home runs that year. In 2001, having returned for pre-season training a further eighteen pounds heavier, he would destroy that by hitting 73 to claim the single season record from the now-retired McGwire.
Despite advancing years, the home runs continued: 46 in 2002, 45 in 2003 and 2004. To give some perspective, four of Bonds’ five best offensive seasons came after he was 35 years old. In fourteen seasons from 1986-1999, Bonds averaged 32 home runs per year. From 2000-2004, he averaged 52 – a quite staggering increase.
With the 2004 Olympics approaching and US officials desperate to avoid any scandals involving their athletes, a tip-off led investigators to BALCO’s offices. Incriminating evidence was recovered showing substance abuse by a number of world class athletes, including sprinters Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery, as well as baseball and football players. BALCO had been providing steroids which had been carefully developed to avoid detection and various criminal trials followed.
Among the convictions, Greg Anderson, Bonds’ personal trainer, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute steroids and served a four month prison sentence. During Bonds’ grand jury testimony, he claimed to have never knowingly taken performance-enhancing drugs and stated his belief that a clear substance and a cream given to him were flaxseed oil and arthritis balm.
In August 2006, Anderson was further sentenced for contempt of court for his failure to testify before a federal grand jury investigating perjury accusations against Bonds, an investigation that continues today.
It remains to be seen whether Bonds will eventually face prosecution despite the mountain of evidence suggesting his use of illegal substances, but irregardless of the outcome his coronation as Home Run King leaves a bitter taste in the mouths of sports fans across the nation.
Bonds may carry the unwanted tag of figurehead for drug use in baseball because of his records and achievements, but he is by no means alone. For the league’s commissioners, it is time to reap what they have sown.
Bonds, an outstanding University prospect, was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1985, debuting shortly before his 22nd birthday in May 1986. In his first seven years, he hit 176 home runs and was named National League MVP in 1990 and 1992 due to his ability to steal bases, field with speed and accuracy and bat with expertise. In 1993, he followed in his father’s footsteps by signing with San Francisco Giants. His debut season saw him lead the National League with 46 home runs, a personal best, and receive the MVP award for the third time.
Events in 1994 would come back to have a major effect on Bonds’ career. An ongoing labour dispute between players and team owners, who demanded salary caps to control rising expenditures, led to the Players Association announcing a strike which lasted from August 1994 to April 1995. As a result, the 1994 season was cancelled with the play-offs approaching and the 1995 season was shortened due to the late start. When games recommenced, players found themselves routinely abused by dwindling crowds for their perceived greed. The future of professional baseball seemed in jeopardy.
Throughout the decade, Bonds continued posting good numbers averaging 37 home runs per season from 1994-1999 and being selected for the National League All-Star Team in five of those six years, but in 1998 he was left as an envious observer as the single season home run record of 61 held by Roger Maris came under attack.
With four players hitting 30 home runs by mid-season the 37 year record, which replaced Babe Ruth’s previous 34 year record of 60, seemed set to fall. Chicago Cubs’ Sammy Sosa would eventually hit 66, but even this failed to match Mark McGwire’s monumental 70 for St. Louis Cardinals. Maris’ benchmark was again passed by both players in the following year as McGwire hit 65 to Sosa’s 63.
With crowds flooding back in record numbers to witness history being made and media interest at an all time high, doubts about the legitimacy of the players’ performances remained conspicuously absent as league commissioners revelled in the game’s new-found popularity. Indeed, despite increased attempts to eliminate drug use in sport since Ben Johnson’s tainted 100 metre victory in the 1988 Olympics, Major League Baseball had still not introduced their own testing policy.
Bonds, meanwhile, had witnessed his elite status slipping. Fan adulation, media attention and big-money contracts were being afforded to the power hitters which tempted him, now at an age where his performance level would be expected to decline, to transform himself with help from a local sports nutrition firm called Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO).
By 2000, at age 36, Bonds’ appearance had changed from the lithe, agile athlete of his twenties into fifteen stones of solid muscle. He hit a new personal best of 49 home runs that year. In 2001, having returned for pre-season training a further eighteen pounds heavier, he would destroy that by hitting 73 to claim the single season record from the now-retired McGwire.
Despite advancing years, the home runs continued: 46 in 2002, 45 in 2003 and 2004. To give some perspective, four of Bonds’ five best offensive seasons came after he was 35 years old. In fourteen seasons from 1986-1999, Bonds averaged 32 home runs per year. From 2000-2004, he averaged 52 – a quite staggering increase.
With the 2004 Olympics approaching and US officials desperate to avoid any scandals involving their athletes, a tip-off led investigators to BALCO’s offices. Incriminating evidence was recovered showing substance abuse by a number of world class athletes, including sprinters Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery, as well as baseball and football players. BALCO had been providing steroids which had been carefully developed to avoid detection and various criminal trials followed.
Among the convictions, Greg Anderson, Bonds’ personal trainer, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute steroids and served a four month prison sentence. During Bonds’ grand jury testimony, he claimed to have never knowingly taken performance-enhancing drugs and stated his belief that a clear substance and a cream given to him were flaxseed oil and arthritis balm.
In August 2006, Anderson was further sentenced for contempt of court for his failure to testify before a federal grand jury investigating perjury accusations against Bonds, an investigation that continues today.
It remains to be seen whether Bonds will eventually face prosecution despite the mountain of evidence suggesting his use of illegal substances, but irregardless of the outcome his coronation as Home Run King leaves a bitter taste in the mouths of sports fans across the nation.
Bonds may carry the unwanted tag of figurehead for drug use in baseball because of his records and achievements, but he is by no means alone. For the league’s commissioners, it is time to reap what they have sown.
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