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Base on Balls
Should prosecutors launch investigations into the other 88 players (mostly White and Latino) named in the Mitchell Report? If not, should they drop the case against Bonds?
10 Responses to “Base on Balls”
Well, the primary difference I see here is that Bonds is headed to trial for perjury due to his testimony in front of a grand jury. I’m not sure that any of the other players have done that. If they have, then by all means, they should be prosecuted.
It is one thing to support racial reparations, racial quotas, and separate and unequal standards based upon race. But to argue that sports fans should be held to quotas for who they can like and not like is beyond laughable.
Most baseball fans outside of San Francisco dislike Barry Bonds because he comes off as a jerk in the media. Part of that is due to his abrasive attitude to the sports media. Part of it is due to his personal life. And part is due to his public performance.
Very true! And if any such argument was made in the post it would also be very relevant.
But alas, you go to the race war with the post you have, not the post you want.
Better luck next time….
Slightly off topic, but amid all the steroid scandal press, it’s good to keep in mind that most baseball players choose NOT to use performance enhancing drugs, and they play the game fairly and the way it was intended.
Davebo,
The post suggests that since white fans booed Barry Bonds that they should have booed McGuire with the same intensity. The post also suggests that since some white players have been caught using steroids, that blacks should be given.
There is a name for this type of logic and it is called quotas. Fans are free to like and dislike players for various reasons. When a player acts like a jerk in public, parses his words to justify steroid use, and is indited for perjury, the fans may be very interested in disliking that player.
Actually, “quotas” entail a certain cap or floor on the amount of people who can be allocated a certain social good. But I don’t care about the raw number of Black or White ball players who are harassed for steroid use.
Rather, my argument was one for your oh-so-vaunted equal treatment: similarly situated persons should be treated similarly. I argued that Bonds and McGwire were in roughly analogous situations, but were treated differently, and I wondered why that might be. Given the racial difference, that has to be accepted as one possibility.
Your argument is that since majority white fans booed Barry Bonds during his pursuit of the home run record (even though it includes Hank Aaron snubbing Bonds), that those white fans should have booed Mark McGuire by an equal amount. Of course, the difference if that Mark McGuire tried very hard to improve his image and public perception during his pursuit of the single season HR record to the point embracing Sammy Sosa.
Barry Bonds during the single season record run and during the career HR totals are antagonistic towards the media, the fans, his teammates, and virtually all of baseball.
Of course, now there is talk that McGuire will not be voted into the Hall of Fame. And if was indited for Perjury and obstruction, the media would turn on him even more.
And a last point, Mark McGuire does not benefit from the support that black sports writers and the few black baseball fans automatically give Bonds.
Can I WikiProtest that last comment?
From http://www.courant.com/sports/baseball/hc-mitchellsun1216.artdec16,0,1501833.story
(Mark McGuire’s) career achievements would probably have made him a first-ballot entry, but after he refused to answer questions about his possible steroids use in testimony before a congressional committee in 2005, McGwire’s reputation suffered. He has never offered any more information.
From http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/columnists/jtaylor/stories/121507dnspotaylor.1beeda4.html
It’s easy for the self-righteous among us to brand Barry Bonds a scoundrel because he’s unrepentant, arrogant and could not care less what you think of him.
from http://www.russpage.net/hank-aaron-on-barry-bonds/
Hank Aaron has said he won’t attend games where Barry Bonds might break the slugger’s career home run record
From http://www.latimes.com/sports/baseball/mlb/la-sp-sound18nov18,1,3925544.column?coll=la-headlines-sports-majorbaseb
Looking back today on the 1998 home-run derby between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, sports commentators refer derisively to that season as baseball’s “Summer of Love.”
So…McGwire’s reputation suffered because he obstructed a steroid inquiry, “self-righteous” people think Bonds is a scoundrel, and McGwire and Sosa were comical in their expressions of adoration for each other. Thanks!
I’d still love a cite to this statement, though: “And a last point, Mark McGuire does not benefit from the support that black sports writers and the few black baseball fans [citation needed] automatically give Bonds [citation needed].”