Sometimes a great game
Comments (8)
Monday, February 5, 2007 | 04:26 PM ET
By Henry Champ
So we got that Super Bowl thing out of the way.
What was it? 29-17?
Now to the more important items on the agenda: Spring training. Ten days to pitchers and catchers.
On February 15th, freshman Jesse Champ begins his Wilson High School baseball career and he has some tough cleats to fill.
The Wilson Tigers have won the Washington D.C. high school championship for fourteen years in a row. Young Champ plays first base and outfield.
Today, February 5, is also the birthday of Hank Aaron.
Hammerin' Hank not only holds the most glamorous record in sports — 755 career home runs. But he set that record with a class and dignity that brought enormous credit to both him and his race.
Remember Aaron's career began in the racially charged 1950s, a time when some major league clubs wouldn't hire African-Americans.
His onslaught on the record held by Babe Ruth brought hate mail and death threats from white supremacists. And Aaron's handling of all that earned him a place among the pantheon of those who have shown racism for the evil it is.
But sometime this season, a baseball will clear a right field wall and Aaron's record will fall to a player who most fans believe owes many of his blasts to muscle-building chemicals.
The betting is there will be more booing than cheering.
Along comes Barry
For the past four years Barry Bonds has lived his baseball career under a cloud ever since his name was linked to an ongoing doping scandal and the San Francisco-area lab, BALCO, that had allegedly invented the latest in designer steroids.
Bonds has consistently denied knowingly taking performance-enhancing drugs. But his detractors have never been convinced by these denials noting that the San Francisco Giant outfielder was suddenly, late in his career, hitting 25 to 35 more home runs a season than ever before.
His trainer at the time the scandal broke, Greg Anderson, was convicted of distributing steroids and was also sent to jail for refusing to testify about the matter. Bonds himself is under investigation for perjury.
He is not the only player caught up in these allegations. Other baseball heroes also underwent magical rejuvenations late in their careers and have found their careers tarnished by controversy. Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro, Brady Anderson, all of a sudden for them the distant fences moved in.
Jose Canseco, who once played with the Toronto Blue Jays, wrote the book Juiced in which he noted that many of his colleagues were stoking-up.
What celebration?
Last fall, the New York Daily News reported Bonds failed a test under Major League Baseball's amphetamine policy. Bonds, at first, blamed the positive test on a substance he obtained from teammate Mark Sweeney.
Sweeney denied ever giving anything to Bonds. Bonds later apologized to Sweeney.
But neither Bonds nor Major League Baseball has challenged the newspaper's story.
The Giants ownership issued this statement: "We consider any action by one player to unfairly damage the reputation of another player to be a serious matter. However … we came to the conclusion the Giants' players will be able to function as a team committed to supporting each other and dedicated to doing everything they can to succeed on the playing field."
Translation: Bonds hits homers; Sweeney is a bench player batting .251.
Giants' ownership is having trouble with this year's contract. They want Bonds to agree that if he is indicted during the season, the contract be declared null and void. Bonds agent says no.
Major League Baseball has not yet acted on the amphetamines story and is dancing around what to do on the day Bonds blasts himself into history. Commissioner Bud Selig's office has not decided whether baseball's brass should be there.
And what about Hank Aaron, should he be on hand?
What about the fans who — except for those in San Francisco — have roundly booed Bonds' every move when he is playing on the road.
Bonds' agent Jeff Borris said, "Baseball fans around the world owe Barry Bonds a debt of gratitude for being lucky enough to watch him play. He should be treasured by the national pastime and a grand celebration by the commissioner's office should be in order."
This winter, baseball writers had their chance to weigh in on the controversy and did so by rejecting Mark McGwire's admission to the Hall of Fame. McGwire had the batting numbers, but he was widely suspected to have ingested performance-enhancing drugs.
Clearly these same writers are not likely to be in the mood to honour Bonds in the future.
Baseball has never been very good at policing its sport, money always seems to get in the way of good decision making.
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About the Author
Henry Champ is CBC Newsworld's correspondent in Washington, D.C., delivering Canadian viewers the latest developments in the U.S. political arena. Recently, he has been a leading Canadian voice on coverage of the war on terrorism, the war in Iraq and the growing concerns over the Canada-U.S. relationship.
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Comments (8)
Kevin
Chicago
America's past time WAS baseball, but for at least the last 35 or so years, its all about football here - baseball is just a summertime distraction..
but trust me its ALL about football in the US.
Posted February 15, 2007 12:41 AM
Chris
London
Point taken Don. However if I give you that, then the comment on the "Superbowl thing" like it's not important was not called for. The SuperBowl is very important to American's.
By the way, good luck Jesse.
Posted February 11, 2007 11:50 AM
Don MacKenzie
chris,
read Jeff Wilson's post, below. He hit the nail on the head. Understanding Americans, their political views, and decisions, depends on understanding their culture. As America's national pasttime, baseball is a part of that culture. Arguments over how to deal with Bonds can reveal insights into the things that Americans care about. Consider in this context Henry's closing line, "money always seems to get in the way of good decision making."
Posted February 7, 2007 09:06 AM
chris
London
May I ask what baseball has to do with the latest events in the U.S. political arena? We were doing so well. I was enjoying the political exchanges. I am fairly new on here and love to remind people of reality instead of partisan. Seems I've learned a lesson. Reality is, nothing is written in stone. Especially at the CBC.
Have a great day.
Posted February 6, 2007 11:06 PM
Dave Roberts
You refer to Mark McGwire's rejection for the Hall of Fame. McGwire could hit, but many commentators have observed that his statistics in other areas were much less impressive, so he may not be qualified for the Hall of Fame, aside from the drug issues. Even if Bonds had not increased his homers over the last few years, he would still be very high on the homer list, and he has amazing statistics on stolen bases and walks, for example, as well as being a most valuable player multiple times earlier in his career. With those other statistics, he would be in the Hall of Fame had he only hit 500 home runs. I suspect the problem is that Bonds has never been popular (at least in part from his own demeanour) and the drug allegations are partly an after the fact justification for sportswriters and fans never liking him.
Posted February 6, 2007 05:45 PM
Peter
Montreal
Henry,
I would like to wish Jesse good luck on his upcoming season.
I am curious as to how amphetamines are considered "performance enhancing"? I would think they would reduce a players capacity to be productive.
peter,
amphetamines are considered by baseball players to be a short-term stimulant...for those times when the games crowd up on each other, when players are coming-off a long road trip, or when players are injured. the best source on amphetamines is Bob Hohler of the Boston Globe. He has written many articles on the subject, he is easy to google punch in....Bob Hohler amphetamines...and i recommend an article he wrote on april 17th 2005..
it must be said, if your implication is that amphetamines are of no real value to players...there are many who believe that..but baseball has a long list of similiar banned substances nonetheless...H
Posted February 6, 2007 05:34 PM
Jeff Wilson
Winnipeg
Dear Mr. LeSage,
Drug abuse matters.
Fair-play matters.
Setting a good example to the children your sponsors target in their multi-million dollar marketing campaigns matters.
Getting history straight matters.
Asking the consumate gentleman; Hank Aaron, to relinquish his crown if it be wrong to do so matters.
P.S. Baseball is America's past-time. Baseball matters to Americans! And this is Mr. Champ's "American" blog. Wouldn't you be, at the very least, somewhat curious if an American reporter, stationed in Canada, writing a "Canadian" blog, made not a single mention about the effect the NHL lock-out was having on Canadians while it was going on?
Posted February 5, 2007 07:22 PM
R. G. LeSage
Hey Henry! Normally I enjoy reading your pieces, but this most recent one on baseball, well frankly, who cares? Please Mr. Champ, stick to things THAT MATTER.
Posted February 5, 2007 06:05 PM