Yankees must never forget Barry Bonds, the needle, and the damage done

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The Yankees, and the rest of the baseball universe were recently offered words of wisdom by Sports Illustrated’s Jay Jaffe. His advice? Relax and learn to love your abuser.

Yankees fans have long memories. They remember Babe Ruth, who hit three home runs in two different world series games. He played way back in the 1920’s.

And they remember Joe DiMaggio kicking dirt after he hit a ball in anger, a hit he hoped would wound his opponent, that came to rest in a harmless leather grave. Joe D wore the pinstripes way back in the 30’s and 40’s.

They remember Willy Mays making a catch and throw that only he could make; Teddy Ballgame hitting a home run in his last ever at-bat; and, legless Kirk Gibson doing something no one could believe seeing.

Yankees fans remember Barry Bonds, as well; he once stood in the bright light of baseball stardom. They watched him become an almost certain Hall of Famer while playing in Pittsburgh. Bonds was fast, had a great OBP, and a high baseball IQ; everyone could see that.

Yankees fans even dreamed he might one day wear the pinstripes.

The problem for Barry was, he also seems to have had a massive inferiority complex; being a famous millionaire athlete recognized as one of the best in your field just isn’t enough for some guys. So he took his talents to San Francisco, where he learned to live in the shadows.

But the truth will out. In 2006, San Francisco Chronicle reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams shined a flashlight into that world, a light bright enough to be seen by Yankees fans. They described what they saw, and they weren’t vague.

Sorry; I meant to Write, The Clear

Here are just a few excerpts:

But the book excerpt in Sports Illustrated describes the way Bonds knowingly and meticulously used steroids — including “the clear” and “the cream” provided by BALCO — and even took control of his drug regimen when he disagreed with Anderson.

Bonds did his homework before diving into the murky world of performance-enhancing drugs, according to the excerpt. He obtained medical advice from third parties before he began to use steroids, the excerpt says, and was told he shouldn’t take them. Bonds, encouraged by Anderson, ignored the advice.

Winstrol “eliminated the pain and fatigue of training,” the excerpt says, allowing Bonds to relentlessly lift weights at World Gym in Burlingame in the months before the 1999 season.

According to the excerpt, doping calendars kept by Anderson also showed Bonds used testosterone; insulin, which had a significant anabolic effect when used with HGH; “Mexican beans,” fast-acting steroids thought to quickly clear the user’s system; trenbolone, a steroid “created to improve the muscle quality of beef cattle”; and Clomid, a female fertility drug that Conte believed helped his clients “recover their natural ability to produce testosterone.”

“When his power started to decline he would tell Anderson to start him on another drug cycle, according to a source familiar with Bonds. Anderson kept the calendar that tracked his cycles. If he told Bonds he didn’t need a cycle, Bonds would just tell him, ‘F — off, I’ll do it myself.’ “

All due respect, Mr. Jaffe, but that is hard to forget. Especially as I don’t want to.

Does it Matter to a Millionaire?

That’s pretty damning stuff. Yet Bonds has not sued for libel or defamation. In the court of public opinion, the accusations can be judged as true, and Bonds held responsible for his choices. That means his records must go unrecognized and he must never gain entry into the Hall of Fame.

His accomplishments should continue to make him infamous, Mr. Jaffe, not famous.

(Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images) /

Yankees or Not

And that goes for all the steroiders. Andy Pettitte should never get into the Hall of Fame; neither should Alex Rodriguez, Mark McGwire, David Ortiz, or Sammy Sosa. Pettitte is, by all reports, a good man who has owned his mistake, but he is still disqualified forever from the Hall.

All of these men and more are abusers. That they abused their bodies is not my concern. But the fact that they abused baseball—and all the men and women who ever gave blood, sweat, and tears to be their best—does concern me, deeply.

Because this isn’t just about the men, who’ve played Yankees baseball. It’s about Babe Ruth and Babe Didrikson Zaharias; Wilma Rudolph and Willis Reed; Lou Gehrig and Lou Brock. It’s about every athlete who faced adversity—who found herself at the end of her natural strength and ability—but still found a way to win.

Just Think

Think of The Babe in the 1932 World Series. Whether he pointed to his spot or not, he was telling the Cubs he was about to push back against some of their bellicose deprecations. And then he hit a home run, on the biggest stage in sports, by force of will.

Or think of Kirk Gibson. Had he hit a ball off the outfield wall on that fateful October day in 1988, it is doubtful he could have legged out a single. Instead, he hit the most improbable home run in World Series history and lit a fire in his teammates that consumed them, and burned the Oakland Athletics.

Of course, there is always Yankees legend Lou Gehrig. He stopped playing in 1938, not counting his eight games in 1939 and died of ALS in 1941. For Gehrig, the Iron Horse, to succumb to pain and lethargy means he was probably suffering from this terrible disease for at least his final season, if not his penultimate one.

He must have felt the energy draining from him on a daily basis, his once fluid and easy movements turned laborious and painful. He still played 157 games in 1938 and hit .295/.410/.523 while collecting 27 home runs and 114 RBI’s.

We are still left to wonder how a man can find so much inside himself while he slowly died on the Yankees home field.

Players Possessed

Men and women such as Gehrig accomplished all these things and more. And they did so by reaching deep into their characters, deep into their souls, and finding something extra, something that even the extraordinary do not possess.

When they needed it most, they found a spark, a spark of human greatness, that ignited them and fueled their drives to glory.

Like a signal flame, this divine light draws us to it, and we are left to stand inspired by its warming glow. The players are lifted onto the shoulders of teammates, while we are lifted up by the exhibition of will and determination.

And Barry Bonds tried to reduce all of that to a needle he sticks in his ass.

He thinks to find the ability to fight off fatigue in a bottle; better living through chemistry. And that’s just fine with Jay Jaffe. In his recent piece in Sports Illustrated, Jaffe argues that we all need to accept the fact of Bond’s home runs and forget how he got them. Time has healed all of Mr. Jaffe’s wounds.

But time has neither healed my wounds nor made Yankees fans more forgetful. And Jay Jaffe’s arguments, though well reasoned and well proscribed to a page, are not convincing.

If Your Friends all Decided to Jump off of a Bridge…

First is his view on moral relativism; because others have cheated, there are and by right ought not to be rules. I have already dealt with this deeply flawed theory that seems destined to die by a thousand cuts from reasonable arguments.

My article is just one of many, most by more insightful thinkers than I. But I encourage you to read the full article excerpted from above, Mr. Jaffe’s article, and mine. And then draw your conclusions.

Jaffe’s next argument is that there has never been an even playing field. Hank Aaron might not be the home run king if he had not played against expansion teams in 1961 and 1968, or have such a home run friendly home park. I could believe that.

Nothing New Under the Sun

And I agree that there is no level playing field. How many more home runs might Willy Mays have hit had he not finished his career hitting into an unforgiving San Francisco bay wind? Would Joe Dimaggio’s numbers make him the greatest Yankees player of all time if he had not spent his late 20’s in the military?

Even Babe Ruth’s overwhelming offensive numbers do not reflect the true player. What would his home run total have been if he had played only offense starting in 1914, his first year in the majors? Instead, he was a pitcher first and only part-time position player until 1919.

That’s five lost years. Had he averaged a mere un-Ruthian additional twenty home runs each of those years, he would now have 814. Bonds, with all his steroids, still only hit 762.

When most Yankees fans think of these things, the general conclusion is that life can be unfair but that is what makes struggle and overcoming adversity so meaningful. It makes many respect those who have heroically responded to the vicissitudes of life.

When Bonds and Jaffe think of them, they see justification to lie and cheat to accomplish selfish ends.

Choosing to Electrocute Yourself is not the Same as Being Struck by Lightning

But even that is not the point. No, Jay’s real mistake is confusing the arbitrary gifts of fate with personal responsibility, an all too common error.

Babe made it clear he was not happy that the Red Sox forced him to pitch. And DiMaggio was equally chagrined to lose three Yankees years that could have been the best of his career because some guy in Germany went power mad at the same time.

Those players, and myriad more had to deal with forces beyond their control. It makes their accomplishments praiseworthy.

But Bonds made a choice. Everyone in baseball saw what Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa did in the late nineties; we all saw the “Chicks dig the long ball” commercial. Only Bonds and a few others, however, responded by joining the party. His attitude seems to have been; I’ll show them how to cheat! I’ll become the biggest cheater of all!

And because it has been a decade or so since he made those conscious decisions, years since he spent day in and day out planning and executing his systematic program of deception, Jay feels it’s time we all just forget about it.

Bonds, as far as Mr. Jaffe is concerned, deserves approbation and entry into the HoF simply because it’s been a while since he last had the opportunity to dishonor the game. As noted above, Yankees fans have longer memories than that.

A-Rod: I am Your Father

Finally, Mr. Jaffe argues that the numbers put up by Bonds deserve appreciation because no one else seems likely to break them. Since his records seem unassailable, Yankees fans will be better off accepting Bonds’ accomplishment as facts of life.

That’s a good tack with the flat earth crowd, but not the right approach to this situation.

Similar to his previous point, Mr. Jaffe encourages us to appreciate the greatness of Bonds the cheater, hardly a recommendation for the HoF. He points out that no current power hitter is on pace to even approach the home run totals Bonds amassed.

Well, that’s true, but that is most likely because they are not injecting themselves in bathroom stalls on a nightly basis. Jaffe’s unspoken advice to younger players is, if they would only follow Bonds example, then they could break his records and take his place…as the biggest cheater in baseball.

I hope no Yankees follow Mr. Jaffe’s clear implications to play out baseball’s version of an Oedipus Complex.

Bonds is Counting on Enablers Like Jay Jaffe

But the biggest problem with Jay’s view point is that he does not understand the nature of an abuser. When Bonds decided to use chemicals to artificially inflate his numbers, he abused the trust of the fans and mocked the memory of those who played before him; he substituted illegal enhancements for the strength of character.

Of course, he would like to simply go away for a while until our anger cools. Then, unrepentant, he can go to Cooperstown to disingenuously take credit for accomplishments unearned by pain and sweat and sacrifice.

I am sure he wants to now take his place amongst men who found something deep inside of themselves, men who marshaled those forces to do great deeds, when every inch of them yelled, please, just stop.

What then? Do we reward our abuser? We stand and applaud, saying thank you for cheating so long ago? Does Barry Bonds now deserve the unlimited love and acceptance of the baseball world? Does he deserve the chance to lie again, and be rewarded for it? That’s exactly what abusers count on.

And that seems to be the vision for Jay Jaffe, one I hope I never have to see.

Like a Setting Sun

I’ve seen the needle and the damage done to baseball, and I know that some of you don’t understand my argument. That’s fair, as opinions like Mr. Jaffe’s make little sense to me. I’m a sucker for a great cultural reference, so I appreciate the title of his article, but not the content.

So perhaps I can use another igualmente long lost cultural reference to make my final counter-argument.

More from Yanks Go Yard

This game is not about numbers; only sabermetricians make that mistake. It’s about work and talent and finishing a double header at three in the morning. Baseball has always been about the daily grind and the willpower to be great after six months of beating the hell out of your body.

The greatness of deeds and numbers were usually the by-product of those qualities. But Bonds and others including Yankees circumvented the process, better than anyone before or since. You’re right, Mr. Jaffe, that he was not the first to even try to cheat.

But have no trepidation. Yankees fans haven’t forgotten that anymore than they have forgotten Bonds is the worst offender, as much as Jay Jaffe would like them to. They even remember their moms saying, two wrongs don’t make a right. That’s still better advice than Mr. Jaffe’s.

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Instead, I encourage him, and all New York Yankees fans, to remember the other great players whose numbers are not as gaudy. To judge them not by their marks in the record books, but by the marks they left on the game. And the marks the game left on them.

That standard makes Bonds, and his numbers, look small by comparison.

Because of those players, Yankees or not, achieved their greatness and glory the old fashioned way: They earned it. That’s something I encourage Mr. Jaffe to remember.

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