Barry Bonds and 713

I want Barry Bonds to pass Babe Ruth. I've made the argument a number of times -- Barry Bonds allegedly taking steroids, especially in an era when such use was rampant, and when they were not banned, no more warps his run for 714 than the fact that the Babe never faced black pitchers or outfielders or catchers who undoubtedly would have diminished his numbers. By how much we have no idea. But if that argument is good for Ruth, it is also good for Bonds. We do not know the effect that steroids have had on his numbers and we never will.

One of the main ways that critics of Bonds have concocted to counter the "steroids were not banned" argument is by asserting "yes, but they were illegal." On a number of occasions I have countered that response by pointing out that the 1986 Mets were as coked up as Tony Montana, and I have not yet heard an outcry to grant the Red Sox the 1986 World Series title. But forget the peripheral analogy. Let's be more explicit.

One cannot read, watch or hear anything about Babe Ruth these days without references to his lifestyle. And in those references we always hear about how he lived large. Babe Ruth loved to eat. He loved women. He loved alcohol. But here is the thing: Among the women he loved were a good number of prostitutes. Prostitution was illegal then as now. (Ask the ghost of heavyweight Jack Johnson about prostitutes if you want a perspective on how some athletes could get caught up in the legal system for consorting with hookers. By the way, Jack Johnson was black. Have I pointed out that had he been a baseball pitcher of comparable talent he never would have been able to strike out Babe Ruth?) Oh, and alcohol? In the 1920s? I'll let you complete the thought. But let's just say that steroid use never prompted a successful Constitutional Amendment allowing for their prohibition.

So enough on the illegality of Bonds' steroid use being in and of itself sufficient to make him unworthy of as player whose very reputation was predicated on blithely breaking the law, and whose numbers are inflated by the fact that he did not get to face some of the best players of his era. We can talk if and when Bonds approaches Henry Aaron's record. Until then, I am more than happy to have the greatest player I have ever seen (and, if you are younger than 40, the greatest player you have ever seen too) pass the Sultan of Strumpets.