Several thoughts flooded my mind this weekend when I heard Barry Bonds had admitted using steroids. "Wow!" was one. "What a scandal!" was another. But the prominent was "Duh!"
News broke about his admission last Friday, after grand jury testimony he gave last December was leaked. But many sports fans, myself included, had long suspected that only Florida oranges were getting more thoroughly juiced than Barry Bonds. To be fair, Bonds claimed he didn't know the substances he took were steroids. Presumably, he thought quickly turning into He-Man in his mid-thirties was a result of constantly eating his Wheaties.
Looking at Bonds' career homerun numbers, its surprising the media is acting so shocked. Until 2000, Bonds' best year in terms of homeruns was 1993, when he hit 46. Bonds was 28 that year -- around the age most professional athletes peak.
For a while it looked like 1993 would be Bonds' best season. In following seasons his home run numbers showed a natural decline as he aged. He fell off notably in 1994 and 1995, before rebounding to hit 42 in 1996. In 1997 he hit 40, 37 the year after, and 34 in 1999. Then in 2000, at age 35, Bonds hit 49 home runs!
It's possible Bonds' better numbers in 2000 were the result of diluted pitching talent, an off-season of unusually hard work or just plain lucky breaks. In that case though, Bonds' transformation from an ordinary-sized player to a colossus (which took place suspiciously quickly) seems awfully coincidental.
Of course the most eye-opening season was 2001, when Bonds set the season home run record with 73. Needless to say, the increase of 25 home runs over the previous season is incredible. As we now know it was also unnatural, but anyone paying attention had to at least know that was a possibility.
At first, I thought the national sports media was just blowing a story out of proportion, but then a conversation made me realize a whole other issue existed. Should it matter that Bonds was on steroids?
Waiting for an appointment Saturday, I stood with three or four other guys watching a television report about Bonds. At one point, one gentleman declared, "Who cares? It's his body!" I was a little shocked. Was it Bonds' right to subject his body to whatever chemicals he wished?
Being a staunch defender of individual rights, I considered the strengths of this viewpoint for a couple seconds. After the third second though, I realized how stupid and shortsighted this idea was. "Well I do," I finally offered.
If Bonds were just wrecking his own body that'd be his business, but there's more going on here. When someone takes steroids, gains an unnatural edge and gets away with it, others must either concede the cheater's advantage or even things out by juicing themselves. If you think non-doping athletes ought to just turn the proverbial cheek, keep in mind for a baseball player, averaging 45 home runs a year instead of 30 may mean several million dollars over the length of a contract.
Bonds' place in history is now corrupted. By law, his grand jury testimony can't be used to prosecute him, so he may be beyond official punishment. However, if he hits 53 more home runs and surpasses Hank Aaron's career record of 755, he'll suffer under the weight of a giant question mark.
How many of those home runs came out of a needle?
Write to Jake at
jymoore@bsu.edu
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