Now, if you're not a baseball fan, or you live in a country without this sport, you may want to tune out now and come back tomorrow, when I will be talking about my vacation (with pictures!!).
Barry Bonds finally hit home run 756 last night in San Francisco.
So now we can all go back to our regularly scheduled programming.
As a baseball fan, I understand the magnitude of his achievement. I concede to the fact that his is an amazing power hitter, one of the best. But, like Slinger, I am just not a Barry Bond's Fan.
It could have been different.
Imagine if you can, that there was no controversy surrounding this momentous occasion. That each and every fan of the sport was watching every at bat and holding on to every pitch because they genuinely thought the record was being surpassed by the greatest hitter in the history of baseball.
Imagine (come on you can do it with me now) that all of our eyes were fixed on the bat of Ken Griffey Jr, not Barry Bonds. Better yet, imagine that Bonds and Griffey were neck and neck, racing to get to 756, much like Sosa and McGwire raced to 61 back in 1998.
It could have happened.
I wished it had.
Look at the stats.
Griffey was the youngest player to reach 350, 400 and 450 home runs. Of course back then, he quickly became the heavy favorite to break Hank Aaron's record. But as we all know Griffey for most of 2001- 2006, as Bonds began to rise above the rest, Griffey spent much of his time on the disabled list.
Many times in interviews, Griffey stated that he never thought "what if".
But the world around him has, and still does.
Would the baseball world be a happier place if it were Griffey instead of Bonds?
I think so.
But what do I know?
I'm a Yankees fan.
Ha!
By the way:
How awesome is it that a Mets fan caught number 756?
"As he high-fived other fans, Murphy, wearing a New York Mets jersey and cap, slid the ball into the back pocket of his plaid Bermuda shorts.
Reporters screamed out questions, but all he managed to say was, 'I'm Matt Murphy from Queens, N.Y.' "
God Damn I love baseball.
5 comments:
I feel ambivalent about Big Barry B., too, even though he shares my birthday. I'm just relieved that this saga is over and we can all go back to things that are really important. Like hating the Yankees.
:)
I don't feel ambivalent towards Bratty Bonds. I friggin hate the guy. He's a cheater, and he'll always be a cheater. I am just glad he got his "record" over with so that now maybe he can fade into asterisk-marked oblivion.
ok, you never mentioned you were a Yankee fan, DAMMIT!!!
Yeah, the whole Griffey "what if". Same with A-Rod now, IF he stays healthy, he could SHATTER the 756 record. How awesome would it be to see that in our lifetime?
There should be an * next to his number.
And then the footnote should call out the steroids, longer seasons and that even with more seasons, it took him until August, not April to hit that number. Oh and also that he's a douche.
Really, all stats from 1999 - NOW should have a foot note related to steroids.
And I see he hit #757 last night.
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