Broken Bonds…

Major League Baseball And Hank Aaron Are Making A Big Mistake By Not Honoring Barry Bonds…

Tha Artstorian Reports!!!
As Barry Lamar Bonds approaches the most heralded sports record of all time instead of fanfare and cheers he receives hate mail and jeers…Even the current gatekeeper of the record the great yet tragically underappreciated Hank Aaron of all people stated he will not be present to present Barry with the keys to the gate when Bonds crosses home plate…Commissioner Bud Selig already stated in his trademark vague terms that he won’t be present to give Bonds a pat on the back if not a hug…

Barry, a 13 time All Star in his 20 plus years of amazing baseball, also runs the risk of getting snubbed by the All-Star balloting and fans…What makes this ironic and sad is the fact that this year’s All Star game will be held in Barry’s own backyard and the one place where he can always find a more positive than negative reception to his pursuit of the all time home run record, San Francisco’s AT & T Ballpark…And on top of that, in spite of his recent homerun drought, he’s having a pretty good year and he’s among the league leaders in several key offensive categories…

First and foremost I think it is wrong for Hank Aaron to treat Barry in such a dismissive and indifferent manner…Records are made to be broken not worshipped!!! Hank of all people should understand how it feels to be in Barry’s position…After all he did break and surpassed probably the best known if not the absolutely best baseball player of all time’s home run mark…Babe Ruth anyone???

He was severely scrutinized by many racists in American society as well as so-called baseball purists simply for the fact he was an African American man stepping and spitting on the legacy one of America’s greatest White Heroes and Myths…He received death threats daily through unsolicited “fan mail” and phone calls pre-caller id and Alec Baldwin “daddy-daughter rants”…Obviously who would know better than Hank Aaron WHAT Barry Bonds is feeling and trying to achieve at this moment??? Does Hank feel that Barry will overshadow his impressive legacy??? I hope he wouldn’t…

I think Barry has done more in these past five years to enhance Hank Aaron’s visibility than the whole business apparatus known as Major League Baseball…Nobody was really talking about the amazing legacy of arguably Baseball’s greatest hitter ever…Not only is Hammerin’ Hank the all-time home run leader @ 755, but he also holds the record for most runs batted in, runs scored and he also has the third most hits in Major league history, only Stan Musial and Pete Rose have more!!! He also has a lifetime batting average above .300 and has appeared in a record 24 All Star games…Not to mention he had won a World Series Championship early in his career, something that Barry in spite of all of his achievements and record breaking display of brilliance during the 2002 World Series has not done, but is still hoping to do!!!

Before Barry’s assault on his mark, Hank Aaron was treated like Jake to Babe Ruth’s Fat Man literally…Although he surpassed Ruth in homeruns he still wasn’t perceived by the baseball public to be the true Home Run King…Never mind that Ruth didn’t play against Black players and didn't have to travel on planes and what not to the other side of the U.S. battling not only hangovers but also jet fatigue, Ruth still seems to be White America’s Homerun King….Barry changed all of that…

He started telling people through words and deeds that Hank was the True King of Swing…He reminded people with every homerun hit since 2001 that Hammerin’ Hank with the big ham sized hands and strong quick wrists was the John Henry and Paul Bunyan of baseball…Barry, being that he is the godson of the arguably the greatest all around baseball player Willie Mays and is the son of the late great baseball star Bobby Bonds, has a great appreciation and understanding for baseball history in particular as it relates to Black players…If it weren’t for Barry nobody would be talking about Hank Aaron at all with all due respect…

Hank Aaron is the Emmitt Smith of baseball...Both were humble great athletes who got it done through consistency and hard work ethic rather than flash and mind numbing athletic ability…Hank Aaron never hit more than 47 homeruns in a season, but yet nobody had more 30 plus homerun seasons than he…Emmitt Smith never ran for 2,000 yards in a season yet you couldn’t find a person who’s been more durable and with as many 1,000 plus rushing yards seasons as he…

However many would have preferred that Mickey Mantle or Ted Williams was the actual All Time Homerun Leader than Aaron just like many people would have preferred the faster and elusive Barry Sanders to be the all-time Football Rushing King over Emmett…However life’s rewards don’t always go to the most talented, but the most determined…And Aaron and Smith deserved their records because they were determined in every meaning of the word to see their goals accomplished!!!

So I say all of this to say that Hank Aaron’s name hasn’t been mentioned with such frequency in the media before Barry’s pursuit…In spite of what the elder statesman may feel about the validity and source of Barry’s late career power surge, Hank should at least feel honored to share the limelight with the man who has directly or indirectly allowed Hank to get his just due some 33 YEARS AFTER HIS INITIAL HISTORIC MOMENT…

Also with all due respect to Hank, Barry has easily endured more in his pursuit of the all-time home run mark…Barry is rightfully or wrongfully being pursued by the Federal Government for income tax invasion as well as for his ties to the BALCO steroids scandal… It seems like the Federal Government is more interested in catching Barry Bonds than Osama Bin Laden…

He has also taken a hit from the court of public opinion with supposedly tell all book exposes outlining his supposedly dark and murky personal life (which is funny because I never heard of Barry being arrested for making it rain, driving while intoxicated and shooting it out with the locals wild west style ala Pacman Jones, Tank Johnson and Stephen Jackson...) as well as the treatment he gets from baseball fans throughout the nation with the exception of the Bay Area…

If you think I’m over exaggerating I would like to ask outside of possible the Bay Area how many Barry Bonds jerseys have you seen people buying and wearing these days??? Even though Barry is one of the sport's greatest all time players, he‘s not one of its most popular in terms of likability, but infamy as you see is another story...I am not making light of what Hank had to endure but he didn’t have to deal with 24 hour cable news and all sports channels 24/7 reporting innuendo and heresay about your seemingly non-news moves…

All I can say is Barry Bonds is the Jack Johnson of our times!!! Think about it both men were non-conformists, are among the all-time greats in their field who weren’t appreciated in their prime, people either loved or hated them no in between, had the Federal Government go after them unrelentingly and both also had a craving for White meat, the type that can still get you dragged behind a truck on a dusty road in Texas or an extended jail stay in a Georgia prison camp…

It is unfortunate that people would rather destroy than appreciate what Barry Lamar Bonds, an once in a generation type of talent, has been able to accomplish with natural ability as well as focus and discipline…People do not want to have accountability for the Frankenstein they helped to create…Regardless if Barry or even Lance Armstrong took steroids every true competitive person regardless their field are always looking for ways to get an edge up on the competition…How can you say that steroids destroy lives when they also save them (as well as careers)??? Human nature and motive is too complex to comprehend at times…Let’s try to enjoy the day before the sun sets and it’s too late…