Yes, I remember very well the Aaron case (unlike you, I was alive at the time!). Selig certainly could say something, but the difference is that back then Bowie Kuhn could make the argument that Aaron not playing on the road was somehow violating the integrity of the game and depriving road fans of the thrill of seeing history. I can't see Selig saying either of those things in this case, and the last thing Selig wants is to have the record-breaking HR be greeted by tens of thousands of fans booing. Like I said, who exactly will be complaining if Bonds doesn't play this week?
so then you should know what I'm talking about. It would cause a lot of controversy if Bonds just stopped playing until the Giants came home. Not to mention it would destroy competitive balance. the exact same argument could be made here.
You're certainly entitled to your opinion, but you haven't said anything that contradicts what I'm saying. Kuhn was actually IMO wrong about what he did with Aaron - the fact that MLB scheduled the Braves to open on the road in 1974 when Aaron had 713 HRs was insane, and the sort of thing that never would happen now. I feel (and felt at the time) that the Braves had every right to sit Aaron out. Beyond that, the Giants are completely out of the race and their record when Bonds plays and when he doesn't play is pretty much the same, so there's no real argument that sitting him out affects the integrity of the game or competitive balance. All that leaves is the celebration of the record breaking, and a celebration observed by 40,000+ people booing at the top of their lungs hardly strikes me as being "in the best interests of baseball." Personally I don't care one way or the other (other than to hope that for some reason he never hits another HR in his life and doesn't break the record), but as I said earlier I expect the Giants to sit him, and I don't expect MLB to say a word about it.
If Bonds is sat out of road games until he ties the record, I'll lose any respect I had for the San Francisco Giants organization.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/30/sports/baseball/30barry.html Manager Bruce Bochy was noncommittal about Bonds’s schedule, but since the Giants are off on Monday, Bonds will probably not play Tuesday in Los Angeles, taking two consecutive days off to rest. Bochy, who acknowledged there was always concern about how the fans would treat Bonds, will probably alter his lineup as much as he can to make sure Bonds has the best chance for celebrating here. “We’ll see how he feels,” Bochy said. “For the most part, he’ll be out there. We’re not going to change any of that.”
I'm with Yisman on this. I don't like manipulating the course of history in any artificial way like this. If it was meant for him to break it on the road, then so be it. History will be able to record it. I don't need 40,000 cheering fans or 40,000 booing fans to help me make my mind about what and how what Bonds has done means historically.
The one thing this absolutely insures is that Selig doesn't have to show up to see it. Can you imagine him being there and Bonds sitting out? What an embarrassment to the game that would be. Now he has the perfect excuse.
You can make the case that the whole situation has been artificially created. I'm not one of these guys who makes a big deal out of steroid use in general, because in this era the pitchers and hitters all around were doing it. So to me it isn't cheating if there were no rules against it at the time and guys were doing it across the board. Having said that, the situation where steroids skew things is this--a record from the 60s and 70s being broken by a steroid-era player with inflated numbers. I just hope to hell he doesn't do this in Dodger Stadium so I don't have to see that highlight until the end of time. It's bad enough Aaron did it against us and I still have to see the Reggie clips all the time. Enough is enough--hit him in the fucking head when he comes to bat.
It's the water-heads above that make Bonds so popular to begin with. These people pay to go to the game and boo, spend money on shirts and other anti-Barry shit. If everyone stopped paying attention, ESPN will stop manufacturing this crap and Bonds will eventually fade away. But as long as people still curse and jeer Bonds, we will still have Bonds shoved down our throats. I personally think he's a cheater with an artificially inflated cranium. However, I don't spend money on books and buy tickets to game to jeer the guy. I'll be very excited when he hits his next two homers, because that will mean the media fascination will eventually die down and I can watch Sportscenter without a 20 minute analysis on why Bonds didn't homer.
His teamates, me, and a whole lot of other people. I want to see him break the record whenever he does it. There's no justification for sitting him.
I guarantee you that even if they don't sit him, that he isn't breaking the record in this road trip, he'll continue the slump until he comes home
Brilliant post. This isn't about the best interest of basbeall anymore. The record is in Bonds best interest, the scandal is in the media's best interest, and Selig's best interest is staying as far away from this as possible and having Barry finish up and move on, let the courts and politicians sort it out for him. I don't think where he does it really matters anymore... we're never going to hide this sitaution somehow, it's in the books forever. He's one of the biggest vilians in baseball history and certainly the most hated in sports in my time, so what if he's boo'ed. I think the most logical sentiment has to be Italian Seafood's... "not in my house" especially with the Dodger/Giant rivalry.
He always slumps going into a milestone and with each of the next 2 HR is a milestone. He hits 1 tops in this roadtrip
