November 16, 2007

* (pdf)
posted by Argh 17 years ago
  • they're going to need a lot of asterisks for a lot of players before this is done.
  • Could you explain a bit why I should actually click on an unidentified PDF? I usually avoid them at all costs.
  • It's like The Smoking Gun without the annoying headlines.
  • Hope this keeps him out of the Hall, and McGwire and Sosa too. I.e. I hope there's finally enough proof that nobody can continue the "Bonds only knew it as the cream and the clear" bullshit. MLB has lost me completely because of this crap.
  • MLB didn't lose you because of... - The strike? - Pete Rose? - Mindless expansion? - George Steinbrenner? - Corked bats? - The World Series Earthquake? (okay, maybe not their fault)
  • Sir, I applaud the presentation of your link. Nay, I salute it. Far funnier than I could have mustered myself, for whatever that's worth. It is second only in my opinion to the shortest and most scathing book review I ever read, a review of a collection of columns and essays written by a local newspaper columnist and film critic titled The Shortstop's Son. The review read, and I quote: E6.
  • I'd also like to add this column by Chuck Klosterman, which remains the single most intelligent thing written about the cultural significance of Barry Bonds I have read.
  • Unsearchable link.
  • MLB didn't lose you because of... Nope. Looking the other way during the steroid era was worse for the integrity of the sport than any of those other things.
  • MCT's baberuth.com article had more than a little whiff of racism to it. How can an article about career home run numbers not even have a passing mention of Aaron? As for Bonds...yeah, he's guilty. I've had no doubt of that for years. McGwire and Sosa too, and countless others who aren't household names. So are a good chunk of NFL, NHL, and NCAA players. So are Floyd Landis, Lance Armstrong and probably 60% of the TDF field. Don't get me started about the olympics. But Major League Baseball is to blame for its own problems erupting now because they chose to ignore the problem, cover it up, and act like it was never there. Personally I blame commissioner Bud Selig, but then again I blame Selig for everything from corked bats to male pattern baldness. Baseball will get through this. It's been through much worse (1919, for example). There's way too much disposable income in the US and people want to spend it on sports. I still love the game, and the atmosphere at the parks, so it'll take much more than this to lose me.
  • How can an article about career home run numbers not even have a passing mention of Aaron? Check the date on that article. It was published as Bonds was one home run away from passing Ruth's record, which was the story of the day and therefore the logical context to discuss Bonds. He wasn't yet up to Hammerin' Hank's number, and I think the comparisons with Ruth regarding the points Klosterman is trying to make are more apt anyway. Aaron was tremendous and remains a famous and much beloved ball player, and he was a far better athlete than Ruth, but Ruth was and is more than just an athlete or man -- he's an idea, a symbol. In a powerful sense, Babe Ruth is the United States. He's John Henry, Jesse James, Daddy Warbucks, the White House, and goddamn apple pie all rolled up in one big lumpy cigar-chewing slugger. To contrast the emptiness of what Bonds represents, you could do no better than to point to the one man who symbolizes more than perhaps any athlete in history. Klosterman may be guilty of many sins, but I've never seen any hint of racism in his writing. Indeed, he seems very open to the idea that the reason McGwire hit 70 without any allegations of juicing (despite the fact that the man looked like the goddamn Hulk) was the color of his skin.
  • I'd totally switch to college baseball if it wasn't for one thing. One simple, omnipresent and mind-twistingly annoying thing about college baseball. You know what I'm talkin' about. Mmm hmm. *tink!* WHY baseball Gods? WHY?
  • Money. But you're right, it is an abomination in the eyes of the Lord. grumble grumble fucks up pitchers too grumble
  • They should go back to those tiny hand-sized gloves, too.
  • No helmets, says I!
  • Ouch!
  • integrity of the sport what integrity? Baseball's always been a dirty game, filled with mean drunks and ignorant racists. I'd know more about it if I could stay awake during a game.
  • Why then is the Bonds home rum ball going to Cooperstown with an asterisk on it?
  • home run
  • *hic*
  • 'cause Marc Ecko saw a chance for a publicity stunt?