Barry Bonds is a name that will be in history books for a long time but one that many are not so pleased about. The baseballer holds the record for most home runs with 762 as well as most home runs in a single season, 73. This incredible achievement is marred by the player testing positive for steroids during his career. While we may not love the record holder, it is his record now.
When Babe Ruth scored 714 home runs he became a household name, when it was surpassed by Hank Aaron in 1974 the moment forever became immortalized as one of the finest baseball moments in history. When Bonds surpassed Aaron the world took a deep swallow. Some celebrate the achievements of an incredible baseballer while others pointed to the scandal he was a key part of and wanted him stripped of any records.
The truth is that baseball has not been a clean sport for a long time. Many players in the hall of fame have since spoken about the high levels of drug use in the sport since the 60s. Any sport where an individual can have such an impact and where strength can play such a factor is susceptible to doping. While Bonds’ actions were discovered he is certainly not the only one guilty of doping during his era or in history. Bonds was a key figure in what many now refer to as the steroid era. If you look at pictures of Bonds from early in his career to after the steroid scandal you can see how his whole figure changed dramatically.
While he claims bodybuilding was the reason it is difficult to see how it could accomplish so much.
Barry Bonds is someone who abused steroids during his career. Yet he is the record holder for most home runs in baseball. We can’t take the fact away from him but we don’t have to like him for it. If we tried to remove every doper from the history books it is a scary thought to think about how many would actually be left. Instead, we can still remember our greats, Aaron and Ruth as the incredible players they were. Ruth’s legacy was not diminished because Aaron hit a higher number than him and Aaron is not diminished because Bonds hit a higher number. Bonds is now the record holder but it doesn’t make him the best player of all time.
