BARRY Bonds continued to do what no player has ever done when he won an unprecedented sixth MVP award yesterday and became the first man to win three straight. He may reach 700 homers next year, and Hank Aaron’s 755 in 2005 or early in 2006.
And we look at all of it with wonder, but not exactly the kind of wonder Bonds would prefer. We wonder how much of it is real. That is going to be Bonds’ legacy, great accomplishment awash in great doubt.
Like Mark McGwire with at least his adronstenedione canister to explain, Bonds’ legacy is going to include ball four, balls gone and BALCO, RBIs and THG, and a body and body of work that kept growing in dimension at an age well beyond prime.
Bonds played an offended innocent on his conference call yesterday, and we must start with the presumption of innocence. He is greatly talented, comes from great genes and maybe that is all him producing that magic from his maple bats. But Bonds lives amid a flood of guilty associations at this particular moment, which made this – if there is such a thing – the worst time he could have won MVP honors.
It comes with illegal performance enhancers in sports more a major news story than ever before. Part of that has to do with the revelation last week that 5-7 percent of major leaguers tested positive for steroids.
More damaging to Bonds is his involvement in an ongoing federal investigation into BALCO, a Bay Area pharmaceutical company suspected of producing a newly detectable steroid, THG, already banned by the FDA. Greg Anderson, Bonds’ childhood friend and personal trainer, is reportedly a target of the investigation and had his house raided by federal officials. Bonds has been subpoenaed to testify Dec. 4.
Bonds has consulted with Victor Conte, who runs BALCO, since June 2000, and in this past June’s issue of Muscle & Fitness magazine Bonds lauded his work with Conte, and Bonds, Anderson and Conte were featured in a photo together. In addition, many of the Olympic and NFL players linked to this investigation have – when re-tested – come up positive for THG. Bonds’ pre-season urine sample will not be re-tested.
Sometimes when it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it isn’t a duck. But most of the time it is. In his defense, Bonds said the idea his stats have exploded upward is overstated aside from his record 73-homer output in 2001. But that is not really true. Since an injury-marred 1999, Bonds has set a career-high with a .688 slugging percentage in 2000 and followed that at .863 in 2001 at age 36, .799 at age 37 and .749 at age 38 last year.
He talked about his steady homer numbers in the 40s, but that is more reflective of how many walks he draws. He never averaged double-digit homers per 100 at-bats before 2000, and his career mark was 6.38 to that point and is 12.18 per 100 at-bats the last four years. Again at an age when most players are declining, Bonds, like his homers, is soaring and he is doing much of it in a home park (Pac Bell) that opened in 2000 and has been otherwise torturous on lefty power hitters.
“I can’t comment on BALCO due to the request of my attorney,” Bonds said. He added that he does not know what Anderson does in his own time and doesn’t want to know, and offered, “Just because I am associated to a lot of people doesn’t mean I’m involved with those people.”
Bonds, who rightfully has earned his snarling, aloof reputation, explained another recent controversial issue – his decision to pull out of the union’s marketing program so he can market himself – by saying it was a way to give back to baseball and charity, never mentioning it also would probably give back to him financially quite a bit. He also said of this decision that now that he is in control of his own image, “I want the public to see me for who I really am.”
That is a good question today. Who are you, Barry Lamar Bonds?
Barry Bonds won his sixth MVP award yesterday, edging out Albert Pujols and Gary Sheffield. Here’s a look at their 2003 numbers:
HR RBI SB AVG OBP
Barry Bonds: 45 90 7 .341 .529
Albert Pujols: 43 124 5 .359 .439
Gary Sheffield: 39 132 18 .330 .419
NL MVP VOTING
Player 1st 2nd 3rd Total
Bonds, SF 28 2 2 426
Pujols, StL 3 29- -303
Sheffield, Atl 1 1 18 247
Thome, Phi – – 5 203
Lopez, Atl – – 4 159
Gagne, LA – – 3 143
Helton, Col – – – 75
Sosa, Chi – – – 53
Prior, Chi – – – 44
Pierre, Fla – – – 39
Lowell, Fla – – – 30
Sexson, Mil – – – 21
A.Jones, Atl – – – 15
Bagwell, Hou – – – 14
Renteria, StL – – – 13
Wilson, Col – – – 12
Guerrero, Mon – – – 10
Smoltz, Atl – – – 9
Giles, Atl – – – 9
Hidalgo, Hou – – – 9