The other shoe that finally dropped in the world of sports yesterday was the wholly-anticlimactic announcement that Baseball’s home-run king, Barry bonds, has been indicted. In fact, a federal grand jury in San Francisco has charged him with four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice stemming from his patently false testimony that he thought the steroids his personal trainer was injecting into his butt was flaxseed oil….
However, because this grand jury had been investigating these charges since 2003, many sports pundits, and even Bonds’s own lawyer, expressed surprise that the jurors ended up indicting him. But I presumed this outcome when I wrote an article over a year ago (on 20 April 2006) in which I protested (in the title) that “The indictment of Barry Bonds would be an error for Baseball”.
And since I addressed the consequences an indictment would have not only for Barry, but also for the game in that article, I shall suffice to merely republish it today (with links to other related articles) for your edification:
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Nothing defines the American character quite like sports. And no sport is more central to that character than Baseball. Indeed, it seems entirely fitting that it was Baseball (and not schools, churches or places of public accommodation) that led the desegregation of American society.
Moreover, it probably surprises no one that blacks have dominated this sport from the time Jackie Robinson became the first black to join the major leagues in 1947, through the day Hank Aaron shattered Babe Ruth’s all-time home run record in 1974, to today when Barry Bonds is poised to dethrone Aaron to become Baseball’s new home-run king.
Of course, when it was revealed last week that a federal grand jury is equally poised to indict Bonds for lying under oath about taking steroids, many blacks expressed the cynical belief that his legal jeopardy has more to do with racist resentment over his preeminence in Baseball than with his lies about steroids. And, despite the unseemly tendency of too many blacks to cry racism whenever a prominent black is the target of a criminal investigation, there’s merit to their cries in this case.
After all, the entire world witnessed Rafael Palmeiro and Mark McGwire perjure themselves during congressional testimony last year. Yet the Congress gave them both a walk by refusing to indict.
Nevertheless, I’ve been quite unabashed in proffering my reasonable suspicion that Bonds has become a home-run monster by taking an apothecary of steroids that would make Dr Frankenstein green with envy. And my suspicions were only confirmed when his injection protocol was chronicled in the recently published book Game of Shadows.
But, where it’s quite acceptable to revel in schadenfreude over the public ridicule Bonds has been subjected to (including having steroid-size syringes thrown at him during games), it smacks of prosecutorial abuse to make a federal case out of his dissembling about steroids.
Because, even though Bonds has relished being the poster boy for the overpaid, self-indulgent, obnoxious, temperamental, whining cry-babies that professional athletes have become, an indictment would make him a scapegoat for the sins not only of Baseball but also of the entire culture of American sports. And, that just ain’t fair.
Besides, since players like Babe Ruth were not indicted for drinking alcohol during Prohibition, players like Bonds should not be indicted for taking steroids today.
Former U.S. Senate majority leader George Mitchell (L) and Commissioner Bud Selig announcing their investigation into the use of steroid by players
Nonetheless, I appreciate that this grand jury investigation and that sensational book have forced Commissioner Bud Selig (right) to act to protect and preserve Baseball’s public goodwill. And I have no doubt that that is all Selig’s appointment of former Sen. George Mitchell to head an inquiry into the use of steroids in Baseball is intended to do.
Therefore, speculation that Selig will suspend Bonds and strip him of his awards – based solely on Mitchell’s report (no matter what he “discovers”) – is utter rubbish. Because that would then require him to strip awards won by Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro and too many other major leaguers to list here.
All bets are off, however, if Bonds is indicted. Because this would provide a convenient pretext for Selig to get rid of the most petulant, troubled and unloved MVP in Baseball history: a pretext, alas, that is openly coveted by many Baseball insiders who dislike Bonds even more than they resent his phenomenal achievements.
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Alas, despite his protestations of innocence, I have no doubt that just as domestic diva Martha Stewart was imprisoned – not for securities fraud, but for lying to a federal grand jury about it, so too will Bonds be imprisoned – not for taking steroids, but for lying to a federal grand jury about it.
Moreover, I fully expect Commissioner Selig to announce Bonds’ indefinite suspension any day now. And this means that he will effectively end his storied career not with a bang of record-setting home runs on the baseball field, but with a whimper of self-pitying tears behind bars.
Finally, if convicted on all counts, Bonds could be sentenced to 30 years. But since I think this indictment is arbitrary, capricious and discriminatory, this is one case where I hope an “OJ jury” nullifies his guilt by acquitting him at trial….
Related Articles:
The federal indictment
Bonds dethrones Hank Aaron as home-run king
Baseball’s MVP is a steroid junkie…duh!
Baseball is juiced…so what?!
Bonds the most petulant cry baby in Baseball
Barry Bonds indicted
Noel says
Do you think the President will step in and squash the eventual sentence, like he did Scooter Libby’s when he was found guilty of perjury and obstruction,(for a national security issue no less) or do I have a better shot at seeing God?
ALH ipinions says
Touché Noel.
And Bonds is far more deserving of a presidential pardon!