The "Record Book"

I’m sick of all the coverage surrounding Barry Bonds as he is about the break the career home runs record, so of course I’m going to write about it. The debate that annoys me the most is whether all of his numbers should count or not because of his link to steroids. You know, the people that say his name should be taken out of “The Record Book” or at least that he should have an asterisk next to his name.

The truth is (my truth), it doesn’t matter if his name is in the “The Record Book” or not. It doesn’t matter if there is an asterisk next to his name or not. The whole debate is so pointless because everything Barry Bonds has done is so transparent. There is the leaked Grand Jury testimony. There is Game of Shadows, the great book by the two San Francisco Chronicle reporters about Bonds and other athletes who used steroids. And the most transparent of all is the physical change he’s undergone right in front of our eyes. At this point, people have already made up their mind about Bonds. All of the facts are out there.

So this “Record Book”, wherever is may be, is about to change. Bonds will be number 1 on the career home runs list. But what does that even mean? People always talk about this mystical “Record Book”, or even more vaguely “The Records”. But where is this ridiculous book? Is it sitting in Bud “Blank Stare” Selig’s office? Or is it being guarded by overweight, near sighted, senior citizens on a power trip at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown? The “Record Book” means nothing nowadays because everything is so transparent. When talking about the home run record, people will make up their own mind. Some will still consider Hank Aaron the home run king because of Bonds’ connection to steroids. Others will chalk it up to The Steroid Era just being another part of the evolution of the game and be fine with Bonds as their all time home runs leader.

But to argue about whether his numbers should be in the “Record Book” or not is just waste of time. Withholding Bond’s from some vague “Record Book” will not make people forget about him. He will still be one of the greatest players to ever step on a baseball diamond. Likewise, putting his name in the “Record Book” will not make people forget about Hank Aaron.

As long as there is transparency into the players, the fans can make their own decisions on these issues. People don’t need to talk about whether the numbers should “count” or not. Just as long as Barry Bond’s needles go to the Hall of Fame and everyone knows about it. They can go right next to Ty Cobb’s KKK membership card and Gaylord Perry’s spittoon.

Curt Schilling got his panties all up in a bunch last week (like he always does) and used some double negative bullshit logic to imply that Bonds and Mark McGuire had actually admitted to using steroids, and that their numbers should be stricken from the “Record Book”. Talk about a guy who has worn out his welcome and just needs to shut the fuck up. He was awesome when he won a World Series with the Diamondbacks. Good pitcher on a bad team (Phillies) gets traded to a contender and dominates in the clutch. He was slightly annoying on the Red Sox World Series winning team but made up for it because of more clutch pitching, the bloody sock, and the end of the Curse of the Bambino. Now, he’s a mediocre, 40 year old pitcher who thinks he’s the King of the Sound Bite but actually sucks. Here’s a guy that doesn’t even have 215 career wins but acts like he has 350. He’s gotten so annoying reporters are like “Damnit, Schilling’s gonna cry us a freakin’ river about global environmental policy when all we asked him was how he was locating his fastball”. The sad thing is he’s either going to be a future Congressman or the Commissioner of the Major League Baseball.

Schilling is part of the crowd that insists or creating an argument where none is needed. It is so pointless to talk about whether Bond’s numbers should be in the “Record Book” or not when everyone already has made up their mind. We are in a country where we are taught to think independently and arrive at our own conclusions. This is what people will do with the Bonds case. The “Record Book”, wherever and whatever it is, does not matter in this age of transparency.