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Monday, May 22, 2006 |
Sarah Bunting On Bonds
I haven't been over to Sarah Bunting's Tomato Nation in quite a while, but it seems she posted a damned fine essay on Bonds' pursuit of history that's well worth reading. Excerpt:
I suspect that the answer I suggested for Rose -- just put him in the Hall and have done with it already -- is probably the answer for Bonds as well. He had the skills without the juice, he has the single-season record with it, but perhaps the most important aspect of Bonds is that this one man has become, like him or not, acknowledge his achievements or not, an integral part of the history of the game. And for that, he is worthwhile; his numbers are worthwhile. Klosterman suggests in his piece that Bonds is an emblem of this era in America: "Tomorrow, today will be yesterday -- and Bonds will represent what that was like." He finds that kind of depressing, and I can't really argue. But when we take comfort in What Is, we're really talking about What Was, a magical golden time that never really existed. Babe Ruth is a near-fairytale figure, but let's not forget that the color barrier still existed then. Pete Rose broke Ty Cobb's record to almost no complaints from the baseball establishment, but let's not forget that Cobb was an indefensible human being. We'll say the same kinds of things about Bonds in thirty years' time, putting him in context; the same way I phoned my dad today to get the perspective of his memory, listened to him talk about Mays, how he was so good it almost defied belief, how Aaron was more steady than brilliant, this is how our kids will listen to us when we talk about how it seems funny in hindsight, making such a circus out of this when The Great Pujols was playing at the same time, and did we ever tell them we saw him play once?
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