Bonds embodies best, worst of eraposted: Wednesday, March 8, 2006

In Orlando, Phoenix and San Juan, baseball has begun its celebration of the diversity of baseball cultures called the World Baseball Classic. In spring training camps, there are an unprecedented number of teams that have the right to dream of playing in October. In Albert Pujols, Miguel Cabrera, Grady Sizemore, Johan Santana, Roy Oswalt, et al, there is a new generation of superstars, while the faces of the game have turned from Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa to Derek Jeter, David Ortiz and Pujols, faces that represent the best and the brightest.

It is almost as if everyone outside San Francisco is waiting for The Bonds Show to be over. There is no question that the latest revelations in the new book by Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams could be devastating to any chance that Bonds had to pass Babe Ruth and exit with dignity. This is not a kiss-and-tell book. Fainaru-Wada and Williams earned the reputation of the Woodward and Bernstein of this generation (Mark and his brother, Steve Fainaru, are two of the best journalists of the last 20 years). And while the Jose Canseco book had a great deal that deserved our attention -- despite its mistakes and self-absorption -- Bonds faces a mountain of evidence, not to mention potential grand jury problems.


At the ESPN event at Disney World March 3-5, we did four "Baseball Tonight" shows, three in a studio and one before an outdoor stage audience. Each time, when we got to the Bonds subject, Karl Ravech asked the audience, "As Barry Bonds approaches Babe Ruth, will you be cheering for him?"



Every time, there was an overwhelming crescendo of boos.



It will be years before the Steroid Era will be put in its historical perspective. Bonds, McGwire, Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro will have to endure intense scrutiny about their Hall of Fame legitimacy, as we learn how large a percentage of players used performance-enhancing drugs. Likely, we will learn that the percentage was far greater than so many of us thought. The revelation might lead many to accept these players as Hall of Famers because they were the best players during a period in which steroids were a major part of the baseball culture, just as Canseco and Ken Caminiti told us.



If Fainaru-Wada and Williams are right about the Bonds steroid timeline, this is a sad way for Bonds' career to end. Before 1998, he was already a Hall of Famer, one of the 20 best players of all time. He had three MVPs and should have had a fourth. He was the best modern-day defensive left fielder. His workout habits were legendary back in 1993 after he won his third MVP award.



Admittedly, the enhancers were not illegal in the baseball workplace and were a part of the workplace's culture, but for such an intelligent, talented man to make the alleged decision that he had to have more because McGwire and Sosa had it is the sort of greed that led to the demise of Richard Nixon and former Enron CEO Ken Lay, and Americans have little pity for a fall based on greed.



In many ways, baseball fans have already put Bonds in their rearview mirror. Bud Selig stays awake at night hoping that if Bonds does catch Ruth, he will do it in San Francisco or face the black eye of having one of sports' great achievements greeted with a shower of boos. If he passes Aaron, rest assured, the greatest record in sports will no longer be the career home run champion.



Oh, sure, there are going to be players who get the best in designer drugs to beat the testing system -- which isn't foolproof, by any stretch -- but baseball has endured the steroids scandal and moved on from the era that so many of its administrators allowed to mushroom.



Whether he's ever found guilty by anyone but the court of public opinion, Bonds, the best player of his era, now stands as the monument to the worst of the era. Selig has to pray that if Bonds hits home runs No. 715 and 716, he does it in San Francisco against the Rockies in a 10:05 p.m. ET start with three rain delays.

And as far as 75-90 percent of fans are concerned, knowing he may retire at the end of the season, every time a Bonds story comes on "SportsCenter," it might as well be accompanied by Green Day's "Wake Me Up When September Ends."



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• Alfonso Soriano insists he will not move to the outfield when the WBC is over. The Nationals are counting on his eventually relenting because he has no choice -- he is virtually untradable, and he won't sit on the bench in his free-agent walk year.


"They never even talked to me; they just made the trade and announced I am moving," says Soriano. "Am I embarrassed? Yes. They tried to corner me. Now when I come back, how can I learn to play the position in a week or 10 days? I've played four games in my life in left field. How am I going to do at a position I haven't played?"


• David Ortiz on the difference between the Caribbean Series and the WBC: "There's not any comparison. In the Caribbean Series, the winning team from each country's winter ball picks up some more players, and you play for your country, but this is much bigger, much more important. This is the world, with the U.S., Japan, everyone. For the Dominicans to win this with the U.S. in it would be the biggest thing for Dominican baseball."


Watching Ortiz, Miguel Tejada, Albert Pujols, et al interact led to the observation that the Dominican team is closer than most regular-season teams. "It is," says Ortiz. "We are all close friends. We grew up together, we hang out together in the winter. This is as close a group as you will ever find."


• Excuse me for being repetitious, but Manny Acta should be managing in the major leagues.


• Curiously, Victor Martinez might be the best catcher in the major leagues right now, but he is DH-ing and batting seventh for Venezuela, with Ramon Hernandez catching and hitting in the five-hole. "I don't mind; I'm just happy to play," says Martinez, who has grown into a leader on the Indians. And, by the way, he led all major-league catchers in average, on-base and slugging percentage, and RBI last season.


• What awes so many of the young players on the Dominican team is how seriously Pujols takes every swing in BP. "There is no time to fool around when you practice," says Pujols. "Every swing has a purpose, and I try to never get away from that. It's hard enough hitting a 95-mile-an-hour fastball. So habits are important."


Jim Leyland was in spring training for four years with Pujols. "He has the best work ethic I have ever been around," says Leyland. "I've never seen a player more dedicated or serious."


• The buzz on the Dominican team has been about young Twins lefty Francisco Liriano. "He hit 98 the other day," says Acta. "He may be special right away. Imagine having him and Santana on the same staff."

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