762*

"I don't think you can put an asterisk on the game of baseball, and I don't think the Hall of Fame can accept an asterisk," Bonds said. "You can't give people the right to change history."

Interesting. Barry's against changing history. Well how about this then: If Barry Bonds had never put steroids into his body, Hank Aaron would still be the home run king. How's that for changing history? Funny how he didn't seem to mind it then.

Barry said this week that if the Hall of Fame displays his ball, since branded with an asterisk by the ball's owner, Marc Ecko, then Bonds will never visit the Hall and would even boycott his own induction ceremony. First of all, Hall president Dale Petroskey is probably thanking the good lord for this stroke of luck. Now he knows how to keep Bonds from Cooperstown. If Major League Baseball has been too soft to catch Bonds cheating and ban him from the Hall, the Hall can now take its own step to prevent Bonds from joining. A big part of me thinks, Good. Go ahead and display that ball as an f.u. to the man who has said f.u. to the game of baseball for all these years. That's the fun answer. But it's not the right one. And when I take a step back and think about this from a broader view, I actually agree with Bonds. And that pisses me off.

Baseball is a game of numbers. 42. 56. 61. .400. 755. Any fan knows what these mean because the numbers themselves are as important as the game. The thing is, though, that the game has changed throughout the years. Players have advantages now that old timers never enjoyed. When Roger Maris broke Ruth's record of 60 home runs, he did it in 8 more games than the Babe. The game had changed since the record was set: the season was expanded and Maris was given more opportunities to hit home runs. But for all myths surrounding the asterisk that was to be put beside his record, the symbol was never instituted by Major League Baseball and Maris's name stood unmarked above Ruth's. Major League Baseball, for all its faults, exercised brilliant restraint by not putting an asterisk next to Maris's name. The game had changed, the record was a result of this change, and the men at the top realized that this was simply part of the evolving game of baseball.

Baseball has since evolved into the current era of uncertainty. Who took what substances? Who didn't? The game has changed in ways previously unimagined and there is virtually no way now to determine which players in this era are guilty of juicing. So what do you do? Do you discount all records set in the last ten or fifteen years? I don't think you can do that. You cannot simply throw out McGwire's 70 home runs or Sosa's 66 or Bonds' 73 just because they cheated - or because we think they did. In baseball history, the numbers stand for themselves and it is left to us to judge what they mean. Some people will never believe that Roger Maris was the true owner of that record in the same way that many people now do not believe Bonds' record to be legitimate. People are entitled to those opinions and baseball should afford its followers the ability to choose for themselves what they want to believe. For the Hall of Fame to display a ball branded with an asterisk - an act which I believe to be a hideous affront to the game - is disrespectful not only to the new Home Run King, but to the fans and to the game itself.

I believe that Barry Bonds cheated. I do. I think he has disgraced the game in a way that no player has before and I would love to see him suffer the consequences. But I want those consequences to be fair. The truth is that Bonds has turned himself into a lightning rod of hatred and resentment, so it is easy to say let's give him an asterisk when one was never issued before. We also forget the fact that the man hasn't been proven guilty of anything. If he is found to have taken steroids and/or to have broken the laws of the game, then I hope they ban his ass faster than you can say Balco. But until then, you can't punish someone for being a jerk or because you think he might have done something wrong. And even if Bonds is banned from the game, 762 or whatever it stops at will still be the official home run record. Bonds hit the home runs. The fans will judge the record for themselves. The Hall should step back and let them do it.