What will baseball do if Barry Bonds passes Hank Aaron? Notice I didn't say break the record!?

Answer 1

Baseball brought this curse upon their own house and now they don't know how to deal with it .
Like all deals made with the devil, this one at first seemed like a great idea ; Expand baseball into new and often "non- baseball markets and generate more revenue as a result. To make baseball more accessible and understandable to a new and often uneducated[ in the ways of baseball at least] fan, the game needs to be simplified.
The coin of the realm would be the home run - the easiest of all baseball plays to understand.
The ball comes in and the ball goes out- simple.
Those who could hit home runs would be the kings and princes of the realm - and..... would be paid accordingly
In order to make home-runs easier some modifications had to be made; lower the mound, bring in the fences, make the strike zone the size of a legal pad, discourage brush back pitches and the greatest crime of all the DH rule.
So baseball got it's wish and now it doesn't know what to do with it
When Bonds "passes " Aaron's record it will be a Pyrrhic victory for him- he will have gained his prize but only at great cost. No one will respect him , No one will think that the home runs are valid and in all likely-hood the BBWAA will deny him entrance into the HOF- forever
Fans find themselves in a nolo contendre position on this issue; We don't approve of Bonds , his character or the legitamacy of his records and yet we are powerless to prevent the inevitable from happening
So the question becomes ,how do we show our dis-approval for his actions ?
Boo lustily whenever he comes to bat or hits a HR
Conversely sit on your hands and great all his HRs with silence
Bring a pre-made asterix to the ballpark.
make it the same size as the program or scorecard so you can more easily conceal it.
Then when Bonds hits a HR , show it to the world.
Lastly in a completely fantasy situation , on the day that Bonds would pass Aarons record he would do so in a completely empty ballpark. The fans would stay away in droves out of the deepest respect for the game.

Answer 2

Baseball will recognize the event. There is no definitive prove that Bonds used steroids or anything else illegal in his pursuit of the record. More importantly, there will never be know how many others were using. How many pitchers? The fact is, there is no conclusive evidence that steroids or human growth actually help that much in baseball. I love when the media plays up this aspect. Why haven't the stolen base numbers gone up as well? Wouldn't make sense that a base stealer using the substances have gotten faster making him harder to throw out? Never mentioned. The media seems to believe only the home run hitters profited from the "medical miracle". Baseball the sport will recognize the record even if the baseball media does not!!!

Answer 3

Outside of the Giants fans I can't see anything too big. If it happens in San Fran I would imagine a big deal at the ballpark but if it happens on the road it would be great if you could hear a pin drop!

I hope baseball does the right thing and do nothing. I remember the night Aaron broke Babe Ruth's 714. That was pretty cool. I hope nothing like that happens for Bonds.

Unfortunately baseball will probably do something to recognize the moment. I say recognize because to honor the event would be a disgrace to the game.

Answer 4

All records were meant to be broken. If Harry Bonds breaks Hank
Aaron's record, he will become #1 for that record. Baseball will adjust. Just like every other sport has when records are surpassed.

Answer 5

I don't think they'll have any choice but to do something in his honor. I know that most of us believe he's been cheating for years, but he's yet to be accused of such by the powers at MLB. If they could somehow leak more evidence of his cheating, or get it out in the open, then they might have an excuse to skip the celebrations. As it stands, though, I don't think they have a choice.

I feel bad for Aaron in all this, and I hope he chooses not to be part of any such ceremony.

Answer 6

They have no choice but to stop the game and announce it to the fans. I'm positive MLB hopes he breaks it at home, where he gets the most support. But don't expect a plaque to come out and Hank Aaron to shake his hand and stuff! lol

Answer 7

I think baseball will look at it as just that. You can argue till the day you die who is a better baseball player but facts are facts. Unfortunately, people feel they have to "cut corners" to get a little ahead in life. What a tragedy!

Answer 8

I'm sure there will be some small ceremony, nothing outrageous. But everyone in MLB will be muttering under their breath about disliking Bonds or about his "unintentional" use of performance enhancing drugs. But they still won't do anything more than they do to prevent steriod and HGH use

Answer 9

Well, baseball will keep playing. There's a lot more to the game than home runs.
There's also great defense, bunting, stealing, pitching, hitting for average, sacrifice flies, running bases correctly, mind games, and more.

Answer 10

They'll do something but I don't think it will be elaborate like when McGwire and Sosa were breaking Maris' record. Those two burned the league bad enough since they were both cheating. In my opinion, I wouldn't even acknowledge the fact that he passed him. Since he has obviously cheated, he has zero home runs in my book.