Would you respect Barry Bonds if....?

Question

I hate Barry Bonds...the fact that he's about to break one of sports most cherished records in a dirty way, really bothers me. But...if he retires after he is one shy of the record...would you respect him?

I think I would.

Answer 1

No but if he admitted to taking steroids and requested that his records be removed from the record books I might.

Answer 2

You hate Barry Bonds because of the persona he gives off to the media? Yes, he's a jerk when it comes to the media. But you are wrong if you think Barry Bonds is not one of the greatest of all time. You still have to put that bat on that little baseball coming at you at all different speeds and hit it with authority. Steroids or not, Barry is, and has been for a very long time, a great power hitter. If anything, I would think steroids would have shortened his career. Just look at Jose Canseco. If Barry is not a first ballot hall-of-famer it would be wrong. So my answer is, I already respect the man for what he has done on the baseball field, aterisk or not. Anyone who does not is just an idiot in my opinion. There sure are alot of managers around the league that respect him. You don't see them walking Albert Pujols with the winning run coming up, late in a game. I've seen them walk the bases loaded before pitching to Barry, with runners on first and second! If that is not respect, I don't know what is.

Answer 3

Barry Bonds can retire one home run shy of tying the record, die be born again and break the record with out using steroids and I would still not respect him as a baseball player. As a person I don't know, I have never met the guy. I just wished Babe Ruth had the oppurtunity to play 162 games instead of 140 and I garadamntee you that Hank Aaron would not be the homerun king and Bonds would not even be a topic for Sports Center!

Answer 4

I respect him whether he breaks the record or not.For one thing i think theres tons of guys using roids who we haven't even found out about yet and i don't think its fair we lynch him while the rest go quietly about their business getting cheered when they are no better then him.Secondly,steroids doesn't turn any player into an all star.You need natural talent,good hand eye coordination,a great quick swing.If steroids is why Bond's is about to break the record how come the other 100's of players who used it all through the late 80's and 90's aren't to since its all in the steroids?

Alex Sanchez got bopped for steroids by the Detroit Tigers before he got dumped to tampa bay,he was taking roids and the guy couldn't hit double digit homers in any given season season.If you did roids for the net 5 years you still would not even be good enough to make the lowest A club in the minors.I am so tired of the huge overexaggeration people are putting on how much of a factor steroids plays in their numbers.When a top player is caught its front page news,what about the 100's of crap players caught who only got a couple of sentences about it in the back of the sports section.The time when steroids was most rampant in the majors was back in Canseco's day and the big hitters then were hitting 40 something homers.Albert Bell reached 50 and that was like a milestone in the steroid era so it takes more then a pill to hit 73.

And no I am not a Giants fan I am a Red Sox fan so its not a fan bias.I am just sick of this everyone out to lynch bonds when every team probably has at least one performance enhancement user.I would look like a real hypocrite to lash out on Bonds if like a season or two from now they found out Manny Ramirez was using and i had been cheering him all taht time so I won't put my self in that position. Like the way Yankee fans talk crap about bonds but are real hush hush about Giambi who took steroids and got a big contract with them.

Answer 5

Jack, Palmeiro and Giambi are also a disgrace. But do you think people are only talking about Bonds because he's about the break the all-time HR record??? Ever think of that one?

And steroids have helped Bonds HIT THE BALL FARTHER than he would otherwise. What would have otherwise been deep fly outs turned into HRs. And taking steroids has helped him RECOVER from day to day. I have no respect for him because he is a cheater, and that's the only way he hit that many HRs. Steroids has played a HUGE part in him shattering Hank Aaron's record. A guy with 445 HRs when he turned 35 should have NEVER broken Aaron's all-time record of 755.

Answer 6

I respect Bonds either way, he is one of the greatest players of all time. Say he did take steroids? so you take away his home runs? what about Sosa and his corked bat, or Giambi's homers, what about Palmiero's homers. Apparently it doesnt matter unless your name is Barry Bonds. Steroids or not it doesn't help your eye sight, it doesn't improve the contact you make on a ball. I can tell you, every player that has gotten hurt before steroids were banned, used steroids to help them heal faster and come back faster. Notice Jeff Bagwell, once they banned steroids he was injured forever.

I think its funny how people say they will respect Bonds if he retires not breaking the record, why? If you don't respect him now for what he has done, you won't respect him later. You basically want a player not to reach a record because of what you believe and what the media says. We all know the media likes to blow things out of proportion and take stabs at people that they don't like. That's fine, but I think its foolish when the fans come out and go they said this they said that, the media never has all the facts, yes they have some or they can't really say anything, but they never have all the facts.

If Bonds breaks the record, enjoy it, because it is a milestone that will not be reached many times. Bonds is arguably the best player of our time and I think we should embrace what he has done. The only player in the 500-500 club (take away some of his current homers because you people believe steroids did it, he still reaches this). The only player to win 7 MVPs. What he has done for the game is incredible.

Every time someone tests positive for roids, media jumps on them for a day or two maybe even a week, then goes right back to Bonds. Selig made a statement that Bonds has never failed a test. And steroids have been around since the early 1920s so what's to say players since then haven't used them?

Answer 7

I totally agree with you, I hate, despise Barry Bonds.

I hope he wouldn't break the record. I'll give him some respect if he retires with 1 shy of the record.

BUT the thing that would give Bonds respect is

Just come out and be a man and say he used steroids.

Answer 8

So what if he juices, the hall of fame is full of cheaters, some of them are folk heroes for it. Gaylord Perry is more revered for his spitters then for his membership in the 300 club. Ty Cobb is more remembered for trying to cripple his opponents then being one of the best hitters in the game. There are many others, all who would take steroids if they could. Besides where's the proof that he is on roids. What I've seen so far is far from conclusive. A few before and after photos of him, I bet 80% of the adults in this country are fatter then they were 10 years ago. Last year the N.Y. Post ran a picture of a bloated B.B. on the cover with a headline "The face of a cheater". The very next day, the Post ran a picture a bloated Britney Spears. We all gain weight for different reasons. I hear that some of them even lift weights. All other so called evidence are accusations brought on by a media more interested in a story then the truth, and old time sports fans obsessed with preserving the legacies of their childhood heroes, and their claim that sports went downhill scene they lost their hair. I await your thunbs down reviews.

Answer 9

you're able to no longer appreciate many gamers as a results of fact maximum do no longer hustle. and characteristic you ever seen he did no longer opt to get injury? a pair of weeks in the past Griffey did no longer dive for a ball that he could desire to of caught he basically enable it drop he did no longer provide a hundred and ten%. He did no longer do it reason he did no longer opt to hustle he did it as a results of fact he did no longer opt to threat getting injury. Barry is "ageing" and is greater companies to wreck so he can not circulate all out attempting to break up double performs and run out a groundball interior the infield. he's already hurting, thats why he neglected some video games final week, and he would not opt to circulate on the DL with a pulled hamstring or quad. He desires to break the checklist as quickly as conceivable. additionally his team "stinks" its no longer purely like the Giants are going to return returned interior the west. he's no longer inquisitive approximately making the playoffs this 3 hundred and sixty 5 days he's basically worrying approximately breaking Aarons checklist. Then possibly next 3 hundred and sixty 5 days if he performs for San Fransico and that they are genuinely interior the chase possibly then he will hustle while the only ingredient he's chasing then is a international sequence ring.

Answer 10

I'll respect Barry Bonds when: 1. He admits to taking performance enhancing drugs. 2. He treats fans and fellow players like human beings. 3. He kisses Hank Aaron's bare ****. Since we all know these things will never happen, I'll never respect the man.

Answer 11

Respect is not given...it is earned.... In my eyes, retiring one shy is not enough to overlook the fact that he is a bit of an a**hole.... I would be happy that he respected the game enough to realize that maybe this whole thing isn't what it should be... But, I would not just go heaping the respect on him...... There's a difference, I think, in respecting one's decision and respecting that person.