Should MLB take away Bonds' record?

Question

Through 2007, Barry Bonds holds the Major League record for walks, with 2558, far beyond Rickey Henderson's 2190. Bonds took the record during his incredible 2004 season.

Should MLB get swept up in the anti-Bonds frenzy and declare Henderson still the walks recordholder? Bonds also owns the single-season record, with 232 (also 2004), as well as the second, third, ninth, 14th, and 20th season marks, bunched up with names like Ruth, Williams, and McGwire.

Can someone explain how Bonds' alleged use of steroids gave him the enhanced eyesight and hand-eye coordination to draw walks better than anyone in the history of the game?

Bonds was once issued an intentional walks with the bases loaded, in 1998.

Bonds' BLIBB was in the ninth inning against Arizona.

To clarify: Bonds's walk RATE is far ahead of anyone else. How does "steroids" explain this?

Answer 1

I had to laugh when I read the question! Very clever!

Seriously, MLB has brought this mess upon themselves. They wanted to put the asses in the seats, so managers, general managers, and team owners turned blind eyes to the players using whatever means necessary to ensure rapid turnstyle movement. The collective wisemen all knew that the players were juicing, and to say otherwise is not only arrogant, but blatanly stupid as well. I hope Barry Bonds does get the priviledge to keep his records, unmarked by any special denotion. To history buffs in the future, the unmarked marks will bear a true testament to the garbage and lies the league created for itself...

Answer 2

What a stupid question and so are all of the others like it. How do they take away the fact that he hit 762 HRs? They can't and won't. Baseball has a history of not even officially correcting past mistakes. The year (I think 1912) that Ty Cobb won the batting title despite Lajoie being given 6 gift hits on the last day by a team wanting Nap to win over Troy it was found that Ty had one game where he went 2 for 4 that was counted twice. When this was found out decades later, MLB chose not to give the title to Lajoie retroactively. MLB will correct improper stats but they won't take away past records or titles.

If they went back and struck every hit that was aided by steroids there'd be a lot of retro-active no-hitters out there.

By the way, he was issued an intentional walk with the bases loaded in extra innings, which I think was a lot cooler. (-: Btw, it was against the Cubs.

Answer 3

The whole issue involving the illegal use of drugs in baseball is a very complex issue and not a simple one as many fans think. The issue is also much bigger than Bonds and should be addressed in it's entirety. Too many fans want to implement the "eye-for-an-eye" and "get even" method in dealing with Bonds when in fact it is a cultural issue. It still appears that any use of any kind of banned drugs by Bonds occurred before the implementation of the MLB/Players Union drug policy. That alone means that all of Bonds records have to stand uncontested. However, I am going to take it one step further. I know I have a minority opinion but I believe all events that occur on the playing field have to stand as they occurred and don't believe anything should be removed or altered. The fact is you can't erase history and disregard events that occurred. I love baseball as much as anyone and have my own strong feelings about those players that did what they did. When it is all said and done there will be more documentation and writings about these events than there were during the renaissance. I am a strong believer that fans have the unbelievable ability to sort all of this out themselves and come to their own conclusions without tampering with historical events.

Answer 4

Chipmaker, I really hope you haven't opened another one of those cans that never gets closed. It's going to be bad enough once either guilty or innocent jury findings come out. Unfortunately, that's all people will want to talk about here. It's already gotten to be an issue that is similar to beating a dead horse.

Let's back up before we start talking about stripping him of his records. First and foremost, let's let the man be tried in this court of law (trial date set for February I believe). Remember, whether you love him or hate him, he is INNOCENT until proven guilty --- and that means guilty beyond all reasonable doubt. Just like with O.J., it has to be unanimous one way or the other when it involves a Federal trial format.

Let's take the two worst scenarios: guilty of steroids use, guilty of perjury, or both. If he's guilty of steroids use then it will be up to a committee such as the MLBPA and that moron we call a commissioner to decide his fate. Things that will have to come into play will be things defining "cheating" by the use HGH or Performance Enhancers, grouping other ballplayers that are found guilty of steroid use and that have seasonal records in the books into a "special" category to separate them away from other record holders that did not use steroids, and so on. Trust me on this, from a legal standpoint, it's going to be a mess long before a decision ever has to be made in MLB. Unfortunately, they haven't proved yet that steroids improve bat speed and hand-to-eye coordination, so until they do, all Bonds has done (if he used steroids) is to bulk up and enhance his strength.

If he's found guilty of the 4 counts of perjury and the 1 obstruction of justice, it's roughly a 4-5 initial sentence that will probably be reduced to about 1/3 to 1/4 of that. And of course, he can't play MLB while he's residing in the Graybar Hotel.

If he's found guilty of all the above, then he needs to bend over and take the sandpaper condom, because that is about what he's going to receive.

Now, on the other hand, if he is cleared of all charges, then please everybody shut the H3LL up about this and let's move on to some different questions. Oh and by the way, I hope he's found innocent and his records are left intact. If he's guilty, then he'll need to accept the appropriate punishment.

Answer 5

It wouldn't. And it may seem as if Bonds ended up padding the number of walks he has/had because at the height of his homer hitting days there seemed to be a sense of fear in some pitchers/managers to pitch to him. Well, fear in the sense of they shouldn't give him a chance to jack one. He does have a good eye to an extent. I know where you're coming from on this question, but then again, someone could say anything Barry may have been alleged to be doing may not have been banned by baseball at the time. As much as it is cheating towards a great game.

MLB is reaping what it has sown, and they have a mess on their hands.

And was that IBB with bases loaded against the Padres? I've always thought it was.

Answer 6

Even going along with this, the time period in question is from 2000-2003, not 2000-present. Second, the failed drug test may not be a vaild piece of evidence as Victor Conte says with 100% certainty that there is no chain of custody for it. Also, the test does not say WHICH drug Barry tested positive for. If it's not allowed as evidence, then it doesnt exist. I'm a Giants fan, a Barry fan and I AGREE that his stats should be adjusted for the period in question [no more, no less], BUT the likelihood of MLB doing that isnt very good.

Answer 7

Once baseball records are in the books, they're in the books to stay... occasionally, a revision might be made if a data entry error or something is discovered (Ty Cobb's avg. was .367 for decades before it was revised to .366...in his case, he was accidentally credited with a 2-for-3 performance twice).

But baseball is not going to wipe out any of Bonds' records. It would be kind of tough to do that when MLB itself promoted Bonds as the main attraction for so may years (just as they did with McGwire and Sosa).

MLB hates Barry Bonds... Bud Selig REALLY hates Barry Bonds... but MLB also has never done any SERIOUS drug testing... in the end, they just really didn't want to know who was doing what in the way of juicing.

But Bonds' records are in the books to stay, MLB cant' wipe them out as though they never happened.

Answer 8

Yes he is a cheater, his walk rate is high because pitchers always tryed to pitch around him, so that he wouldn't be able to swing another drug induced homer.

Answer 9

Walk record : No. Sterioids can NOT help your hand eye cordnation.

HR Record : Yep. Sterioids = More power.

Answer 10

It allowed him to play injury free and longer than a person not on steroids.