Weighing In on A-Rod and Bonds

A-Rod Opts Out of His Contract, Seeks 30M per year

Two things about this situation confuse me.

First of all, why on earth would thus guy do this? The last time he was a free agent he signed a massive contract worth $252 Million dollars. Although that was good news for A-Rod, the contract was so massive that it completely disabled his team from making any signings of trades to be competitive - as a result, he spend several years in Texas finishing in last place. Now that he's a free agent again, he wants the same thing to happen?

Second, why the very personal backlash from the fans and media? You guys vilified A-Rod while he was here - you booed him and called him every pejorative, insulting name in the book. Every day his life was a media circus. He was blamed for the failures of the team at every turn, although by all objective accounts, he had one of the finest seasons in history. Let him go. Why be angry? Why be so personal? If you can get out of New York and get your money somewhere else, why wouldn't you?

A-Rod will probably get 10 years and $300 million. He's the best player in the game. He's on pace of obliterate all kinds of records. He's amazing, and can basically dictate his years, money, position, and everything else. It is his choice to do so. However, it will probably be a mistake for whatever team does it, and a mistake for A-Rod.

Bonds Refuses to Go to Hall of Fame if His Record-Breaking Ball is Displayed with an Asterisk

Good for you. Fuck all these haters. Baseball has been full of cheaters since the beginning of time - if the Hall of Fame stoops to such a low level by displaying a defaced ball, fuck them. I'm pretty convinced about this.

First, Barry Bonds was a hall of fame hitter before any of this steroid stuff happened. He was an incredible mix of power and speed, he played great defense, and was a three or four time MVP before a single illegal substance entered his body (according to allegations).

Second, baseball is full of cheaters. If you're going to display his ball with an asterisk, you had better get the same childish, bullshit treatment ready for every other cheater and scumbag and racist in history. Lets start with Ty Cobb and Gaylord Perry. Lets make Babe Ruth's section all about his womanizing and substance abuse. Lets kick out Mickey Mantle. Lets make sure that Rickey Henderson and Hank Aaron have asterisks on their records for the amphetamines that they definitely used. And why stop there? Maybe we should take Mel Ott and Hank Greenberg out of the Hall because of their natural, as opposed to supplemented, strength?

Baseball should do what it has always done. Accept every donation that is made to the Hall. Induct every person into the Hall who deserves it. Its a Hall of Fame, not a Hall of Morals or a Hall of anything else. It celebrates the history and legends and records of baseball... and whether you like it or not, the all-time home run king is Barry Bonds. Admit him, admit his belongings, and celebrate his records... and do what you've always done. Tell the entire story. There is no other way to deal with the steroid era, when nobody is guilty and nobody is innocent and nobody will really know - all we have is empty and baseless suspicion. What happened on the field happened. Allowing personal judgments into it will create a bad precedent.