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Originally Posted by Cyclone792
If your answer is you don't care because you weren't alive, that's fine. Roll with it then, but if you don't care how the game duped earlier fans in previous generations then that's sort of laughing in those fans' faces. I'm certainly not going to do that, and neither will baseball ... otherwise guys such as Eddie Cicotte, Lefty Williams, et al would have been reinstated upon their death. Likewise, understand that 100 years from now fans taking your same view will not care about Barry Bonds using steroids. They'll want to put him in the Hall if he's not already there, and they won't care one iota how you believe steroids tarnished the game.
If you don't give a darn how a few men "played with the faith of fifty million people," as F. Scott Fitzgerald phrased it, then you'll never understand baseball's hierarchy of crimes.
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Two quick things: One, I've never said I don't care about what happened in the past, or how past cheaters were treated, but like VP says--what are we to do about it? I'm not sure what you're goal is here...to acknowledge that there have always been cheaters in baseball? I've done that. To acknowledge that cheating may have been as pervasive then as it appears to be now? I've allowed for that possibility. That Bonds should not/cannot be penalized by MLB for taking something not specifically banned? I've agreed with that too. But I am still angry about the situation, and like I said, for that i make no apologies.
I'm simply not sure what your argument is, or what you're looking for in the way of a concession. Should I be incensed that Gaylord Perry threw a spitball? That Willie Mays took greenies? That Babe Ruth drank? That's as senseless as saying that someone who disagrees with President Bush has no right to be angry if they do not also acknowledge--and show sufficient anger at--the policies of the Woodrow Wilson administration. I'm sure baseball has had its share of cheats, I'm sure some records were broken because the player used supplemants. But what is to be done now? Bonds is an active player, and the issue of dealing with steroids is a very real--and current--problem. I, personally, view Bonds as a cheat and a liar, and no amount of harping about the sins of Whitey Ford is going to change that.
Second, with regards to Bond's stature 100 years from now, I would not underestimate the power of the media in forming and shaping society's views and perceptions. If Willie Mays had played under the media micriscope that bonds has played under, and if his sins were as thoroughly broadcasted and discussed as Bonds has been, I find it entirely possible that he would be viewed in a substantially different light than we do today. Like I mention in the Redslive forum, Bonds' election to the HoF is far from a sure thing at this point--we have yet to know how this will play out.