The Price is Right? Ted's Take on why he still loves Barry Bonds

As you will recall, my brother-in-law Ted Price wrote an article on the NHL about a month ago. Well, he is back and more mainstream. Today he tells us why Barry Bonds is the best and most influential baseball player of the past decade, and, most importantly, his favorite. I will say I agree with a lot of what Ted says, and to build, I find baseball incredibly hypocritical to retroactively make a stink about steroids, when at the time, no one was complaining about the home run wars as they fought to regain their popularity after the abominable strike of 1994. So here you go (I will be back tomorrow with my Sweet 16 picks).
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I am about to write something you don't hear people say very often and you never see in print:

I LOVE Barry Bonds.

Wait a minute, isn't Bonds a jerk? Isn't he a bad teammate? Isn't he aloof with the fans? Isn't he a cheater?

Well, like everything else, it depends on your point of view. I am warning you now, this column isn't about stats (we all know them), it's about emotion (we all have them) - and all the irrationality and blindness that goes along with that.

Since moving to the Bay Area 10 years ago, I have been to many Giants games (and now that I live two blocks from PacBell/SBC/AT&T Park, I have seen more than my fair share). From the frozen tundra that was the 'Stick in September to the little ballpark that revitalized a city, I have seen many a memorable moment. Most of which involved Bonds. I was there for number 73. I've been outside the ballpark watching a home run ball sail over my head and into McCovey Cove. I was there when - on his 40th birthday - he threw out a player at the plate to end the top of the 9th then sent everyone home happy with a walk-off homer. And I was there for the home opener last season when he was awarded his 7th MVP award and exclaimed, "I will be back!"

The point is when you have a player like Barry on your team, you are assured you will see something you've never seen before - something you can tell your grandkids about! And that is the other point: no one else has a Barry on their team because Bonds is a once-in-a-generation player. It must be the same feeling people had when they were watching Babe Ruth play or Walter Johnson pitch. And yes, because of all of this, I have become an unabashed Bonds apologist.

I will admit, Bonds brings a lot of this on himself. He has always had an adversarial relationship with the media - something he learned from his father. And, unfortunately, in this day and age if the media doesn't like you or think you are not treating them with respect... well, it can be tough. Case in point: every year, Manny Ramirez of the Boston Red Sox demands to be traded, sits out a few games to pout, even leaves left field during a pitching change to pee in a bottle behind the Green Monster. But you know, that's just Manny being Manny. Aren't his idiosyncrasies cute? Meanwhile, Bonds has a big chair in the locker room, and - gasp - he has more lockers than anyone else on the team! What a bastard! Do you know why he has that big chair? He bought it himself. You know why he has more locker space? Because he's Barry - freakin' - Bonds that's why! I would think he is treated a little differently than say Edgardo Alfonzo. No contract disputes, gives hometown discounts, wants to retire a Giant (when he should be a DH in the AL), man, what a jerk.

Another knock is that Barry can't win the big one. OK, I think that's fair. I do think winning championships is important to a player's legacy. And yes, he is the one who couldn't throw out Sid Bream - who I think was playing with a peg leg and an eye patch at the time - in the 1992 NLCS. But he is also the one who carried the 2002 Giants on his back and into the World Series. They were one Dusty Baker pitching move (ah, Dusty and his pitching moves: GENIUS!) away from winning it all. If they had, Bonds would have surely won the Series MVP. Instead I am left with two horrifying images in my head: Baker tossing the game ball to Russ Ortiz in Game 6 that woke up an inept Angles line up, and John Travolta celebrating with Michael Eisner in the owner's box when the Angels won Game 7 (as if either of them had actually been to a game that entire season). And don't get me started on the monkey and the inflatable sticks.

Compare that to say, oh, I don't know, A-Rod. Isn't he the greatest player in the game right now? Isn't his ticket punched to Cooperstown? Remind me again what he's done besides get into fist fights with Derek Jeter in the locker room? How about the other "greatest player" at that time - Ken Griffey, Jr. Remember how he was chosen for the all-century team instead of Bonds? Ask Griffey about that next time he rounds third.

How about what a bad teammate Bonds is? It's interesting that a lot of that talk came about when Jeff Kent was a Giant. There is the indelible image of Bonds and Kent getting into it in the Giants' dugout. Kent, the good 'ole boy HOF second baseman and Bonds, the a**hole. Kent showed his true colors when he went to the Astros and ripped the Giants, the team, the ballpark, the fans, even the uniform (true - he called them "creamsicles")!

So now we come to the big one: cheating. The story now is that after the McGwire/Sosa home run chase of '98 was over, Bonds decided he needed some of that spotlight, so he started taking steroids in '99. I admit, the numbers do play that out - to a point. I'll give you the anomaly that is 2001. But you figure that once the questions started, the (alleged) use had to subside or end altogether. What followed was a batting title, more homers than strikeouts and more MVP awards (including one unanimous). And, I'm not an expert, but I still don't understand how taking any of that stuff makes you hit the ball further, run faster or chase down fly balls (and I ask that for everyone who's been accused). I understand the bulking-up, but you still have to make contact with a 92 MPH fastball in order to do anything with it.

How about the breakdown? When Canseco, Caminitti, Sosa, Giambi, etc. stopped using, there was a noticeable difference in appearance and ability. Haven't seen that with Bonds. Yes, he missed a great deal last year due to his knees - but those have been bone-on-bone for years. And I will chalk that one up to some stupidity on Bonds' part. He used his own doctor rather than the team doctor for the knee surgeries. I say surgeries because he had to have a second one to clean up the mess the first one created. And you know the minute he entered the clubhouse last season he was greeted with a handshake and a pee cup - still nothing, and that's with MLB chomping at the bit. If you've seen the image of Bonds dressed up as *shudder* Paula Abdul this spring training, then you know - he's still cut.

Now there's word that Commissioner Bud Selig wants to investigate? Investigate what? Bonds and others used steroids - then what? How can you suspend anyone after the fact. Better yet, how can you suspend anyone for breaking a rule that - up until a year ago - didn't exist. I'm not saying that makes everything OK, I'm just wondering what action the League can take.

Last year I told my buddy Shane that Bonds should have won his 8th MVP award - seeing as how much the Giants stunk without him. I was only half kidding. When he came back last September, all of the sudden, the Giants were back in the hunt. Granted it was in a NL West division that Dils and I could have won ourselves, but the point is: Bonds means a lot to this team, to this organization, to the fans and to the game of baseball. There is no other player that makes you stop channel surfing when you see him at bat. No other player has people going back to their seats from the concession stands when he is up. No other player single-handedly changes a game or the other team's strategy just by showing up (he was twice intentionally walked with the bases loaded). Pedro in his prime? Clemens? Randy Johnson? Perhaps - but everyday? No one even comes close.

I have not read the SI article or the excerpts the SF Chronicle has been running - nor will I be reading either of the books coming out. Head in the sand? Yeah, a little bit. I am disappointed - he challenged the media to find something, and it looks like they did. But if you tell me you would not have wanted Bonds on your team for the last 10 years, you're lying - and you would have missed some amazing moments.