Hey Baseball, Make Room for Barry Bonds

Love him or hate him, Barry Bonds can’t be ignored.

Henry White prefers to appreciate Bonds’ historic home run chase, even if he’s in the minority of Americans.

Bonds, the San Francisco Giants outfielder, hit his 755th home run on Saturday night off of San Diego pitcher Clay Hensley, etching his name in history books, alongside Hank Aaron, as baseball’s all-time home run king.

The slugger’s road to history, however, has included a dark cloud of scandal over alleged steroids use. White, the baseball coach at N.C. Central, isn’t buying it.

"They’ve portrayed him as a bad guy all the way around," he said. "It’s really sickening how they harp on it. “If they find him guilty, I’d rethink it, but he hasn’t failed a drug test.”

Bonds’ prickly relationship with reporters certainly has been eclipsed by taunts when the Giants hit the road. Signs declaring Bonds a cheat and a discredit to the game greet him outside San Francisco, as much a part of road games as hot dogs and fastballs.

Guilty or not, the slugger has struck out with Americans. A Zogby Interactive Poll published last month showed 45 percent of respondents believe Bonds cheated to get to the top of the home run chart.

Just 15 percent believe the slugger’s playing clean or don’t care if he hasn’t. Perhaps most telling: Only three percent said they’re Bonds fans and want to see the record broken.

“Nationally, it’s more how they perceive him,” said Jim Persinger, a lifelong Giants fan from Fairfield, Calif. “The media has painted him as very arrogant, but Barry is a very amicable and very likeable person. Maybe he’s not a very humble person, but lots of famous people aren’t.”

Race has divided the Bonds debate into distinct camps. An Associated Press poll showed 55 percent of baseball fans of color want Bonds to break Aaron’s mark, an improvement from 34 percent in October 2006. Non-Hispanic whites are firmly in the anti-Bonds camp, with only 34 percent pulling for him.

Yet baseball’s appeal hasn’t suffered at the gate, with attendance at record levels. Lots of fans are showing up at ballparks across the country to boo—and perhaps witness history.

With the media talking as much about steroids as homers, Bonds’ public image has taken a beating.

“Bonds has not been open to the media,” White said. “He shuts them out, he has his own style. He doesn’t let them into his space.”

Steroid speculation aside, Bonds’ quest also points to his place as one of baseball’s best players. With seven National League MVP awards and six Gold Gloves, Bonds stacks up statistically with one-name heroes like Aaron, Mays, DiMaggio and Ruth. Greatness, White insists, is best measured through the prism of time. Whether it’s the dead ball era, no-blacks era or steroids, Bonds’ place is secure.

“I don’t know if he injected steroids or not, but my take is not matter what, it’s a major feat,” Persinger said. “I think he’s one of the best hitters there ever was.”

“Everything changes,” White said. “It’s just like the argument over who’s the greatest basketball player. Today it’s Michael Jordan, but there are so many before him and there’ll be someone after him.”