George Mitchell: Unintentional Barry Bonds Apologist
So I’ve finally finished wading through the Mitchell Report. It’s interesting, important, probably underrated at this point and also boring. Anyway, I’ll have a more complete roundup tomorrow at AOL Sports (and a corresponding post) and I wanted to wait a few days to let it all sink in.
One smaller thought that didn’t really fit into my piece, but is sticking with me anyway: did Sen. Mitchell indirectly make the home run king and general evildoer Barry Bonds look a little bit better. From the conclusions portion of his report on page 44:
The minority of players who used such substances were wrong. They violated federal law and baseball policy, and they distorted the fairness of competition by trying to gain an unfair advantage over the majority of players who followed the law and rules. They — the players who follow the law and rules — are faced with the painful choice of either being placed at a competitive disadvantage or becoming illegal users themselves. No one should have to make that choice.
Anyone who has read Game of Shadows or Love Me, Hate Me knows that the biggest thing that drove Bonds to a cocktail of PEDs was jealousy. Jealousy over the fact that Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, both likely steroid users, got so much attention for their assault on the record books in 1998.
OK, so maybe Bonds’ choice wasn’t a painful one. He had made many millions by the time he decided to turn his body into a chemistry lab. But Bonds has always been painfully aware of his legacy, his spot in history. Perhaps it’s not the same dilemma as a fringe regular trying to hold off a steroid-infused monster burning up the depth chart behind him, but I don’t think it’s some horrible sin to want to secure your place.
During the ’90s, Bonds was chronically underrated in comparison to media darling Ken Griffey Jr. Both were flashy outfielders and sons of major leaguers, but Griffey was a little more genial with the media, while Bonds, as he’s always been, was surly. So it was Griffey who was seen as the player of his generation, even if Bonds was the more complete ballplayer, with subtler strengths (particularly in the OBP department) that would have been better admired a decade later. There’s a relevant passage from the Bill James Historical Abstract that sums this up in a more eloquent fashion that I’ll post tomorrow when I get to work.
After undeservedly playing second fiddle to Griffey all those years, along came McGwire and Sosa, likely fueled by steroids, and they pulled the spotlight even farther away from Bonds. You can definitely understand how that’d be extremely frustrating.
Of course, that doesn’t mean Bonds deserves to be absolved of his sins, but Mitchell at least gives us the room to forgive Barry a little bit. No one should have to make that choice — and it’s at least somewhat understandable if you fall prey to weakness and temptation.