In 1961, when Roger Maris broke Babe Ruth's single season home run record, Major League baseball statistics recorded it with the famous, or infamous, asterisk. The asterisk noted that Maris' record occurred in a 162 game season, rather than the 154 game season which existed during the Ruth era. Of course many were indignant about it, but the use of the asterisk raises the question as to what ought to be done when Barry Bonds hits his 756th home run and breaks the record now held by Hank Aaron.
Bonds' record is tainted, not by some extra games played during the season, but by the odour of steroid use. Investigations in the United States have left Bonds' use of performance enhancing substances an open secret. His ex-mistress has recently confirmed that Bonds used these substances out of a jealous need to catch Mark McQuire (whose own accomplishments are sufficiently tainted to have led to his failure to be elected to the Hall of Fame). He has, so far, avoided indictment because an agent/lawyer associated with Bonds in the acquisition of these substances refused to comply with a court order to testify and has served jail time for contempt of court. To put it bluntly, Bonds has been able to avoid prosecution because the chief witness fell on his sword.
Aaron was not only a great athlete...he was an honest one. Nothing taints his record.
For that reason, a lot of baseball fans posit that Bonds' record, when it is etched in the history books, ought to have its own asterisk: one that recognizes that a number of the home runs noted were achieved by unfair means.
This week a number of fans have been wondering what has happened to Bonds. He has been stuck on number 754 for almost a week. The Renaissance Man, who followed Aaron's race for the record avidly, has ignored Bonds' chase. The Renaissance Man does not care, because he does not, and will not, recognize the record.
So far as the Renaissance Man is concerned, those who watch Bonds, on the edges of their seats, are waiting for an asterisk.
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