Comparing Hank Aaron to Barry Bonds is disgraceful

* Henry Aaron

* Born February 5, 1934 in Mobile, Ala.

* Height, 6-0. Weight, 190.

* Threw and batted right handed.

* Brother of Tommy Aaron, former major league player with Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves.

* Holds major league record for most career home runs (755), home runs with one club (Braves, 733), RBIs (2,297), total bases (6,856), most games played (3,298) and many others.

* Hit 20 or more home runs for 20 consecutive seasons (1955-1974).

* Named to 24 All Star games.

* Won three Gold Glove awards, 1958, 1959, 1960.

* Named The Sporting News' National League Player of the Year, 1956, 1963.

* Named to Hall of Fame, 1982.

I wanted to start this rant off by highlighting a brief summary of Hank Aaron's amazing career.  Aaron is truly one of Major League Baseball’s immortals even if you exclude his most famous record.  Aaron brought more than just his talent to the batter’s box and playing field; he was a true man of courage, determination, class and humility.

I was 3 days shy of my 14th birthday on April 8, 1974.  It's a day I'll never forget because I was fortunate enough to see Aaron break Babe Ruth's untouchable record on TV.  The game was nationally televised so many people of my generation saw the game.

The thing I didn't know as a teenager and would later learn as an adult was just how much pressure Aaron was under.  From the start of 1973 Baseball season until the end of it when he was 2 home runs short of record Aaron received hate mail.  Some of it was from Yankee and Ruth fans and some was from ignorant racists who were not even fans of the game. The racists just didn't want to see a "Nigger" break the record.

Aaron received thousands of letters over the course of 73 and 74 seasons.  Many people supported him but just as many didn't.  It was remarkable that he was able to maintain his composure when he was getting daily hate mail and constant death threats right up until the day he broke the record.

Aaron really didn't receive the kind of notoriety and press that say McGwire was lavished with during his pursuit of the single season Home Run record.  Aaron was Black, he wasn't all that articulate and he played in Atlanta before it became more of a sophisticated Southern City with open mined people.  In many ways the Maris vs. McGwire Home Run record has many parallels but that's another argument for another day.  Today this one centers on Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds.

Aaron was 6' tall and weighed 180 to 190 pounds soaking wet.  Despite his small size by today's standards he may have had some of the strongest wrists and forearms in Baseball history.  That in combination with his amazing bat speed made him a fierce power hitter.  Aaron didn't lift weights, didn't have a personal trainer, didn't have a personal nutritionist and lastly and most importantly didn't take performance enhancing substances. 

Aaron didn't play on a team that was in a pennant chase late in his career.  For years he didn't have anyone batting in front or behind him to see better pitches at the plate.  He wasn't a $20 million dollar a year Super Star who got a liberal strike zone.  Aaron didn't stand on top of the plate with padded batting gloves, body armor protecting his arm, elbow or his shin and dare the opposing Pitchers to hit him. 

The Pitchers back in that area would have intentionally beaned a hitter who thought he owned the plate and had that kind of an arrogant attitude.  The Umpires during that same period would allow a certain number of brush backs and beanings because back then Pitchers still had some latitude when it came to moving a Batter back off the plate especially if they stood directly on top of it. 

I know that in any level of Baseball past or present we need to protect Batters and throwing balls intentional at them to inflict injury is wrong but at the same time the Pitchers must be able to have some control over the strike zone.  Brush backs pitches should be allowed in Baseball for this reason and then taken on a case by case basis by the Umpires who then decide if it’s a brush back or a case of a Pitcher trying to hurt a Batter.

This among many other issues is the one of the reasons it is impossible to compare Barry Bonds and Hank Aaron in any way.  The only positive thing I have to say and be forced to admit about Bonds is that he is one hell of hitter.  He's one of the best ever, that cannot be denied but if you take all of the variables into account plus the "fact" that we know Bonds has injected steroids into his body there can be no comparison.

When did Bonds start taking Steroids?

People have tried to speculate when Bonds started down the steroids road.  Some have said that he didn't start until the late 90's.  I don't believe this for a minute and here's why.  In 1991 Bonds was with the Pirates and had one the best statistical season of all players in the National League that season.  Terry Pendleton with the Atlanta Braves had a great season too and ended up winning the National League MVP Award.  Not only did Pendleton win the MVP but the Braves beat the Pirates 4-3 to win the National League Championship Series in 1991.

Many argued that Bonds should have won the award that year.  Both players were deserving of the award but Pendleton led the Braves from worst to first in one year in 1991.  He had the best season of his career.  So, while Bonds had better stats that season Pendleton lead his team all the way to the World Series.

I think the lost in the 1991 National League Championship Series and the fact that Bonds completely tanked at the plate helped pushed him over the edge. He only had 4 hits in 27 at bats for .148 Batting Average, 1 run scored, "0" RBI and "0" Homeruns.  This miserable performance in addition to having lost the previous year to the Reds in 1990 NLCS was just too much for Bonds.  As great a baseball as he played during the regular season it just wasn't enough in the postseason.  (In his 20 years in baseball Bonds only produced for his team in the postseason just one year, and that was in 2002.)  Then to compound his misery the Pirates lost again to the Braves in the 1992 NLCS. 3 crushing losses in the postseason plus all the negative criticism by fans and the media of his game just devastated Bonds. 

I think the crushing defeat the Pirates had in 1991 to the Braves was the moment Bonds felt he needed something extra to elevate his game.  It's possible he took steroids before the 91 season but my guess is he didn't.  People need to keep in mind that Bonds was a gangly 6-2, 180 to maybe 190 pounds when he broke into the Majors in 1986.  He didn't have over 30 Homeruns (33) until the 1990 season.  Bonds didn't really look like he'd ever be a Power Hitter until the Mid-90's or about 9 or 10 years into his career.

Bonds went from 190 pounds in 1986 to 230 pounds today or at least this is his listed weight.  A true weight of Bonds today would probably be closer to 240 or 250.  Granted, to his credit Bonds has worked the weights his body shows it.  Still though anyone who believes that the weights alone have contributed to his incredibly chiseled body and his dramatic increase in Home Runs is either in complete denial or is a complete idiot.

The Season of my Discontent...

All this being said the worst part about Bonds breaking the record is that he is just a smug arrogant complete zero of a person.  He's got a big mouth, he has about as much intelligence as a 16 year boy, never was and never will be a team player, treats the fans that have made him a millionaire like garbage and then can't understand why he is such an unpopular figure.

The game of Professional Baseball well turn the page on its saddest chapter when Bonds breaks the record this year which he surely will.  It's sadder still that the powers that be in MLB don't have the guts to suspend Bonds even if only for a short time to show that they have teeth in the substance abuse policy they adopted last year.  This new book out now about Bonds is just more evidence that Bonds took steroids.  Tragically, no one cares and Bonds will be suited up on opening day you can count on it.

The suspension is not going to happen so I'm sure that the day will come when Bogus Barry breaks the record.  Then the network covering the game he does it in will instantly trot out Aaron for a comment.  Aaron being the man of class that he is will smile and say all the right things giving Bonds credit.  He'll then humbly step away from the microphone and walk away because that's the kind of man he is. Secretly though, he would have to be thinking to himself that a man who in reality couldn't carry his jock strap just stole the greatest sports record of all time from him by cheating.

I for one am not looking forward to that moment.  It's really heartbreaking to believe that many will celebrate Bonds accomplishment despite that.  This baseball season will be one of discontent for me.  The greatest record in baseball held by one of the greatest people, not just a player, will be broken by a man who cheated, a man cares more about himself and the record alone than the integrity of the game.  I just wish I was a Pitcher in the National League this year, I'd never pitch to him but I would however pitch at him every chance I could get.  Where have you gone Hammerin' Hank Aaron?  You'll always be the true Home Run Champ to me.  Man, the game today sure needs more players like you.