Green: Reflections on a weekend with Bonds

“The Hank Aaron 755.” That’s what Atlanta-based airline Delta is calling one particular Boeing 757, in honor of longtime Brave Hank Aaron. The Sox, of course, are in Atlanta this week, having just dispatched with another home run hitter. What does Aaron think of him? “I don’t have any thoughts about Barry,” he has said. “I don’t even know how to spell his name.”

I watched Barry Bonds come and go from Fenway with mixed feelings. Judging by the boos/cheers/boos when he went deep Sunday afternoon, so did the crowd at the Fens.

He’s easy to dislike. He’s cheated on his wife, on his taxes, and at baseball (allegedly, for you lawyers out there). His distended skull and his cartilage-free knees render the indictment the grand jury hasn’t. He wasn’t the only player treating his body as a biochemistry lab, but he’s the one currently threatening a major-league record. He complains about the media attention even as he invites it. All of this makes him an easy target.

But though it galls me to say it, the definition of “scapegoat” fits him as well as his UnderArmor. What do we expect from our fill-in-the-righteous-indignation sermonizing? Catharsis? What do we expect from our clever asterisk signs and less subtle jeers? Justice?

Apparently, Bud Selig assumed he could channel this same level of public vitriol towards Jason Giambi. But with Selig threatening the pudgy slugger with disciplinary action unless he cooperates with the Mitchell investigation, the Commissioner has found the masses less sympathetic. Perhaps that’s because Giambi’s comment to USA Today — the May 18 “slip” that started this power struggle — rings true with fans. “I was wrong for doing that stuff,” he said, adding that “players, ownership, everybody” should have admitted their mistake years ago, put a rule in place, and moved forward, “but it was a topic that everybody wanted to avoid.”

The current state of affairs isn’t markedly different. The Mitchell investigation drags on. The BALCO trial produces nothing but leaks. Baseball officials look increasingly ineffectual and the media aren’t telling us anything we didn’t already know. And despite what they say in public, I still think the owners would be happier with a “don’t ask, don’t tell” steroids policy. They’re happy to let the public feast on Bonds, because it keeps us from looking around at other players with bloated faces and poor connective tissue.

Giambi at least admitted he was wrong and apologized. I can’t see Bonds doing that. He’s come to relish his pariah status too much, a slugging Pete Rose. But what has hating Barry Bonds accomplished? He’s still playing baseball. He’s going to break the home run record. He’s probably going to end up in the Hall of Fame and there definitely aren’t going to be any asterisks.

Maybe the only thing we can do is forget how to spell his name.

Sarah Green is a freelance writer who can be reached at sgreen@gmail.com.