Monday is the 10th anniversary of Barry Lamar Bonds' 756th home run, and while we are sure you'd love one more treatise on how PEDs are evil/good, or how Bonds has been lionized/demonized, or the Hall Of Fame's standards/lack thereof, we prefer to go in another direction.
Namely, Bonds as prophet.
With baseball about to destroy its all-time seasonal home run mark of 5693 (September 7, give or take a day, in case you're planning a company softball game and need your employees properly juiced up), it's time to remember how home runs were vilified when BCA (Baseball's Chemical Army) was roaming the land unchecked.
And how desperately they are needed now by the very people who vilified them.
The 30 teams are on a pace to hit 6,116 homers this year, an increase of nine percent over 2016, 20 percent over 2015 and 31 percent over 2014. Given the loud accusations from all over that the balls have been rewired for extra voom, and baseball tepid and unconvincing denials thereof, one can only assume that the sport has decided that since it cannot make itself go faster (with a lot of "official" emphasis on time of game, the games are longer than ever before and even the individual at-bats require more pitches), it has decided to make it go further.
So, Home Run Mania has returned, and with a vengeance. An all-time high 12 players are on pace to hit 40 homers, and another eight could do it with a little September garbage time. Now we won't assume any illegalities, but we won't not assume them either, and we surely won't not assume the ball is jacked.
In other words, what we will assume is that baseball is trying to stay cool by going with the long ball, which is the same problem it felt 30 years ago and 20 years ago and, well, three years ago.
Sports
And somewhere Barry Bonds is . . . well, smiley-grimacing, because the gift of prophecy only gets you so far.
