Barry

The MLBlog posts continue to pour in with reaction to Barry Bonds becoming the all-time home run king. It’s his moment, and now the collective reaction is the proof of his career to date. Whether it’s good or bad, it’s his making. I’m not going either way on this one and will let everything play itself out over time, but the one thing that DOES stand out to me with this record is how I felt when I watched Barry give his speech following Hank’s video. Watching the emotional thank you he gave his late father Bobby, watching his heartfelt words, all I could do was wonder where that Barry Bonds was hiding for these past two-plus decades. I’ve been around the game that long as well. I wish I had seen that guy a lot more often. It felt for a moment like he was unquestionably one of us, one of countless millions of ordinary people who just love baseball and have been part of the passage of the greatest rite of all. How many fans before that moment could even tell you what Barry’s voice sounded like other than a sound bite snapping at media? As a lifetime honorary Hall of Fame voter for the Baseball Writers Association of America, I’ve got a presumptive first-ballot vote waiting for him five years from whenever he hangs up the spikes. The only question is whether anything will unfold between now and then that could keep him off the ballot. Now it’s time to tack on more homers and make A-Rod’s mission a little harder, and it’s time for the court of public opinion to keep weighing in as you are doing now. No matter how you feel, I think you have to agree that the man with the mic was someone you could have liked a lot all along. If only that moment could have been multiplied by years and years. What do you think? That’s what I remember about 756. Not so much the homer itself. The human being emerging.