COOPERSTOWN AND PHARMACEUTICALS

I was driving to Pony League baseball practice the other day, and my son piped up and said, “Hey Dad, you know who the all time home run leader is?”

I figured he had a point to make, so I bit. “Who do you think it is?” I asked.

“Henry Aaron,” he said.

“Really? How you figure?”

“Because that other guy cheated,” he retorted.

 “What other guy?”

“The guy who played for the Giants,” he said, not even mentioning the name, which obviously, in his mind, further emphasized his point.

When I arrived at practice, I asked a few of the Cheviot Hills Mustang Division Yankees what they thought of Barry Bonds.

The general consensus? -- he cheated.   Enough said.  Smart, these nine and ten year olds these days.

I bring this up because I saw where Bonds spoke to the media a bit recently. He talked about how that wretched personality he embodied and promoted during his long career was not real.  He says, he “created that guy, for entertainment.”

Well, if your idea of great entertainment is Hannibal Lecter, he nailed it.

But no attempt at post career image rehabilitation will undo the steroids issue. Ever.

All this inevitably leads us to the great Baseball Hall of Fame issue of our time.  What to do with the players during the “Juiced up Era?” With names like Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, and Juan Gonzales, to name a few, up for immortality consideration, I have an idea.

Cooperstown should consider a special Pharmacy Section, just like at the grocery store.

Hey, it’s a start isn’t it?  The Pony League kids would get it, trust me.