The timing was unbelievable. Just a couple weeks after Alex
Rodriguez's (or as it now appears, Scott Boras') decision to opt out of his
record contract with the Yankees was announced during Game 4 of the World Series,
baseball's highest-paid player showed impeccable timing again last week. A-Rod
announced his return to New York with another record contract that's imminent
at about the same time as the announcement came that Barry Bonds had been
indicted for lying to a federal jury and was facing up to 30 years in prison.
For Bonds, Rodriguez and fans of the game, it was the start
of the two most important stories of our generation.
Baseball's all-time home run king and perhaps the man who
will one day take his place making remarkable decisions about their future, and
it came at the exact same time.
Only time will tell which event will end up having the
greater impact on the future of baseball, but here's a guess at which it'll be.
The case for Bonds
Let's start with the facts: Barry Bonds is Major League
Baseball's all-time home run leader (762), he's set the record for home runs in
a single season (73) and he's won seven MVP awards.
Bonds is also the most controversial player in recent
memory. For years, the media has blasted the Giants star for his relationship
with them, as well as teammates, and he's been the poster boy for steroid
accusations.
Now, Bonds has been charged with obstruction of justice and
perjury for allegedly lying about unknowingly taking steroids.
Fans have suspected Bonds was juicing for years, but now the
claim isn't being made by a Mets fan, a guest on ESPN’s "Around the Horn," or
the guy who lives down the street — it's being made by the federal government.
It's being made officially.
If indicted, Bonds will hardly be the first player facing
jail time — Pete Rose served time for tax evasion and Ugueth Urbina is
currently in a Venezuelan prison for attempting to light employees on fire, to
name a couple — but Bonds will be the greatest player ever to do so. On top of
that, Bonds' punishment will be for a crime that has a direct relationship to
his play on the field.
But it's not just Bonds who will be affected by this indictment;
it's every fan that ever has, and ever will, watch the game.
Fans have pretty much come to assume that steroids are a
part of baseball, but now it is becoming clearer than ever that they are found
throughout the sport including with the game's best players, not just the Nefi
Perezs of the world.
Bonds' indictment raises questions that will last for years.
Will baseball's all-time home run king go to jail? Will he be banned from
baseball? What does the Hall of Fame have to say about this? Will there be an
asterisk?
With the Bonds indictment, baseball is faced with a
firestorm of questions and controversy that won't soon go away.
The case for A-Rod
The man already being hailed as the savior of baseball's home run record
(Rodriguez already has 518 and is only 32) is on the verge of signing the
biggest contract in baseball history (again), confirming that he'll be a Yankee
for years to come.
Rodriguez will make his mark on baseball in a much different
way than Bonds, and a more fan-friendly one.
Baseball's most storied franchise has kept the game's best
player on their roster, and to think that New York won't win a single World
Series over the course of the next 10 years is wishful thinking. If the Yanks
can't claim a title with A-Rod, though, that might be even more talked about
than if they do.
Perhaps just as important as the contributions Rodriguez
will make on the field is the one he just made off it.
Rodriguez spurned super-agent Scott Boras, a man whose mere
mention brings shivers down the back of general managers’ spines, in going
behind his back to make the record deal.
In going around the biggest agent in the game, and with
World Series titles and the home run record looming, Rodriguez's decision to
stay in pinstripes will only fuel the media frenzy over the rest of his — and
what may be the best ever — career.
The Verdict
Bonds will be the one making the immediate headlines with a
trial that will likely make what happened with Michael Vick seem about as
newsworthy as a Brett Favre interception. Over the course of the next decade,
though, it will be Rodriguez — and what he accomplishes with the Yankees, be it
World Series or home run records or both — that has the lasting effect.
Still, as it stands, the government is about to expose Major
League Baseball's all-time home run leader as a cheater that (unfortunately)
may end up being the most significant event in baseball since the game's
inception.
Mike is a sophomore majoring in political
science. If you have any opinions on the two stories, or think the Red Sox are
still going to dominate the Yankees over the next 10 years, he can be reached
at [email protected].
