Barry Bonds Pursuit of Hank Aaron Getting Tiresome

The San Francisco Giants had visions of Barry Bonds breaking the all time home run record in their home park, that is the only logical explanation to why they brought back a player who offers as little as Bonds does these days.

This season, Bonds has been a shell of his former self, going through two of the worst slumps of his career. His defense is a liability, and his overall value to the Giants comes down only to his chase of the home run record.

on Monday, Bonds began a home stand in San Francisco, and while the ballpark will be full for all of the games until he breaks the record, the rest of the country is agonizing over the possibility that one of our sports most celebrated records will soon be in the hands of a perceived cheater.

Making matters even worse for everyone outside of San Francisco is the fact that we have to watch Bonds practically limp to the plate to take what amounts to be feeble attempt after feeble attempt to muster up enough power to just clear the outfield wall a few last times.

The tricky part comes at the end of the home stand for Bonds, as he will almost certainly break the record on the road, seeing as that's where the Giants will be playing. The home run could actually come in a series against their most hated rival over in Los Angeles.

So while Bonds continues his crawl toward 755, and San Francisco rejoices, the rest of us baseball fans sit back and watch Bonds' eventual successor Alex Rodriguez pop home run after home run, and wonder how long it will be before we can share in the thrill of experiencing a home run chase by a player worth celebrating.



2007-07-25