Bonds issue deeply confounds baseball
Commentary
MATT KRUEGER Sports Reporter
Moments after the federal indictment of Barry Bonds hit the airwaves, the argument raged about what should be done with the home run champion. Should Major League Baseball erase his season (73) and career (762) home run records after finding out the slugger used performance-enhancing drugs?

But the answer should be pretty simple. If the former San Francisco Giant and Pittsburgh Pirate power hitter is convicted on the four charges of perjury and obstruction of justice tied to the four-year investigation into steroid use in baseball, send him to the same limbo as Pete Rose. Give him a lifetime ban from the sport, which includes induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Rose received his banishment for the cardinal sin of gambling on games he coached. Bonds should join the all-time hits leader at the memorabilia booth at baseball card expos, signing his name to bats and caps for the rest of his life. Keep him away from the game and the hall of fame.

But whatever you might think of the surly, media-unfriendly Bonds, whether you believe he cheated or not, there is one undeniable truth in this situation. He hasn't been convicted of anything yet. That's the thing to keep in mind. Indicted does not mean convicted, which means, in the eyes of the law, Bonds is still innocent.

Only when, and if, he's convicted should baseball start making plans to punish him.

But here's the rub. Even if Bonds is convicted, and even if he admits to cheating, which is about as likely as George Steinbrenner filing for bankruptcy, his season and career home run records should stand. You can't take those away from him and suddenly start re-writing baseball's history.

Bonds hit the home runs. We all saw him do it, as ESPN followed each at-bat for the slugger through the record-breaking 2001 and 2007 seasons. You can't say he didn't hit them.

What would you do, say Mark McGwire is still the single-season home run champ? Some people would have a huge problem with that, since McGwire is also suspected of using steroids during his record-breaking season of 1998. Would you go back to Roger Maris, who was all too familiar with the concept of the asterisk, having one attached to his season record of 61 until after he died for playing in eight more games than previous record-holder Babe Ruth. Ruth, the single most influential character in baseball's gravitational pull toward the long ball, is

criticized and debased by some, because he didn't have to face black, Hispanic or Asian pitchers. Where does it end?

No, Bonds is the man until someone comes along to beat him. And, hopefully, that player, whether it's Alex Rodriguez or someone not yet born, is clean from steroid use and any other form of cheating.

Also, this sad, destructive story shouldn't end with Bonds. Baseball needs to clean up its reputation by ridding performance-enhancing drugs from the landscape. That goes beyond Bonds. Unfortunately, you'll never eradicate cheating from baseball or any other sport. Cheating has been around since the beginning and will last as long as envy, greed and gluttony remain part of the human condition. And I don't think three of the seven deadly sins are going away anytime soon.

e-mail: mkrueger@beenews.com