Much debate has been made over Major League Baseball’s decision to not formally celebrate Barry Bonds surpassing of Babe Ruth’s career home run mark of 714, which at one time was the single most important number in all of professional sports.
MLB Commissioner Bud Selig stated that the game has never celebrated someone moving into second place on any record list. But it is hard to imagine why baseball would not take the opportunity to turn back the clock and celebrate the mighty Ruth’s legend. After all, Ruth is an icon of the game and fans still recognize the Bambino as the greatest player in the history of baseball.
Ruth made baseball America’s pastime and sold out hundreds of ballparks with out the publicity of television or the internet. He was a living legend during his time, more recognizable than the President and is the single reason why the Yankees are the greatest sports dynasty in all of professional sports.
Baseball should pull out all the stops to celebrate anyone who hits career home run 714, not because it is such sensational feat, but because 714 is still the most recognizable number in all of sports...755 is important as well, but 714 still has the same luster it did when Hank Aaron belted past Ruth in 1974.
So why would MLB and Selig bypass a perfect publicity and marketing opportunity and keep their distance from celebrating this once in a lifetime moment? The answer is simple: Because Barry Bonds is the one passing Babe Ruth.
One thing is certain, if it were Ken Griffey Jr. and not Barry Bonds surpassing Ruth’s mark of 714, baseball would be honoring Griffey much like it did during Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa’s home run chase in 1998. There would be a ticker tape parade in the stadium and a grand presentation after the game. Griffey would presented a mural depicting his great swing along side that of Ruth’s. It would be an extraordinary warm-up event to Griffey’s eventual passing of Hank Aaron’s record of 755. Baseball fans around the country would be gripped to the television and baseball would again be discussed at the dinner table. It would basically a dream come true fans, due what has taken place within the game the past two years.
Unfortunately, Griffey is not surpassing Ruth, Bonds is, and the sad realization of this saga is that steroids have cheated baseball and its fans yet again. Witnessing someone hit their 714th career home run is a once in a lifetime event and should be a time for celebration, not a reminder to talk to your son about performance enhancing drugs.
So who is to blame? Though baseball turned a blind eye to the steroid problem in the 1990’s and 2000’s, it is still the players, i.e. Bonds, who injected themselves with illegal substances, whether it was ‘the cream’ or ‘the clear.’ It was their choice, and that choice has cheated baseball fans in many ways. Fans were cheated into thinking that what they were watching on the field was real and they are now being cheated out of what should be one of the greatest moments in the history of the game.... the celebration of 714 and the eventual crowning of a new home run king.
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