Bud, Bowie, and Barry's Home Run Chase

Barry Bonds has hit 753 home runs as of today's game, two short of Hank Aaron's record, and the record is likely to fall soon.

A lot of silly stuff was written by the Madison and Milwaukee media this week, bemoaning the possibility that Bonds would break the record in Milwaukee where Hank Aaron played for the Braves from 1954 to 1965 and for the Brewers in 1975 and 1976. Give me a break. As a fan I wanted to see Bonds tie or break the record in person on Saturday. Like it or not, it's a huge moment, if not a happy one, in baseball history - all the controversy just makes it more interesting.

Michael Hunt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel looked particularly silly when he delivered himself of this line in Friday's paper right before Bud Selig said he would attend this weekend's games:

Just a guess here, but Bud Selig might otherwise be occupied this weekend. Were he in town, it wouldn't be too much to ask him to make the 20-minute drive, because this is the bed baseball has made for itself. But there is the matter of Aaron's legacy, reason enough for Selig to remain conspicuous by his absence.

Wrong. Selig is the Commissioner of Baseball and he ought to be there when Bonds sets what is without much argument the biggest record in baseball - a game that's popularity is founded more than any other sport on stats and records. That's one reason steroid use has caused such turmoil in baseball compared to other sports.

What the history-impaired sportswriters seem to have forgotten is that back in 1973-1974 a lot of people - and not just the racists - were less than thrilled that Aaron was going to break Babe Ruth's home run record of 714.

Some people just thought Ruth was so far a superior player to Aaron (true, but then Ruth was the best player to ever play the game) that it was unjust for Aaron to break the record.

Others argued that Aaron wasn't even the best player at any given time in his era - again true, but but it misses the point. Aaron won the MVP once and was overshadowed at various times in his career by Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Frank Robinson, and by Pete Rose and Johnny Bench later in his career. Aaron's great achievement was consistent excellence over an incredible 20-year run in an era when most players dropped off in their early 30's and were washed by 35.

What nearly everyone seems to have forgotten is Bowie Kuhn was a no-show for Aaron's home run record chase. Kuhn's absence was startling for two reasons. First, Aaron had ended the 1973 season with 713 homers - one short of the record. Second, Aaron opened 1974 on the road and Kuhn ordered that Aaron play at least two the first three games. Aaron promptly homered to tie the record and then broke Ruth's record in Atlanta on April 8, 1974. Kuhn begged off, saying he had a commitment with the Cleveland Indians fan club! This ZNet retrospective on Kuhn makes Selig look positively progressive.

Here's an interesting perspective reviewing Tom Stanton's "Hank Aaron and the Home Run that Changed America" on The Serious Tip blog.

Check these out, too:

Willie Mays (Salon archived story),
Mickey Mantle (official family web site),
Frank Robinson (Baseball Almanac) ,
Pete Rose (Baseball Almanac) (here's Pete's pathetic personal web site where you can actually buy - for just $300 - a Pete Rose Autographed Baseball with "I'm Sorry I Bet on Baseball" Inscription - honest)

Johnny Bench (Baseball Almanac) (here's Bench's slightly cheesy but overall pretty good web site - you can buy his own brand of Scotch!)