Bud Selig
Commissioner of Baseball
245 Park Ave., 31st Floor
New York, N.Y. 10167
March 14, 2006
Dear Commissioner Selig,
Having been a baseball fan for nearly all of the 50 years I've been on this planet, I feel moved to write this week.
First, to mourn the loss of the great Kirby Puckett. He was my late son's hero, and quite likely the cleanest ballplayer of his era. In 1988, the year after the Twins had won it all, I had the opportunity to catch a game in Minneapolis between them and the Oakland Athletics, who would go on to win the American League Championship that year.
Other than that it took place in the shabby Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome -- and I can't imagine what it looks like now, all these years later -- the game was one of the most spectacular I've ever witnessed. Puckett, Hrbek, McGwire and Canseco in their prime, superb pitching and even a bench-clearing brawl, if memory serves.
Puckett's tragic death came on the heels of the troubling and, to me, inexplicable decision to deny the great Buck O'Neil and Minnie Minoso their rightful places in baseball's Hall of Fame.
As a lifelong Cleveland Indians fan, I've never been afflicted with that "winning is everything" mentality, and have enjoyed Major League Baseball at both the old Municipal Stadium and Jacobs Field, at Yankee Stadium, Wrigley Field and the Toronto Skydome. I've coached Little League and have been known, on occasion, to sit in a park and watch high-school teams play.
I mention all this only to give you a sense of my love for the game, and my desire, as a fan, not to see it sullied.
Which brings me to my real point: Barry Bonds cannot be permitted to play this season, or ever again.
Given the revelations that came out recently courtesy of San Francisco Chronicle reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, the lack of an immediate denial or, for that matter, the announcement of a multimillion-dollar libel suit by Bonds' attorneys is enough of an admission, in my book, to forfeit his chances of surpassing Babe Ruth or -- God forbid -- Henry Aaron as the game's home-run leader.
For that matter, I have a hard time justifying his name being on the list ahead of his godfather, Willie Mays, Frank Robinson, Harmon Killebrew or Reggie Jackson. Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro are three others who should have a question mark rather than an asterisk appended to their home-run totals.
Bonds' crimes against the game are far worse than those of Pete Rose. And believe me, I'm not sticking up for Rose. But what Bonds did actually affected the outcomes of who knows how many games. Games people paid to go see, thinking they were being played on the level.
He cheated and then he lied about it. He played the fans for suckers and, unless drastic action is taken, will continue to serve as a role model for legions of kids playing baseball across this country and around the world.
And what lessons will they have learned? That winning at any cost constitutes acceptable behavior? That the use of illegal drugs is OK? That lying, even under oath before a grand jury, can be rewarded rather than punished?
I don't believe those are the messages Major League Baseball wants to send.
Both Rose and Joe Jackson are banned from consideration for the Hall of Fame because of gambling, though there is scant evidence that either man ever threw a game. Hack Wilson was for decades denied his place in the hall because of his reputation as a drinker.
Just as Bonds' defenders are now arguing that a lot of players in the current era have used steroids, partisans of Rose and Jackson point to evidence of widespread gambling in baseball, particularly in the early years. And Wilson's supporters can quickly produce a list as thick as a phone book of players known for showing up drunk on game day.
None of it matters. That others have also acted reprehensibly does not excuse one's own reprehensible behavior.
To allow Bonds to become the "greatest" home-run hitter of all time and all but guarantee him a place in Cooperstown would be a disservice to our youth, the fans and to baseball itself.
As commissioner of baseball, you have the power to address this problem in these weeks before Opening Day. I would respectfully ask that you do so.
Mike Hudson
Editor
Niagara Falls Reporter
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