It's common now for baseball writers, and sports writers in general, to say that any record obtained by Barry Bonds should have an asterisk by it.
Really?
I am not interested in arguing whether Bonds did or did not use steroids. I am sure that time will reveal everything, but I am interested in exploring how a person who has never been caught or tested using steroids can be so maligned.
Mark McGuire nearly admitted to using steroids, and there is still no asterisk next to his name. But there is a greater issue to look at for asterisk sake. African Americans can, and many have in personal conversations, make the case that any records in baseball, football or basketball that happen before full integration are also a candidate for the asterisk.
What would have happened to Babe Ruth's or Joe DiMaggio's records if they had to contend with African American pitchers like Satchel Page, or swift infielders or outfielders who would have stolen some of those home runs or base hits?
Would Red Grange or the four horsemen of Notre Dame have been nearly as famous if they had played against Black athletes? How many behind the back dribbles would Bob Cousy have lost if more African Americans had played during his time? The fact that people of color were barred from participation could be called racial cheating and should be looked at with as much, if not more, indignation as people using steroids today.
An asterisk says that whatever record he or she has obtained should not be considered legitimate because it was gotten because someone cheated. Was racism in professional sports cheating the record books?
How far do we take this? How pure do we want our records to be and how deeply do we really dig into the moral character of those who have played professional sports.
Many of our icons of professional sports of the 30s and 40s were hard-core racists. Even up to and beyond Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier, racism was rampant and many of the sports heroes of that era wore theirs like a badge of honor.
America has Halls of Fame for athletes, politicians, city and state fathers, business people and public officials, that are full of slave owners and people in general who believed that Black people were no better than animals. Should we go back and ask you to put an asterisk next to the name of all of those people?
Should we throw away all of their achievements because one part of their personality was racially flawed?
America is going through the most important change in its brief but volatile history. We are at a point where European Americans can no longer claim a corner on ability or talent. We are at a point where we must decide how to best use all of our human assets if we are going to stay competitive in the world. America has to create a society where talent is more important than race, where racial inclusion is the norm, and then we can clean up all of the other forms of cheating going on around us.
But if we cannot deal with institutionalized racial cheating by contractors (who work with politicians to deny other racial groups their share of public or private contracts), politicians (who use their position to further the aim of cheaters and get paid handsomely while doing it), corporations (that consistently overcharge and under-deliver goods and services) and public servants (that use their positions to serve the wealthy) then we need to stop being so self righteous about Barry Bonds.
African Americans don't have the political, economical or social power to create a new societal norm. We can add to the changes that are taking place, and we can often spark change. But we primarily are a reflection of the strengtsh and weaknesses of what America has become.
Not only is there no proof that Bonds used steroids, there is clear proof that Barry Bonds did not create steroids or a distribution system for them. According to the testimony of ex-Raider and Bronco linebacker Bill Romanowski and others, white athletes - who believed they needed an edge to compete with blac Athletes - began using them first.
Steroids were being guzzled down or shot up by white athletes for years (from high school to pros) before black athletes began to experiment with them. The assault against steroids can be directly traced to the belief that black athletes were now using them.
The very people who are having a field day attacking Barry Bonds know everything that I am saying. Jesse Jackson is right, Bonds has been made a poster boy for everything wrong with baseball, and this negative campaign could endanger his life.
The only thing that Bonds is guilty of is having a huge ego. His home-run binge and declaration several years ago that, "Babe Ruth can't hold my jock strap" is what created the initial feeding frenzy.
But as we learn how to become an inclusive society we must be careful of how exclusive we become. How we pick and choose what is a relevant achievement or not has to be done carefully, for all of the decisions we make today will cast a shadow on all of the decisions we have made in the past.
We may end up with a record book full of asterisks and few, if any, heroes left in America.
Central District writer Charlie James may be contacted via the address or e-dress below.
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