Bonds: "No such thing as an asterisk in baseball."

[octopus]

Not a big student of history, I guess. Never heard of Roger Maris.

I hope the Hall accepts the asterisked baseball, as I think they will. I hope Bonds is never voted into the Hall, so he doesn't have the chance to refuse his induction.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Bonds says he'll boycott Hall if record-setting ball has asterisk

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Associated Press

NEW YORK -- Barry Bonds would boycott Cooperstown if the Hall of Fame displays his record-breaking home run ball with an asterisk.


That includes skipping his potential induction ceremony.

"I won't go. I won't be part of it," Bonds said in an interview with MSNBC that aired Thursday night. "You can call me, but I won't be there."


The ball Bonds hit for home run No. 756 this season will be branded with an asterisk and sent to the Hall. Fashion designer Marc Ecko bought the ball in an online auction and set up a Web site for fans to vote on its fate. In late September, he announced fans voted to send the ball to Cooperstown with an asterisk.


Of course, the asterisk suggests Bonds' record is tainted by alleged steroid use. The slugger has denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs. Fans brought signs with asterisks to ballparks this season as he neared Hank Aaron's career home run mark.


Bonds has called Ecko "an idiot."


"I don't think you can put an asterisk in the game of baseball, and I don't think that the Hall of Fame can accept an asterisk," Bonds said. "You cannot give people the freedom, the right to alter history. You can't do it. There's no such thing as an asterisk in baseball."


Hall of Fame vice president Jeff Idelson declined to comment Thursday night.


Hall president Dale Petroskey has said accepting the ball doesn't mean the museum endorses the viewpoint that Bonds used illegal substances. He said the museum would be "delighted" to have the ball.


"It's a historic piece of baseball history," Petroskey said in September.


So, if the Hall goes through with the asterisk display?


"I will never be in the Hall of Fame. Never," Bonds said. "Barry Bonds will not be there.


"That's my emotions now. That's how I feel now. When I decide to retire five years from now, we'll see where they are at that moment," he added. "We'll see where they are at that time, and maybe I'll reconsider. But it's their position and where their position will be will be the determination of what my decision will be at that time."


Giants general manager Brian Sabean reiterated Thursday that the team won't bring back Bonds next season. The seven-time NL MVP has spent 15 of his 22 major league seasons in San Francisco, was asked if whether he will retire as a Giant.


"Yeah, it's my house. No matter what that's my house, no one's going to take that away, no one ever," Bonds answered. "No one's going to take the love of that city of me away, ever."


Bonds, who has 762 homers, broke Aaron's record with a shot into the right-center seats off Washington Nationals pitcher Mike Bacsik at San Francisco on Aug. 7.


Matt Murphy, a 21-year-old student and construction supervisor from New York, emerged from a scuffle holding the ball. He said he decided to sell it because he couldn't afford to pay the taxes required to keep it.


Bonds told MSNBC he hoped to reach 764 homers because he was born in July 1964. He said he's been working out and still is considering whether to play next season.


"I may hit two home runs so I can go home. I just think that I have a lot of game left. I think that I can help a team with a championship," Bonds said. "I'm a hell of a part-time player, too."


Bonds said he won't talk to George Mitchell's staff looking into steroids use in baseball while he is under investigation in the BALCO case. A grand jury has been investigating whether Bonds committed perjury when he testified he never knowingly took performance-enhancing drugs.


"I know it ends in January, so a couple more months. But I haven't been keeping up with it. Not at all," Bonds said. "I have nothing to hide. I have said that before and I will say it now and I will look you in the face. I have nothing to hide, nothing. So look all you want to."

[redwinghockeyfan]

Matt Murphy, a 21-year-old student and construction supervisor from New York, emerged from a scuffle holding the ball. He said he decided to sell it because he couldn't afford to pay the taxes required to keep it.

Wow! Taxes on a $15 baseball must be outrageous when a steroid laced spoiled brat hits it out of the park.

I agree. I hope they don't even give him the chance to deny the induction. Just keep him out.

[rfda2000]

I can't wait for Bonds to be inducted. He will be the plaque that symbolizes the steroid era. The Baseball Hall of Fame is a museum when it comes down to it. It should have the players who define their eras in baseball with their play, and Bonds certainly did that.

Besides, are we going to keep every roider out, or is this just a Bonds thing? I'm a firm believer that many more people were juicing than we'll ever know about. How do you choose?

[jerrytimes]

Maybe Bonds should of thought about this before he took steriods.

[Mrhockeytown]

there are NO asterisks in baseball.fact is hank greenberg would have destroyed ruths record but racist mlbers deliberately gave him nothing to hit.nothing baseball does suprises me,the clown that runs mlb is targeting just 1 player,when several prominent players are believed to have used steroids.i believe clemens used,no pitcher has several career years beyond 40.
mcgwire is hiding away like a wuss,he used practically his whole career.the idiotic bashing of one surly player who just wants to do his job is ridiculous.and i'm sure steinbrenner has had a few roid boys and it was overlooked because they are the yankees.giambi gets a free pass,unreal-maybe its because the media knows he is a fragile flower when it comes to owning up and facing the fire bonds has.its amazing bonds answers more questions than any of the other players mentioned and yet he gets the most heat.
mlbs commish is more worried about getting himself in the hall than fixing baseballs real problems-the fact the yankees out spend some teams 3 to 1 or more,having markets in areas that don't draw?why did selig ok a team in miami in an area where fans fear to go due to high crime and away from the population base?

selig oks an ownership in pittsburgh that couldn't realistically compete nor had a reasonable quality gm to build the franchise,it sounds too much like bettman and his money grab.i can't stand how selig has bastardized mlb with his attempts to say he looks out for the good of the game.sandy alderson being in the mlb offices is a joke too,given he was apart of the oakland a's roid run with mcgeire canseco and company.

[jaster]

All I have to say is kudos to Marc Ecko.

[PokerAndPucks]

1) Until relatively recently, steroids, HGH, etc. were not banned under the MLB CBA, making them legal by baseball standards. Therefore, anyone who used them prior to the banning was NOT cheating. They may be moronic, egomaniacal, window lickers who have REALLY tiny balls and receding hair lines who tend to go Incredible Hulk when they get mad, but they're not cheaters. As much as I hate to say it, I haven't seen any evidence that he kept using them.

2) Besides the obvious fact that Bonds is one of the biggest douchebags in all of sports and it's fun to pick on him, there is no reason to single him out when the steroid investigation turns up 3-4 more well known players every few days who bought them. If Pud Selig (spelling intentional) wants to suspend everyone who is caught, we're going to be seeing a lot of AAA and AA players making their big league debuts once the suspensions start flying.

[gus_chiggins]

Bonds should never be allowed into the Hall of Fame anyway.

So the ball goes in with an asterisk, and everybody is happy.

Barry Bonds sucks.

Oh, and he absolutely used steroids and HGH AFTER they were banned. He just had the best designer stuff that can't be detected by MLB testing. Someday soon they'll perfect a test for HGH, and these hacks will be exposed.

How is it fair to say to a teenage kid with great baseball skills that no matter how good he is, how hard he works, etc, he'll never make it to the big leagues unless he destroys his body with steroids so he can keep up with the other guys that are all doing it?

Anybody else remember when baseball players (even Mark McGwire) looked like regular guys? McGwire hit 49 homers in 1987, when he weighed about a buck ninety. Un-juiced players can play too, and their accomplishments are even more amazing when you know they're clean.

Anybody can cheat - it's the guys that do incredible things while playing fair that are really worth watching.

[stillsomeguy]

Barry was just indicted by a grand jury on perjury and obstruction of justice charges.

[jaster]

SWEET! ESPN is covering the story right now.