Barry Bonds could face a series of fines and legal repercussions if his past finally catches up with him in 2009. Ironically his legal problems no longer have anything to do with baseball or his use of steroids, HGH, and any other designer drugs he used to mask the enhancements he was taking. It has to do with some of the foundations of this country's legal court system and it includes an indictment for perjury. The fact Bonds refused to tell the government the truth in regards to his steroids and HGH use is now a moot point. Bonds has buried himself in his own grave because he supposedly lied to a federal grand jury about being a user. The government no longer cares about whether or not Bonds did steroids but it comes down to the fact he perjured himself which poses a threat to the entire court system itself if he is found guilty.
Another man in a similar boat but on a smaller scale is Rafael Palmeiro. Palmeiro testified in 2005 before Congress he never knowingly took steroids (but definitely took Viagra since he was a spokesman for the product) since he tested positive for a steroid in 2005. Palmeiro's positive test could be construed as perjury but the government is not pursing perjury charges on Palmeiro even though he was named in the December 07 Mitchell Report. Is this a case of just going after a sport's mega star just to show him who is boss and that lying to Washington is never all right? Maybe so. It is not like Bonds was the most liked ballplayer. Often he was dubbed a career loner and he never seemed to mind taking up his own large portion of the Giants clubhouse at the team's expense. Nevertheless, before the start of the 2000 season, Bonds was one of the best all around players in the MLB. He was a five tool guy whose only real limit in terms of talent was his outfield arm, which was still above average in his prime. Then he decided to follow in the steps of Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and even solid outfield leadoff hitter turned one-season slugger Brady Anderson. Using enhanced drugs turned this guys into one-dimensional ballplayers, but that one dimension helped change an entire state of a ballgame that more than made up for their compromising of their other skills.
I do not understand why fans and commentators make such as big deal about the dubbed "steroid era" of baseball. The attempt to gain an edge will exist forever and Bonds was not the only one taking steroids obviously. Each era of baseball has gone through and will continue to go through some type of trend or commonality to give it a sense of identity. Some will be positive and others will be negative. It does not bother me because I know how hard professional ballplayers work to get where they are and I respect that. What they want to risk with their bodies is not my business. However, for those who say steroids were not "illegal" in baseball are certainly in the wrong for two reasons. One, steroids are illegal drugs to take or sell in this country period. Two, if players did not know it was wrong to do, why were guys like Canseco and McGwire injecting each other behind shower curtains and not in the middle of the club house for all the media to see? To use Bonds as an example just because he is the biggest fish in a loaded pond is not entirely fair, but assuming he did commit perjury, have him serve his time and be done with it. I can think of many more important things the public officials in Washington D.C. could be doing besides getting involved with enhancement drugs in sports. isn't that what highly paid commissioners are for? Fans need to stop being naive and understand this stuff exists, just like amphetamines, spitballs, pine tar, corked bats, vaseline, and scuffed balls have come into play gradually since the game's beginnings in the late 1800s.
