History's elite

By Editorial

History's eliteEditorialThe steroids shadow aside, Bonds is among the greats.Tuesday night marked a historic occasion for professional sports as San Francisco slugger Barry Bonds passed his godfather, Willie Mays, as No. 3 all-time in home runs with 661. But unlike the days when Mays achieved such greatness, Bonds' feat comes with constant speculation about possible use of performance-enhancing drugs. It's impossible to prove, at least at this point, whether Bonds knowingly or unknowingly took any supplements that contained what could be classified as steroids. If so, his surpassing of the greatest center fielder of all time for third place is a tainted achievement, deserving of an asterisk next to it in the record books. Nevertheless, Bonds should, and will, always be considered one of the greatest to ever put on a uniform. But any substance use should undoubtedly take away from his single-season record of 73 home runs, as well as any future home runs he smashes as he nears Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron on the all-time list.

Without any such proof of wrongdoing, Bonds' records should be praised in purity, and classify him as one of history's elite.

Barry Bonds is the greatest player of this generation, and quite possibly of every other era dating back to the Sultan of Swat. But until there are concrete answers to his nutritional past and present, a cloud will continue to hover over every home run he hits into McCovey Cove.