Barry Bonds

(Picture from MSNBC)

Barry Bonds is so close to breaking Hank Aaron's career home run record. He is four shy of matching Aaron's record of 755 career home runs.

Even if he breaks the record, Barry's legacy will be tainted with accusations (most likely true) of steroid use.

Here are some interesting statistics from his career:

In 2001, he hit 73 home runs!

In 1990, he stole 52 bases. This is surprising since he rarely even runs to first nowadays.

In 2002, his batting average was a whopping .370.

Growing up, I watched Barry Bonds and Bobby Bonilla on the Pittsburgh Pirates. Unfortunately, they were never really a good team. Their jerseys were cool though and their team name "Pirates" sounded intimidating.

His relationship with the press has always been turbulent as well.

I haven't really formulated an opinion concerning Bonds. On one side, I hate cheaters and I think only people who play by the rules deserve to win. At the same time, this isn't a wrestling match. He still has to make contact with the ball and swing the bat a certain way to crank the ball out of the park. Hitting a pitch thrown by a major league pitcher is no easy task. So Bonds does deserve some credit.

I wonder if he was a nicer person, if that would affect his standing with both the fans and baseball concerning this controversy.