If Bonds' accomplishments are formally seen as tainted by baseball (with an asterisk, or whatever) then every baseball fan who entered a stadium to see the Giants either in San Francisco or any other major leauge city during his "juiced period" deserve a refund on ticket purchases.

Bonds' fraud is basball's fraud, and to serparate the two and give MLB the higher moral ground is absurd.

Okay, try to imagine that Bonds has played for the LA Dodgers all these years, hitting all those home runs in Dodger Stadium, and the cheers of all those Dodger fans for him.

How much contempt would you then have for Bonds, and the Dodger fans who still loved him.

That's what it's like for all the rest of us baseball fans who don't live in San Francisco.

Contempt. For you. Specifically you, Gary.

And I love Salon.

in the years he was alleged to have used steroids they were not banned by the league. So technically he is not a cheater. He sux and seems like a real asshole but who cares. Major league baseball is a kids game played by adults for millions of dollars and in the grand scheme of things is utterly meaningless.

The article was an interesting consideration of Barry Bonds, except for one thing: I was unaware that Bonds hitting 756 and beyond means I'm in any way supposed to take the accomplishment seriously – on any level.

It's not even necessarily the steroids that delegitimize Bonds – although that's big for me, no question – but look at the rest of baseball during his career. Sosa hits 60-plus three years in a row. McGwire goes for 70. Brady Anderson hits 51. Loads of other guys post career-best HR totals.

I remember when I was a kid, it was a really big deal when Cecil Fielder hit his 50th homer one year because it hadn't been done since George Foster back in the 1970s. I think it was Foster, anyway. Then, all of a sudden, there's kooky ballparks that show up across the country. Weird outfield walls and distances from home plate appear overnight. The 1990s bring four new teams and an extended adjustment period for expansion pitching. Realignment and unbalanced schedules means Bonds (and others) play more games against weak division opponents. In Bonds' case, it's extra visits with the Rockies and until recently, the relatively mediocre Dodgers and Padres.

Steroids likely boosted Bonds' home runs, and they probably did the same for a few dozen other guys, too. But some of these arguments that steroids were technically not banned by baseball when he took them completely miss the point. It's so desperately searching for a way to say it's OK, even if just for a minute.

The last 12 years or so have been an era of massive home run totals and "Chicks dig the long ball" marketing by MLB. Steroids played a significant part of that, but like the author says, the hitter still has to hit the ball. There's other conditions besides steroids that have pumped up these totals, and nothing will ever convince me the greatest home run hitter ever was someone besides Henry Aaron, followed by Babe Ruth, Willie Mays and then guys like Frank Robinson, Harmon Killebrew and Jimmie Foxx.

It takes more than a syringe, "the cream" or "the clear" to make 100-plus years of history immaterial during a six- or seven-year span. And I'd be interested in conducting a Florida land deal with anyone who thinks we are somehow in an era of baseball made up of the greatest hitters of all time.

I have no doubt circumstances will arise next season so Bonds "by coincidence" breaks the record during a Giants home game. I hope Giants fans enjoy the moment. Delusion has its benefits. I still start every season thinking the Brewers might make this playoffs.

Rexamine every extra base hit in the last 20 years.

Rexamine every power pitcher who shouldn't be.

Rexamine every juiced pitcher against every juiced hitter.

Rexamine every hitter from the Jim Bouton era for chronic amphetamine abuse.

Then we need to put an asterisk next to every name for every record. Because that would make us feel morally superior.

Kamiya doesn't speak for all us Giants fans. And like you, I do get the feeling Kamiya would cry foul if, say, Khalil Green suddenly went deep every eight or nine times at bat. His insinuation that the average Joe doesn't realize there are more important things going on than baseball is also risible and about what you'd expect of a Berkeley resident. Particularly offensive is his assertion that Cleargate generates more debate than did the lead-up to Iraq.

Grow up, Gary! Most of the Barry-booing isn't about morals, it's about class, by which I mean classiness. It leaves a bad taste in the mouth to know that a prima donna who won't even pat a kid on the head took steroids to catch up with Hammerin' Hank and the Babe. Sure, steroids weren't proscribed during the period in question. But it also isn't an offense in most colleges to write one's freshman lit essay on "Paradise Lost" relying entirely on Cliff's Notes. Does this leave us without grounds to sneer if the essay garners an A+? Puh-leeze!!

While I wouldn't go so far as to call Bonds a cancer on my beloved Giants, I've long felt he's a crowd-pleasing liability (remember that dropped fly in Game 6 four years ago?) and the sooner we dump his pedigreed ass, the better. We need more Randi Winns and we need Jeff Kent back.

As stated by the author, Gary Kamiya, his arguments in support of Mr. Bonds are very weak. Adding comment to his arguments:

Bonds had a hall of fame career, pre-steroids. Not necessarily so. Pete Rose appeared to have a Hall of Fame career before retiring, but Pete Rose is not in the Hall of Fame. Numbers alone do not define a Hall of Fame career.

The old, “you still have to hit the ball” argument. Sure you do, but the ball goes a lot farther if you are abnormally strong with abnormally quick reflexes. How else did Brady Anderson hit 51 home runs? Is there a difference between a long fly ball out and one that goes over the fence?

Bonds was not the only cheater. Are we supposed to pardon a person because so many others are doing the same wrong thing? This leads to the next argument…

Everything is ok. This argument is simply ridiculous, with no further comment needed.

(Another argument is that steroid usage was not banned by baseball years ago. That is true, but steroid usage was illegal in the United States, and one is not granted immunity from U.S. laws when donning a baseball uniform.)

Barry Bonds will never surpass Henry Aaron’s record. The powers of baseball will not allow their most iconic record to be held by someone of Barry Bond’s ilk. Just as Pete Rose was punished with his lifetime ban (keeping him out of the Baseball Hall of Fame), Barry Bonds will not be allowed to replace class with crass.