Anonymous Ring Ring Ring....

-"Hello?"

-"Hi, Salon, it's me, King. Here is today's column...."

Just messing with you, King. Everyone deserves a day off now and then.

No worries, I can take it. But I noticed this a long time ago: There's a direct relationship between how hard I work on a piece and the likelihood of getting a note like this.

DBres Now, how you got Buster to stay at the park for nine innings is truly worth an article for all of us Dads who've been trying to do the same.

Cotton candy and threats.

Wesley Powell [Re sports Rushmore] Admittedly the sports figures of the late 20th and now 21st century have an advantage in criteria B because their icon status is enhanced by always improving technology, accompanied by ever increasing media coverage and worldwide, not countrywide, fan interest.

I think it's the exact opposite. Ty Cobb's an icon. Barry Bonds, not so much.

Also, Tiger Woods? Thought you said sports. My mistake.

There will always be, or should be, a sense of shame of being white in America. And honestly the shame should be increasing.

I'll try to muster some up, I guess.

Bob in Pacifica King, the important thing is that the Niners have a lot of good rookies and free agents in camp. And Alex Smith looks like he's comfortable in the pocket.

No on the Niners. I'm a Raiders and Rams guy.

Anonymous I hope the "softball" you're referring to is the Chicago-style game, with the 16" ball, the only amateur game in this town that really matters.

Reason enough not to live in Chicago, an otherwise great town.

Wesley again The issue is if he is guilty of multiple felonies, and they have the evidence and conspirators to testify why are they offering him a deal and lesser punishment?

Money, yeah, as you said, but also fame. As one lawyer said to me years ago when I was writing about Robert Blake, celebrities are the one group in this country that actually gets a presumption of innocence from juries. They're hard to convict because you only need one juror to be star-struck or dazzled or to just take a liking to the person because he or she is familiar.

ibfamous Before he had a miraculous late career power outburst he was Rod Carew with a bit more pop, but most importantly of all, when giving best player (not best hitter) status, you need to name at least one positive defensive play that defines the career of this stellar athlete ... still waiting.

This has already been debunked, but I did the research, so:

First of all, another way to say "Rod Carew with a little more pop" would be "inner-circle Hall of Famer, all-time great." I mean, what do you need beyond "Rod Carew with a little more pop"?

Second, through 1999, his age 34 season, the year before the power outburst started (he hit 49 in 2000), Bonds had 445 home runs and a .559 slugging percentage. That's a little more than "a little more pop" than Carew's 80 home runs and .444 slugging percentage through age 34, even accounting for era.

Third, through his age 34 season, here were the 10 players on Bonds' most-similar list at Baseball-Reference. That is, these were the players Bonds' stats looked most similar to through their age 34 seasons:

Ken Griffey Jr., Frank Robinson, Mickey Mantle, Jeff Bagwell, Duke Snider, Reggie Jackson, Gary Sheffield, Juan Gonzalez, Willie Mays, Sammy Sosa.

Like I said: Carew and "a little more pop" equals something very like an inner-circle Hall of Famer.

Lastly, Bonds was a great left fielder. He could have easily played center. I can't name a single great play offhand, but so what. Can you name a single great defensive play Frank Robinson or Henry Aaron or Duke Snider or Reggie Jackson (or pretty much anybody but Mays) made? Still waiting.

pgroce [Re Bonds on Rushmore] For one thing, it would be hard to add stone to the carving in ten years.

HA! Well-played!

Thank heavens your son has spent his formative years amongst the influence of St. Louis Cardinals baseball and its fans.

Are you out of your mind? Carew's career high in slugging percentage was .570, in his MVP year of 1977. Bonds, though 1998 (the "clean" years) topped that seven times, with a high of. .677. Carew's career high in walks was 74 in 1974. Bonds topped that all but one year from 1989 to 1998; his high was 151 and the year he didn't beat 74, he tied it--in the strike year of 1994. For his career, Carew struck out almost exactly as often as he walked; Bonds had exactly the same K and BB numbers in 1993 and had as many as 75 more walks in 1996. In Baseball-reference.com's similarity scores (invented by Bill James) for the years through 1998, Bonds is found most similar to players like Jack Clark, Tom Brunansky, Duke Snider and Frank Robinson. Carew is found similar to Harvey Kuenn, Tony Fernandez and (not surprisingly) Tony Gwynn. Most of the guys Bonds was compared to could benchpress the guys Carew was compared to.

OK, thanks guys, for the HIO vs. HR explanation. As a non-follower of golf and a casual follower of baseball, I appreciate the input.

P.S. CUBS BEAT CARDS, FIRST PLACE OVER BREWERS! HOW LONG CAN IT LAST!?

w.p. wrote: "Money, money, money. In America it even dictates justice."

Yep.

I haven't looked at the letters anyone else wrote, so I don't know what other people are saying. I actually enjoy the Barry Bonds hysteria. I pay attention to big-time sports with only passer-by attention.

It's not a big deal. It's bread and circus. It's entertainment. The Earth does not change how it rotes on its axis based on the waxings and wanings of team standings, records, or what players do to enhance their performance.

I like Barry Bonds. He has a great smile, and he has a great swing. I don't know anything about his personal life, his relationships with his teammates, his relationships with sportswriters, or whether he took steroids or not. I care a little about the steroids, and less about the other things.

Here are some things I know about Barry Bonds: He didn't desert the military, he didn't engage in insider trading, he didn't order the executions of 152 people, he didn't steal any elections, he didn't look the other way when the country was being attacked, he didn't lie the country into war, he didn't look the other way while one of the world's great cities was destroyed, he hasn't kidnapped anyone, he hasn't tortured anyone, he hasn't tapped anyone's phone, he hasn't monitored anyone's reading, movie rental, or Internet viewing habits, he hasn't revealed the identity of any intelligence officers, and he hasn't corrupted the nation's justice system.

What he has done is hit a ball with a stick, repeatedly, providing thrills for the thrill-needy of San Francisco and other places. A man could do a lot worse. If he risked his health to provide these thrills, then he is a hero of sorts, sacrificing himself so that others may be thrilled. If we, as a nation, didn't have our priorities so inside-out, we might thank him for his contribution to our enjoyment of life.