Federal government probe of Bonds delights major league baseball, By: Jim Walker

April 15, 2006, Ironton Tribune

It’s not as exciting as the Final Four weekend, but it may be an even more important weekend. It’s income tax weekend.

Since April 15 fell on a Saturday this year, taxpayers get an extra day to file, namely midnight today.

But while millions of people will be grumbling about paying money to the federal government, there are a few who are offering their thanks, though it may be silent.

Those people who are happy with the feds are the hierarchy of Major League Baseball, i.e. commissioner Bud Selig.

When it was announced this week that Barry Bonds was being investigated for perjury for his testimony to the grand jury regarding the use of illegal drugs — more precisely steroids — in the BALCO investigation and trial.

Selig announced last month that baseball would investigate the abuse of steroids that led to players not only hitting home runs in record numbers but batters the size of sixth graders hitting balls that reached the bleachers in Yellowstone National Park.

But the timing of the probe has been questioned. Not only is Bonds near Babe Ruth for second on the all-time list, he’s getting way too close to all-time leader Henry Aaron, a favorite with Selig since both have spent most of their baseball careers in Milwaukee.

With the feds doing an investigation that focuses on Bonds, baseball doesn’t care if its investigation is being done by former Senate majority leader George Mitchell or Dennis Mitchell, a.k.a. Dennis the Menace.

In other words, the federal government is doing baseball’s dirty work.

Selig has said he wants a comprehensive probe and not just a look into how Barry Bonds’ head grew to a size that made a lot of watermelons jealous.

If Bonds is guilty of perjury, he could face jail time which would virtually end his home run record quest, provided it came in the near future.

But that is doubtful. Instead, he’ll probably get a five-month stay in the Martha Stewart suite at a minimum security prison and five months of house arrest where he can watch DVD replays of “Bonds on Bonds.”

Should Mitchell’s investigation come up with enough solid evidence, Selig has not ruled out going into the record books an altering the numbers.

Former major leaguers like Frank Robinson and Reggie Jackson have made it clear they personally want the records wiped out from the steroid era. Even though the hitting records are tainted, how do you separate the hitters from the pitchers who were using steroids?

Some have argued that players of the past used amphetamines to keep them going, so their records are tainted. That’s not true. Although I don’t like players using any kind of drug, one that keeps you alert is a lot different from one that allows you to turn a pop fly into a tape measure shot.

I would like to see the records wiped out, but I don’t see how you can distinguish between a legitimate home run and a steroid home run.

For now, I prefer to see this as the greatest weekend of the year because it’s Easter and we celebrate Jesus rising from the dead.

And He did it without any steroids.