Font ResizeTIME TO INTERRUPT THE latest stream of Internet rumors, agent innuendos and updates from the legal ticker with this bulletin: Barry Bonds is still unemployed.
How can baseball possibly be surviving?
That question is a facetious one, of course. The game has found a way to capture our imagination for well over a century, so it's certainly not going to skip a beat without Bonds in its universe.
This may not be happy news to the ears of Jeff Borris, Bonds' agent and a man who, considering how often he has uttered "collusion," must think Bonds is owed something. Not that collusion isn't a possibility — owners have been guilty of it and worse in the past — but insinuating such a thing without hard evidence is like blaring a headline that says, "Fixed," each time an umpire blows a call.
Besides, it's entirely possible that Bonds could be employed by somebody before July 31, because desperation often leads to decisions that a sane mind otherwise wouldn't make. If nothing else, he is the one guy who could show up in July and starting launching moon shots like Texas' Josh Hamilton.
But isn't it nice that there is a Josh Hamilton to start launching moon shots? Hamilton's story of redemption following years of drug addiction should turn into a movie script, and his All-Star showing in the Home Run Derby is just one example of how baseball has thrived in the post-Barry era.
Hamilton's
The Tampa Bay Rays' rise has been just as inspirational. A joke of a franchise since its inception in 1998, Tampa Bay spent more days in first place during the first half (32) than it had in its first 10 years combined (23). The Rays' 55 first-half wins were only 16 shy of their most ever for a full season.
Milestones were not absent without Bonds, either. Cincinnati's Ken Griffey Jr. cracked the 600-home run barrier, joining Bonds, Henry Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays and Sammy Sosa as the only players ever to do so. Boston's Manny Ramirez went deep for the 500th time. And Chipper Jones not only hit No. 400, but he spent much of the first half hitting above .400.
Pitchers did some historical things, too. Atlanta's John Smoltz collected career strikeout No. 3,000. San Diego's Greg Maddux won his 350th game; now, if can only get No. 351 before the season ends. Francisco Rodriguez's 38 first-half saves for the Los Angeles Angels were the most ever before the break and more than any Athletic or Giant has totaled in a full season since 2003.
A cancer survivor (Boston's Jon Lester) pitched a no-hitter. An American League pitcher with exactly one previous hit (Seattle's Felix Hernandez) hit a grand slam off a two-time Cy Young winner (the New York Mets' Johan Santana). And a one-time star (the Yankees' Jason Giambi) recaptured some of his former glory simply by growing a mustache.
A pair of second baseman — the A's Mark Ellis and Florida's Dan Uggla — delivered walk-off grand slams three nights apart. And a first baseman — Boston's Kevin Youkilis — added a trickle-off triple when his drive deflected off the glove of the Yankees' Johnny Damon and actually rested upon the top of the fence for a few moments.
Sure, it wasn't all wonderful. Ex-Houston pitcher Shawn Chacon turned into Latrell Sprewell in a confrontation with Astros general manager Ed Wade. Alex Rodriguez's tabloid tales were unpleasant. The Mets' dismissal of manager Willie Randolph was embarrassing. And the sordid stories of Roger Clemens were never far from the radar.
But in all, the game has proven itself, again, to be greater than any single individual. Maybe, in his quiet time, Bonds is taking stock of that.
