Dead Man Cheating

We love baseball.

Football, soccer, basketball, rugby, lacrosse, water polo, all are modifications of "capture the flag." I move the ball this way, you move the ball that way.

Only baseball has no clock. Only in baseball does the offense not have the ball. Only in baseball can you fail 60% of the time, and be the best hitter who ever lived.

We love baseball.

We hate Barry Bonds.

We hate what he's done to baseball. We hate that a cheater is not only paid millions of dollars to continue cheating, but is permitted to play at all. Shoeless Joe Jackson -- who did not cheat -- remains banned. Pete Rose -- who did not cheat -- remains banned.

But Barry Bonds -- who has cheated and, for all anyone can tell, continues to cheat -- continues to play. And his "records" remain in the books as if they were real.

So we welcome THIS, from Neil Hayes, of the Contra Costa Times:

The question becomes more valid every time a fly ball bounces in front of him, he fails to run out a ground ball, clogs up the bases or fails to hit a home run.

Is Barry Bonds hurting the San Francisco Giants?

The preoccupation with Bonds chasing Babe Ruth’s career milestone of 714 home runs can’t mask the fact that Bonds more resembles the old, bloated, broken down Ruth in a Boston Braves uniform than Ruth in New York Yankee pinstripes.

Bonds is by no means the only cheater in baseball; and he is hardly the only player whose records should be erased; but he is presently the most prominent symbol of baseball's great shame.

The Giants -- having built their team around a now-ineffective cheater -- have got what they paid for.