Greek mythology’s Periphetes was the biggest man in all the land and feared wide and far. But a Giant and a Club-Bearer who believes he is invincible ultimately will be brought down to size and demise.
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Bart Giamatti, the late commissioner of baseball, said: “No one is bigger than the game.”
And the law.
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Steroids. Human Growth Hormone. The Clear. The Cream.
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Barry Bonds is known for the number 762 – his home run number. On Thursday he became known for the number 07 0732 – his case number.
The all-time disputed home run giant has been indicted by a federal grand jury on four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice.
It was not a good day for Bonds. It was not a good day for baseball. It was not a good day for those of us who follow games. It was not a good day for society.
There is no joy in Mudville.
Sports legends turn into dust.
Baseball players who had more hits or home runs than anyone else in the history of the game, cyclists who won the Tour de France, men and women Olympic gold medalists, Hall of Famers, Hall of Shamers.
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Gatsby addressed the sad issue:
“The idea staggered me. I remembered, of course, that the World Series had been fixed in 1919, but if I had thought of it at all I would have thought of it as something that merely happened, the end of an inevitable chain. It never occurred to me that one man could start to play with the faith of 50 million people.”
“How did he happen to do that?” I asked after a minute.
“He just saw the opportunity.”
“Why isn’t he in jail?”
“They can’t get him, old sport. He’s a smart man.”
Barry Bonds is a smart man.
“Game of Shadows,” the 2006 book that primarily dealt with an investigation of steroids in sports, alleged that in 1998, when the single-season home run record suspiciously was surpassed by two other sluggers, Bond was “astounded and aggrieved” and decided he would begin juicing.
Bonds still denies. The federal grand jury prosecutor in San Francisco says Bonds lies.
In “Black Sox Scandal” lore, a kid supposedly cried to “Shoeless” Joe Jackson outside the courtroom: “Say it ain’t so, Joe.”
The case against Bonds is built on “Barry kept saying ‘No.”‘
“So,” Bonds was asked in his 2003 grand jury testimony, “I guess I got to ask the question again, I mean, did you take steroids (in November of 2000)?”
“No.”
“In January of 2001 were you taking either the flaxseed oil or the cream?”
“No.”
“And were you taking any other steroids?”
“No.”
No, no, no and on and on.
On the night of Aug. 7, Bonds broke Hank Aaron’s record with his 756th career home run. San Francisco celebrated. Many people at the Rockies’ game in Denver booed. The current commissioner already had left town. Bonds seemed, at last, happy, certainly unlike the man I had talked to briefly in spring training in Arizona, a man who was carrying a burden with his bat to the plate.
On this glorious night, though, Bonds said: “This record is not tainted at all, at all, period.”
There was a brief exclamation mark, but no period. There never will be a period to Bonds’ sentence.
The record is tainted (period)
Joe Jackson, found not guilty along with his teammates, was banned from baseball and scuffled around, playing for minor-league teams under an assumed name. Pete Rose makes the rounds of card shows. Mark McGwire stays away, and Sammy Sosa wanders about the countryside not speaking English. Marion Jones has to give back her medals and serve time. O.J. Simpson is facing another trial.
A former Broncos player who helped get his team to the Super Bowl used steroids. He’s dead. Another former Broncos player who helped his team win two Super Bowls used steroids. He appears on talk shows and in the movies.
Michael Vick?
What to do?
Who knows? You hope that no one is bigger than the games. Sports does survive, even when it becomes more pervasion than diversion.
Will Bonds even wind up in jail? It doesn’t really matter. He is locked in his own prison. I was not surprised by what happened, and I won’t be shocked by what happens.
Bonds will appear in court, but no matter what happens, he will not appear in another Major League Baseball game, and he never will appear in Cooperstown.
Greg Anderson, Bonds’ personal trainer, was released from confinement Thursday. Coincidence? As Bonds would testify, “No.” Some thought Anderson would roll over on Bonds. Instead, this likely means the government doesn’t think it needs Anderson any more.
And on the same day that Bonds was indicted, Alex Rodriguez, The Man Who Most Likely Will Be Home Run King, agreed to a new 10-year, $275 million contract with the New York Yankees.
Periphetes lives.
Woody Paige: 303-954-1095 or wpaige@denverpost.com
