Timing is Everything

Barry Bonds career is over. The free agent slugger was indicted last Thursday by a federal grand jury on four counts of perjury and obstruction of justice. The maximum sentence carries a 30-year stint in prison and a one million dollar fine. No one in their right mind will vie for the sluggers services this year given the fact that he may be in court or worse yet jail during the baseball season and his typical off the field three-ring circus just got a big top added to it.

This ironic timing of the indictment is that Bonds set the home run record last year. Had the indictment been handed down last year Bonds would have surely not set the record as he was a free agent last year as well and San Francisco would have never given him a one-year contract. Timing is everything.

The question to me now is not if Bonds has used steroid but the bigger question is why.

In the mid to late 80’s I was a huge Pittsburgh Pirates fan and Bonds was one of my favorite players he had it all… speed, power, hit for average and carried a gold glove. He was even the MVP in 1992, the last year in Pittsburgh. Following that year he became a free agent signed with the Giants, I lost interest in Barry, as he seemed to jump for the money. Not arguably, he was heading for a hall of fame career when he left the Pirates.

With the Giants, he kept up the torrid pace that he was on and was quickly moving up the all time home run record book. He was so great that in 1998 he was walked intentionally with two outs in the bottom of the 9th inning with the basses loaded. Just think about that… how feared of a hitter do you have to be that the opposing manager would rather give up a run then to pitch to you. Just amazing…

In 1999, it seemed that father time was finally catching up to him as his stats started to slide. He played only 102 games and hit only .262 both near the bottom of his then 14-year career.

In the following year his statistics bounced back to form and in 2001 he had a monster year hitting .328 with a major league record 73 home runs and an astounding 177 walks and a .863 slugging percentage. It was also a free agent year and Bonds cashed in to a tune of a five-year $90 million contract. Timing is everything.

So now, we are faced to wonder if Barry thinks it was all worth what he will pay for with the added scrutiny of the media. Say it isn’t so Barry, you had your chance.

Timing was everything.