Meghan HurleyA failed drug test for Barry Bonds under Major League Baseball’s amphetamine policy on Thursday Jan.11, could leave the career of the possible future homerun king in question.
The New York Daily News recently reported that the 42 year-old outfielder of the San Francisco Giants had tested positive for the use of amphetamines last season. Bonds’ immediate response to his test results was that he found the substance he used in the locker of fellow teammate Mark Sweeney and then denied such remarks in a statement made public on Thursday where he gave his deepest apologies to Sweeney and his family. Bonds made it clear that Sweeney had nothing to do with the current situation whatsoever.
The news of these test results hangs over the heads of Bonds, the Major League Baseball Association and the San Francisco Giants. A press release from the San Francisco Giants, which was posted the day after the results had been leaked, said, “The San Francisco Giants are strongly opposed to the use of performance enhancing substances, including stimulants, by major league players. Major League Baseball has a strong policy in place to deal with the issue of performance enhancing substances. The Giants will continue to be supportive of Baseball’s efforts in this area. Consistent with requirements of the Basic Agreement, the Club will have no further comment on allegations with respect to any player’s testing history.”
With a current one- year, $16- million unsigned contract with the Giants for the 2007 season and 21 homeruns shy of Hank Aaron’s all time record of 755, Bonds has also been under investigation for allegedly committing perjury before a grand jury in 2003 that was investigating a federal break-in at the headquarters of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO). Bonds told the jury that he had never knowingly used any performance enhancing drugs.
Stating his opinion on whether Bonds really did use some form of a performance enhancing drug, Michael Berliere, a senior history and political science major, said, “This news just reaffirms what most people knew of Bonds. It was blatantly obvious that he was using some form of drugs by the way he bulked up after one season.”
After arriving in the Dominican Republic for the Juan Marichal Golf Classic, Bonds said to reporters from the Associated Press, “I’m sure I’m going to break the record [for homeruns] this year.” The question lies whether the confidence exuded in that statement still remains intact for Bonds after the recent negative spotlight he has attained.
Amanda Arnold, a sophomore math and secondary education major, said, “If Bonds does break the record for homeruns this season the reputation of that honor may be at stake. No one wants to honor a player who does not play fairly, if that happens to be the case.”
While Arnold holds the idea of playing fair true; Matt Perks, a sophomore chemistry major, believes in fairness in a different perspective. Perks said, “If Ty Cobb can be inducted into the Hall of Fame after all of his violent racism and unethical actions then why should Barry Bonds be looked down upon and held from an honor like that?”
Whether his career and possible future as the Homerun King are in jeopardy, it is not for certain, but the investigation still continues for Bonds who has yet to sign the contract to play for the San Francisco Giants in the 2007 season.
