Bonds v. The Babe

Throughout the World Series' I kept hearing that Barry Bonds is the Babe Ruth of our time. My initial reaction was, "Geez, what a shame. We get one crack at Babe Ruth and we end up with Barry Bonds. What a disappointment." Nothing against Bonds, mind you. He's a great hitter. My beef, as always, is with the clowns who make these silly comparisons. They're the TV/radio people who believe that hyperbole is a substitute for wisdom, fact, and reason.

Ruth was a genuine Algeresque success. Ruth rose from an ash heap to become a folk hero. Ruth's excesses, his prodigious baseball career, and place in our time added up to create his legend. Bonds was bred to hit home runs. Bonds' pedigree is hall of fame. Bonds is doing what he was suppossed to do. Bonds' towering, powerful homer runs will be long remembered, but does his "story" have what it takes to become legend? We'll see. After all it isn't finished yet.