Babe Ruth, Henry Aaron, and Barry Bonds
August 8, 2007

These are names of three men from three different generations.  They have baseball in common.  All three are/were great home run hitters in major league baseball.  In fact, they are/were the best who ever played the game.  When I was a little boy, Babe Ruth was the all time home run king.  His 714 career home runs was considered to be a record which was unassailable.  Until Henry Aaron came along.  He burst on the scene along with the Milwaukee Braves of the late 50's.  They won the World Series in 1957, lost it in 1958, came close in 1959, and began a long, slow fade from the upper echelons of baseball in 1960.  Henry Aaron never faded.  He continued to terrorize pitching in the National League year after year.

    At the time all of this was happening, I did not know the struggles Aaron was having being a black man in a white man's sport.  My friend Jim Selman, former assistant sports editor of the TAMPA TRIBUNE, was assigned to cover the Milwaukee Braves in Spring training one year.  The first person he interviewed as a young reporter was a young Henry Aaron, who was about to make history as a black player for the Braves.  Selman told me recently that his last major interview before retiring was with Aaron, a much more famous and much older Aaron.  Aaron told him that in that first spring training which Aaron attended, he was stopped just outside of Tampa by a gang of white men, who terrified him.  This was in the spring of 1954.  Many folk resented Aaron then, and even more resented the fact that a black man was breaking the sacred home run record of Babe Ruth, a white man.  Aaron did that in 1974 and went on to hit 755 home runs.  That record seemed secure until Barry Bonds.

At age 43, Bonds is at the upper age limit of this generation.  I remember when he first broke in to the majors.  I remember his father, Bobby, who played for the San Francisco Giants, also.  For much of his career, Barry Bonds just played baseball and hit very well.  He has been a consistent home run hitter, but not much notice was taken until his physical appearance suddenly appeared altered.  That is, the previously slim and svelte Barry Bonds appeared bulked up, buffed, as people say today, and much heavier.  His home run output skyrocketed, beating Mark McGwire's 70 homers in a season by hitting 73 one year.  And all at once, Aaron's record appeared shaky.  But Bonds is a loner and sometimes is surly with reporters and fans.  He is not easy to love.  A scandal broke out over his alleged use of steroids, illegal substances, to enhance his ability to hit home runs.  This year the question has been seemingly, "Do you want Barry to break the record or not?"  The Commissioner of Baseball only reluctantly decided to follow Bonds until he hits the home run which sets the new record.  Currently he is tied with Aaron.  His next home run will make him the new all time home run king of major league baseball.  So what?

Baseball is just a sport.  It is not necessary for any of us to get through our lives.  It is entertainment.  It should never be put in a category with our jobs or our family.  Second, in sports, records are made to be broken.  Ruth's was going to be broken; Aaron's was going to be broken; and Bonds' record will be broken--probably by Alex Rodriguez.  Both he and the Big Hurt, Frank Thomas, have 500 career homers, but A-Rod, as he is called, is a good bit younger.  He could break the record in  seven years.  Records are set; records are broken; new records are set.  Do you play by the rules, or do you have to break or bend the rules to get the outcome you desire?  The ethical questions are important, but they are not nearly as important as education, as family life, as making a living, or as finding your niche or what God intends for you to do with your life.  Perspective is important.  In some perspectives the breaking of Aaron's record is historic; in others, it pales into insignificance with the everyday challenges of life.  What is really most important in your life today?  Bonds' new record or some other things whose results will be far more important down the road?  Like the starting of school this week.  Like our young men and women serving in the military overseas.  LIke primaries and elections coming up  Like people getting right with God.  Let's try to keep first things first.