Want Bonds To Retire Now?

[DSharp44]

Most everybody agrees that Bonds did steroids knowingly - a Fox Sports online poll has 93% of respondents saying he did, with over 330,000 votes in so far. Now the question becomes do you want to see him hit 715 or 756? One group doesn't - they have a website set up to try to pressure him to retire right away. The interesting stuff is that they compiled a bunch of quotes from various sports columnists after the SI story broke last week - pretty tough stuff, especially from Jon Saraceno of USA Today whose column was entitled "Next time Bonds leaves park, he should stay out." (Too much to repeat here - it's all at http://www.retirenowbarry.com/quotes_links.html )
Are people like me? I defintely want him to retire before the season starts, but I think he'll play on one leg if he has to to at least pass Ruth and take a good shot at Aaron.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Before all of this, I felt that Barry would retire soon after passing Babe. Now, I feel even more strongly about that. I think Ruth has been his main goal all along, and now with the steroid issue, passing Aaron will only do more to tarnish his legacy. The brightness of the historical limelight is much less if he stays under 755.

[Mattingly]

If he passes Babe Ruth, whom he's had several unflattering words about, he could go down as the greatest left-hitting slugger in MLB history.

If he sticks around long enough to try passing Aaron, then I do believe that both his body will receive a grueling treatment to get there, and several not-so-kind remarks about his legitimacy will surely come about before that ever happens.

I'm not too sure he wants to do the latter, but I do believe he'll deal with the former.

[Williamsburg2599]

I think that both the people who love and him and the people who hate him should want him to get out now.the people who love him will enjoy seeing him stop getting hounded by everyone and he'll never be proved as a steroid user(so those people who love him will automaticly be right about no proof he took them ),the people who hate him will be able to watch sportscenter again without hearing the words Bonds again hopefully (although you'll still have to deal with the daily "T.O updates"pshhh) and he'll never pass Ruth.

[Blackout]

the way i look at it is Willie Mays is #3 all time on the home runs list, behind Ruth and Aaron

[RedSoxVT92]

I would like to see him retire right now. But I think that is highly unlikely. I just think its dissapointing that a steroid user in bonds would pass one of the best players ever that used his god given talent . And if he becomes the all time home run leader, people would just look at that stat and think steroids. And thats what baseball would be rembered for, for along time (even if he doesnt pass aaron this era will still be tainted by steroids). So I hope he just retires and dissapears from baseball. Then hopefully I wont have to hear about bonds every, single day.

[pacewon]

Yes, I want him to retire now. His pursuit of Ruth and Aaron is going to be a total disgrace.

[Blackout]

Bonds* is 7-9 so far in spring training with 2 homers, it looks like he's plenty motivated to play in 2006

[hiddengem]

I believe all you people are doing is motivating him even more to break the record. It appears that he could care less what the public perception is of him. Everybody hates him anyway, whats going to be the difference if he breaks Aaron's record or not? Hate is hate.

[ESPNFan]

I believe all you people are doing is motivating him even more to break the record. It appears that he could care less what the public perception is of him. Everybody hates him anyway, whats going to be the difference if he breaks Aaron's record or not? Hate is hate.

Bingo! I think Barry has had a "me aginst the world" attitude by all accounts for a long time now and public outcry will only validate it.

[Astro]

I believe all you people are doing is motivating him even more to break the record. It appears that he could care less what the public perception is of him. Everybody hates him anyway, whats going to be the difference if he breaks Aaron's record or not? Hate is hate.

I agree, the more people want him to do bad the better he is going to do...

It depends on how Bonds does this season if he'll retire... if he gets hurt, again, and can only play around 80 games but passes Ruth... he'll probably retire

If he plays 130 or 140 games, passes Ruth and plays great, he probably wont

If the Giants win the World Series, he will retire... no matter how many HRs he has

[hiddengem]

I agree, the more people want him to do bad the better he is going to do...

It depends on how Bonds does this season if he'll retire... if he gets hurt, again, and can only play around 80 games but passes Ruth... he'll probably retire

If he plays 130 or 140 games, passes Ruth and plays great, he probably wont

If the Giants win the World Series, he will retire... no matter how many HRs he has

The only comment I agree on is the first one. I think he'll play until is breaks the record or gets kicked out of the game.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

If he passes Babe Ruth, whom he's had several unflattering words about, he could go down as the greatest left-hitting slugger in MLB history.

How does getting 7 more homers elevate him to that status? Last time I checked Ruth still slugged .690 for a career, and Bonds' SA should be around .560 with a natural decline. Bonds has 742 more AB than Ruth at this point, and when he hits #714 his career AB/HR ratio should be around 12.9, and should be around 14.5 with a natural decline. Babe's is 11.7 and he got to 714 despite getting a late start as a hitter. Not sure how you can make that statement. If Williams wasn't floating in a cannister, he'd probably have a beef with it as well.

[Blackout]

How does getting 7 more homers elevate him to that status? Last time I checked Ruth still slugged .690 for a career, and Bonds' SA should be around .560 with a natural decline. Bonds has 742 more AB than Ruth at this point, and when he hits #714 his career AB/HR ratio should be around 12.9, and should be around 14.5 with a natural decline. Babe's is 11.7 and he got to 714 despite getting a late start as a hitter. Not sure how you can make that statement. If Williams wasn't floating in a cannister, he'd probably have a beef with it as well.

and why is being the best hitter ever based upon home runs only? Ruth batted for a higher adjusted batting average as well, despite 5 years as a pitcher in the dead ball era

with steroids Bonds is still a career .300 hitter. Ruth is 42 points higher

[Sultan_1895-1948]

and why is being the best hitter ever based upon home runs only? Ruth batted for a higher adjusted batting average as well, despite 5 years as a pitcher in the dead ball era

with steroids Bonds is still a career .300 hitter. Ruth is 42 points higher

Exactly. Not sure how serious Mattingly was about that, but it's a pretty outlandish statement. Someone earlier said that Bonds has already wiped Babe from the record books, which was completely mind boggling. Makes me wonder about some of their other opinions; scared to find out, lol.

edit: Actually Mattingly did say "slugger" and not just hitter, but still doesn't make sense. Williams and Gehrig would have cases over Bonds if we wanted to get into it.