Barry Bonds' or Hammerin' Hank's Chase?

When it comes down to the choice between Barry Bonds and Hank Aaron, we don't even need to look at steroid allegations to decide. You cannot look at steroids in comparing the two until you know, for a fact, that Barry Bonds used them in his pursuit of the all-time home run record.

Regardless of anyone's opinion on whether or not Barry Bonds did steroids and the evidence that may or may not one day come out, Hank Aaron will be looked on my favorably by history. Hank Aaron hit 755 home runs at a time when that seemed impossible. He also was chasing one of the most beloved players in the history of the game, Babe Ruth.

What really sets Hank Aaron apart from Barry Bonds is the way in which he hit his 755 home runs. Hank Aaron was playing at a time when racism was very high. He was receiving daily death threats and playing with hatred in the stands. Through all of this Hank Aaron remained a class act, and he achieved his goal of passing the Babe through circumstances that Barry Bonds can only imagine.

Barry Bonds has always used racism as the reason that people don't like him and he has made it appear that he was under the same adversity. The truth of the matter is that people don't like Barry Bonds because he is rude and abrasive. His personality is terrible and he is a very arrogant man. The public didn't like him before steroids were even a thought and their disdain for him has only grown stronger with his refusal to deal with the steroids issue.

Hank Aaron was always a first-class human being during his career and it is a shame that Barry Bonds could not follow the example that Hank Aaron set all those years ago. Barry Bonds has needed his own clubhouse in San Francisco because none of his teammates can stand him and he has also driven all-stars from San Francisco. Jeff Kent had to leave town because of the way the media portrayed him and his relationship with Bonds. It is Bonds's abrasive attitude that has made it tough for players to come to San Francisco and tough for the Giants to put a winning team on the field. This was never true about the Hammer.

If Barry Bonds were playing in the time of Hank Aaron, he never would have lasted on his home run chase. He does not display the same kind of mental toughness that Aaron did. Aaron is a true baseball hero. While Barry Bonds may hold the home run record, Hank Aaron will always be the home run king.