Barry Bonds Indicted on Perjury Charges

Mr. Barry Bonds may be spending 30 years in prison as opposed to an eternity in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Bonds has been under investigation for the past four years. He was originally linked to the BALCO steroid distribution ring. Bonds was offered immunity in exchange for his testimony, but still claimed that he was not a client or involved in the use of any type of performance enhancing drugs. He was made aware that if he was not telling the truth about this matter, he would face perjury charges. Well I guess the time has come. It may be four years later, but something this big and with such national attention is not going to go away.

Bonds had 762 home runs this year but not a single baseball fan will pay any attention to that if they feel it was achieved unfairly. With his current record, he surpassed Hank Aaron's record by seven runs. What a record to break! But did he actually do it? Would he have been able to topple that record, had he not been using performance enhancing drugs? This is why this indictment is so alarming. What happens if he is proved guilty. Will he be stripped of the record? I don't see any way around that.

The Associated Press released today that the Federal Grand Jury indicted him this afternoon on four counts of perjury and one count of obstructing justice. They did not contact his lawyer or release the facts as to what new evidence they had received. Strangely enough, Greg Anderson, Bonds' personal trainer, was released from nearly a year in prison for refusing to testify in this case. Does anyone else think he spilled the beans? I do!

Defense attorney Mike Rains had no comment on this matter as he had not seen any papers as of yet. "However, it goes without saying that we look forward to rebutting these unsupported charges in court," Rains said. I truly believe this is going to be an uphill battle for the Bonds camp. There has to be quite a large amount of information for the Grand Jury to hand this indictment up.

It will be interesting to see what happens in regards to the Hank Aaron Record and The Hall of Fame. I personally do not feel that if you have been injecting yourself with any illegal substance to boost your game, you have any claim to the Home Run Record. Hank Aaron certainly didn't need a helping hand, why is it fair for anyone else? This is baseball, America's National Past Time, not dodge ball in the school yard. People care how you play. They idolize their favorite players. Millions of little boy's hearts are breaking all over the country right now, as well as many kids at heart.

I feel that this is going to leave a very negative taste in the mouth for many baseball fans. This will change the way they view baseball and it's players. I hope to see baseball managers, coaches, and team owners take a larger part in making sure their players are clean and steroid free in the future. If you can not count on baseball, what can you count on? We must remember that one man's actions do not resemble that of an entirety. We must also not be so blinded by fame and fortune, as we soon learn, it may not be all that it seems.