Media witch-hunts Barry Bonds

Barry Bonds is the greatest baseball player since Babe Ruth, yet the big business media are involved in a frenzied attack intended to demonize him. Why are they doing this instead of praising him for all his tremendous accomplishments?

Barry Bonds

There are many sports figures of all races that the big business media showers praise on. Some of those players who receive the praise are worthy of it, but many are not, and few if any of them can come remotely close to Bonds in terms of dominance in their sport.

What is it about Bonds that the big business media so dislike? They call Bonds “surly.” They might as well call him “uppity,” but that term would reveal their racist and classist attitudes against so prominent a Black sports figure. It’s one thing to be a “sports hero” who bows his head in respect to the media representatives of the ruling class. That “sports hero” will generate praise from them as a "model," to be followed with, "and a real good guy."

Bonds is paid millions of dollars each year, but the ruling class cannot tolerate even the smallest indication of rebelliousness or defiance, especially from so prominent a “hero” to so many youth. Sports, just like every other area of capitalist society, is run by millionaires and billionaires who cannot and will not tolerate having their “employ ees” talk back to them. It sets a bad example that many others may soon follow.

Rickey Henderson had one of the greatest careers in Major League Baseball history. Henderson, also a Black baseball player like Bonds, excelled in every area of offense and defense yet was continually dogged by attacks from the media. Unlike Bonds, there never once was any claim of using steroids against Henderson, yet he also was reviled even while he was breaking baseball record after record. What was Henderson’s crime?

He, like Bonds, refused to bow his head to his “master” and was dubbed “surly.” He was often attacked for “lackadaisical defensive play” in the outfield, despite the fact that he was one of the truly great defensive outfielders of his day.

The sports reporters for the big business media are in no way different from the reporters on the so-called “hard news” side. They report to the same editorial staffs and the same media conglomerates. Bonds is being condemned in a witch-hunt atmosphere created by that same media. How is that different from what the media did in the run-up to the Iraq invasion? Where are the WMDs? Bonds has passed every single urine test.

Bonds has never been convicted of a single infraction, yet he is being convicted without a trial by the big business media in what can only be termed a lynch mob atmosphere. The same media that has lied about the war cannot be trusted to tell us the truth, even when it comes to sports. The ruling class propaganda doesn’t disappear when you flip the pages from the front to the back of a newspaper. It’s still the same editors and owners. They cannot and will not tolerate even the mildest defiance, whether it comes from Black sports figures or Saddam Hussein.

Kansas City Star sportswriter Jason Whitlock stated on ESPN’s Sports Reporters March 26 that Bonds is being witch-hunted because he is pursuing the home run record of Babe Ruth. By defending Barry Bonds we defend the right of every worker to “speak truth to power.” Roger Clemens, one of the greatest pitchers in the history of the game, has also called the attacks on Bonds a “witch-hunt.” Is that an indication of things to come from other players? We hope so!