Racist baseball owners sideline home-run great

Rosie Bonds-Kreidler presented a spirited defense of her nephew, baseball great Barry Bonds, at a panel here on June 27. It was organized by Mike Gimbel as part of the Society for American Baseball Research’s annual convention.

Gimbel has written extensively about the obvious collusion by baseball team owners to keep Barry Bonds out of the game. Gimbel pointed out how ridiculous the U.S. Congress has looked, carrying out a high-profile investigation of steroid use in baseball while giving its blessing as the U.S. destroyed a sovereign nation (Iraq) and hung its leader, bombed Afghanistan to smithereens, covered up who really ordered the atrocities at Abu Ghraib prison, and so far has let the bankers off the hook for the foreclosure crisis sweeping across the country.

While Bonds, the greatest home-run hitter in the history of the game, has never been found guilty of any crime, he is today sitting on the sidelines after being cut loose by the San Francisco Giants. Even while under immense pressure last year, Bonds maintained his focus and broke one of baseball’s most coveted records—Henry Aaron’s career home-run record.

Rosie Bonds started her presentation by talking about diapering little Barry, son of her brother, Bobby Bonds, a baseball great in his own right. Many members of the family are great athletes, including Rosie Bonds herself, who ran in the 1964 Olympics. She spoke about making friends around the world through sports and learning about other cultures while competing in various host countries. “That is how you make friends, not by bombing and occupying other people’s land,” said Bonds.

Bonds stated emphatically that she believes in her nephew’s assertion about not knowingly using illegal supplements. She said she thought people were supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. The only reason Bonds sees for the hideous treatment of her nephew is that he is an African American who has made lots of money playing ball. She asked the audience, “Who turns down money at work, especially when the boss is making billions off your skill?”

The panel was held at the Baseball Heritage Museum in Cleveland, Ohio, which focuses on the history of African-American baseball in the days before Jackie Robinson of the National League and Larry Doby of the American League were signed and broke the hold of segregationists in major league baseball.