But there is no joy in Mudville.

Written plainly in Exodus 23:2 it states, “You must not follow a crowd in wrongdoing.”

By all accounts Barry Bonds stayed away from performance-enhancing drug usage until 1999. He followed lockstep with the rest of the juiced crowd and threw away his reputation and legacy by destroying the record book for wads and wads of cash.

I was fortunate to have followed Donnie Baseball in his prime daily.

And Barry Bonds was still the best player I ever watched play the game.

When I look back on Bonds there is nothing that you can point to that makes you happy anymore.

Mattingly on the other hand has his stature intact.

When McGwire and Sosa where chasing Maris I remember people telling me “Thank God it’s not Bonds.” 

That's because his lifelong mercurial angry black man persona made it impossible to root for him outside of Pittsburgh and San Francisco.

At the time, Bonds was still playing the game on his natural ability, which were still light years ahead of everyone not named Junior Griffey. 

But even Griffey didn’t take his plate appearances as deadly serious as Bonds. Bonds had the superior baseball intellect along with the superior talent base.

In 2004, Barry Bonds was walked 232 times. Officially he was intentionally walked 120 timesand with guys pitching to him carefully he still managed to hit .362 with 45 home runs.

Even if an extremely conservative 25% of the league was using PEDs no one comes close to Bonds accomplishments.

It can't possibly be all attributed to a drug but that is the narrative history will repeat, as it should be.

Poor Barry Bonds. He followed the wrong crowd.

About the Card.
In the entire Barry Bonds baseball collection this one stands because he allowed himself to be photographed. Others have described that scenario as pulling teeth. I love the photo but I don't understand the composition. Why did topps leave some much negative space above his head?