Barry Bonds and the Asterisk

This past summer Barry Bonds hit home run number 756, breaking the all time home run record of Hank Aaron. This historic feat was surrounded by much controversy, as many people believe that Bonds cheated by using steroids.

The 756 home run ball was caught by a 22 year old from Queens. He decided to sell it. Now here is where the story gets interesting. The ball was purchased for 750,000 dollars by Marc Ecko, the fashion designer. Ecko created a website, vote756.com, where the public would decide the fate of the home run ball. There were three choices: 1) Send the ball to the baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, 2) Put an asterisk on the ball, and then send it to The Hall of Fame or 3) Launch it into space forever. Over ten million people voted on-line, including yours truly. The winning choice, with 47%, was to brand the ball with an asterisk, and then send it to the Hall of Fame. 34% of the voters said to give it to the Hall of Fame intact, and 19% said to banish it into space. (I voted to banish it. I was in a strict sort of mood.)

Picture: From the vote756.com website. What the home run ball will look like with an asterisk.

As I reflected on the fate of the home-run ball, it was the asterisk that sparked my interest. I doubt that the accusations of steroid use against Bonds will ever be proven true or false. So the 10 million voters decided to brand the ball with an asterisk, acknowledging that Barry Bonds’ home run record is open to question and possibly tainted.

In a sense, the asterisk on the ball is really an asterisk on the whole career of Bonds. Future generations of baseball fans will view Bonds’ accomplishments with skepticism and questions. In the end, perhaps we will view Bonds legacy as imperfect, an amazing athlete who broke the home run record, but who may or may not have cheated.

Barry Bonds is not the only famous person with an asterisk next to their name. Michael Vick was having a good career as a football quarterback, until it was discovered that he tortured and killed dogs. Even if Vick does make it back to the NFL, thirty years from now no one will remember what he did on the field, only that he went to prison for dog-fighting.

History also teaches us that some of the great heroes of the past might need an asterisk. I am from St. Louis, and as a boy I learned about the feat of Charles Lindbergh, flying across the Atlantic in the Spirit of St. Louis airplane. There is a Lindbergh Boulevard near my house. What I did not know as a child is that Lindbergh came to believe in eugenics and the superiority of the white race. He was deeply Anti-Semitic. And he even aided the air force of Nazi Germany and was given a medal, The Service Cross of the German Eagle.

Even some of our Biblical heroes have a less than perfect record. Abraham saved the people of Sodom and Gemmorah but was willing to sacrifice his own son. King David wrote beautiful Psalms and united the people, but sent Bathsheeba’s husband to die on the battlefield so he could marry her.

When we place an asterisk next to the name or legacy of Barry Bonds, or Charles Lindbergh or King David, we stand in judgment of them. We evaluate their actions and feel safe to say that they deserve condemnation or punishment.

But the fact is that each of us needs to place an asterisk by our name too. We may not have used steroids or committed perjury or sent someone out to die in the battlefield. Yet at some point we have all cheated, lied or harmed another person. It is fine to stand in judgment over Charles Lindbergh and Barry Bonds. However, it is more important that we stand in judgment over ourselves. Our task is to evaluate our own actions, to see the asterisk next to our name and to apologize, to repent and to try to make up for those words and deeds that we regret.

There will always be an asterisk on 756th home run ball of Barry Bonds. In the same way, we all will have to live with our mistakes and failures. However, if we sincerely try to repair our wrongs, what will ultimately emerge is a balanced picture of who we are: human, flawed and imperfect, yet at the same time striving to be better.

To view the vote756.com website, CLICK HERE.