"MLB will spotlight Bonds' run at mark; sponsors are wary" critiqued by Jordan Routch, i47, v8, pg5

I’m writing in response to the article about Major League Baseball gearing up to spotlight Barry Bonds’ run at the all-time homerun record. Currently Bonds is only a few homeruns shy of Babe Ruth for second all-time and he is within striking distance of the all-time mark currently owned by Hank Aaron if Bonds were to have a huge year. While baseball will definitely pay homage to the slugger’s pursuit of the record, the article states that baseball officials are weary of giving it too much publicity with the uncertainty surrounding Bonds and steroid use. Baseball is worried what kind of signal this would send to the young fans and players in the country if Bonds were to break the record and have it tainted by steroid use.
I feel that this is a very tough call for Major League Baseball. If they don’t give Bonds the fanfare and he breaks the record it would be a travesty as Bonds is definitely one of the best hitters in history. Just the same, it has to be taken in context with the steroid issues in play nowadays. I’ve never really liked Bonds a whole lot. But to be fair to the man, many other hitters used steroids and such to enhance their bodies. Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa both used enhancements when they made their runs at the single season record. In addition, what Bonds is said to have used is not illegal in baseball, so he hasn’t committed a crime (other than lying in court about steroid use). If I were Bonds, I wouldn’t be surprised if he broke Babe’s record and then agreed to retire at the end of the year before he broke Aaron’s record. That way Bonds could be labeled as the best left-handed hitter in history, but would avoid more scrutiny and a possible asterisk in the record book if he were to play another year and break the all-time record. Baseball needs to honor the greatest baseball player of all-time, but it also needs to be careful to not honor the steroids that allowed him to get to that point.