Why is Bonds ignored?

Yammering ESPN broadcaster Chris Berman stopped long enough on a telecast last Tuesday to make an interesting point:
There have been more than 16,000 men who have appeared in at least one Major League Baseball game, and, with one Barry Bonds' big fly Friday night, three of them -- three! -- have hit 700 home runs.
It should be pointed out that Berman made this observation while sitting in a TV booth at Busch Stadium, where the hometown St. Louis Cardinals were playing, not Bonds' San Francisco Giants, but the Houston Astros.
I turned on baseballand saw a flush
While a Cardinals-Astros game was certainly TV-worthy -- St. Louis is the best team in the big leagues this season and the Astros are battling for the N.L. wild card -- it left me to wonder how the self-proclaimed "world leader in sports" could choose to all but ignore one of the greatest feats in athletic history.
What made it even more confusing was that ESPN chose to broadcast poker instead of Bonds' shot at his historic achievement.
(That alone should be a depressing realization for all baseball fans who might wonder what's happened to the sport's popularity.)
Again on Wednesday night, ESPN chose not to televise the Giants' game in Milwaukee, but at least it cut into a local broadcast for Bonds' four at-bats.
Finally -- thankfully -- Thursday afternoon's game was televised and Bonds did not disappoint, going 3-for-3 with a pair of RBIs. Still, No. 700 remained elusive.
It's curious and disappointing that Bonds' run to immortality has gone almost unnoticed, not only by the media but many baseball fans, as well.
It wasn't this wayfor McGwire and Sosa
Think back to 1998, when Mark McGwire made his assault on Roger Maris' single-season record of 61 home runs.
Baseball was barely three years removed from a lockout and ensuing strike that wiped out the 1994 World Series and threatened the entire '95 season.
Yet, as McGwire edged closer to Maris' mark, he was featured not only on virtually every sports outlet, but made the covers of national news magazines and the nightly news.
(To be fair, McGwire was not only chasing Maris but being chased by the Cubs' Sammy Sosa; their daily home run duel made for far more interesting copy.)
There are several reasons why Bonds' quest hasn't been equally embraced by the public.
There is, of course, is his well-documented image, groomed over the years by run-ins with the media, teammates and management and the fans. There is the oft-played shouting match Bonds had early in his career with his Pittsburgh Pirates manager, Jim Leyland.
Baseball history, though, is full of men who had all the social skills of a horse's rump.
Remember the scene from "Field of Dreams" when Shoeless Joe Jackson says, "Ty Cobb wanted to come but none of us could stand the [SOB] when he was alive ..." That characterization of "The Georgia Peach" is dead-on.
Playoff failuresand steroid whispers
Then there is the repeated failure in the postseason of the teams Bonds has played with -- the Pirates of 1990-92 and the Giants, in the playoffs four times since 1997 and winners of only two series.
There, too, is the cloud of suspicion that hangs over Bonds relating to the current steroid scandal and BALCO investigation. It seems like every praise of him must be accompanied with a "Yeah, but ..."
McGwire's run at 61 was later pot-marked by his admitted use of a performance enhancement called androstenedione (andro), but even now history seems to have given him a pass.
And, of course, there is race. As much as we would all like to wish it weren't so, society hasn't improved much -- at all? -- since Hank Aaron surpassed Babe Ruth more than 30 years ago.
It's depressing, really. Baseball's best hitter of his generation -- maybe of all time -- is little more than a remote button away.
What a shame it would be if we -- and he -- don't take the time to appreciate it and enjoy it.
XRob Todor is sports editor of The Vindicator. Write to him at todor@vindy.com.