.Selig can't suspend Bonds based on stories and books

By RONALD BLUM
AP BASEBALL WRITER
Barry Bonds may be baseball's biggest juicer.
He may be obnoxious, rude, condescending, jealous and racist, and perhaps a blight upon humanity.
But it will be close to impossible for Bud Selig to touch him for anything he did before 2003.
Baseball didn't ban performance-enhancing drugs until Sept. 30, 2002. Bonds could have injected himself with several pharmacies' stock of steroids and Human Growth Hormone before that and not run afoul of baseball's rules.
Not evidence
The allegations raised by San Francisco Chronicle reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams are detailed. Yet, they are not evidence. Baseball doesn't have the grand jury transcripts.
Baseball doesn't have direct testimony from trainer Greg Anderson, steroids guru Victor Conte or Kimberly Bell, who claims to be a former girlfriend of Bonds and has said she has knowledge of Bonds' steroid use.
Selig can't suspend Bonds based on newspaper stories or books. Even cretins have rights.
"I've even used the term McCarthyism in some great regard," Selig said Wednesday, "about people who without much evidence other than what they believe is anecdotal evidence say, well, this person did it or that person did it."
Baseball nailed Pete Rose because many of his betting buddies turned on him. Thus far, none of the BALCO juice mavens have made direct public accusations against Bonds.
From the standpoint of the best interests of baseball, the best thing that could happen would be for Bonds to be indicted for perjury or on tax charges.
Point of reference
If he pleads guilty, baseball would have a better basis to take action against him.
If he goes to a trial, accusations against him would have to be made in court.
Or perhaps a congressional committee will call them to testify about what Bonds did and when he did it. Maybe Selig will appoint an investigator.
"You can't leave such serious allegations on the public record without having them addressed," said John Dowd, the lawyer who nailed Pete Rose for commissioner Fay Vincent. "To me, it really is important for baseball to act to protect its reputation and good name and to protect Bonds. "
An albatross
For now, Bonds and all those connected with him are caught up in the steroids slime with no way out. The authors accuse the San Francisco Giants and Major League Baseball of looking the other way.
There's been a juxtaposition in baseball this week. Kirby Puckett, who died Monday, symbolized baseball at its best: a joyful player who shared with teammates, bonded with fans and showed a sunny disposition on great days and tough ones.
Bonds? If he's not baseball at its worst, he must be pretty close. He's pretty much an island in the San Francisco Giants clubhouse, sitting in his black leather recliner, needing by most accounts a personal staff to tend to his many needs.
In 1993, after the Giants' exhibition opener in his first season with the team, he was approached in the San Francisco clubhouse for an interview that had been scheduled two weeks in advance.
"I ain't got a half hour, and you ain't paying me," he said as he walked away.
It's reasonable to assume that some members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America will remember his behavior when they cast Hall of Fame ballots, and others will leave the box next to his name blank because of steroids.
He responds to reporters' questions with mixtures of anger, resentment, bemusement and contempt. Instead of receiving adulation as he approaches Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron on the career home run list, he has become baseball's albatross.
So here's a suggestion on what baseball and its fans should do for now: shun him.
If Bonds equals and passes Ruth, Selig should stay away. If he matches or surpasses Hank Aaron, don't say a word.
Every home run he ever hits should be met with silence.
It's not the steroids. He's just plain unworthy.
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