There’s obstruction of justice. And there’s obstruction of the Hall of Fame.
Barry Bonds is guilty of both.
Yes, Bonds picked up three more walks yesterday to give him 2,561 for his career, but credit the jury in San Francisco for finding Bonds, the fearsome slugger with the big head, guilty of obstruction of justice. If the cap doesn’t fit, you can’t acquit. The jury was not able to reach a verdict on the perjury counts.
Bonds is baseball’s all-time home run leader with 762. He’s also the single-season leader with 73 home runs in 2001, when he was at his Balco beefiest. Bonds maintained he didn’t know that he was taking steroids and said that he thought that he was using flaxseed oil and arthritis cream.
He’s one of the biggest cheaters in the history of baseball.
When it comes time to vote for Bonds for the Hall of Fame in 2013, I will not put him on my ballot. It’s clear that Bonds made a decision to use steroids. His personal trainer, Greg Anderson, never gave up Bonds, but that doesn’t mean that Bonds didn’t use every means necessary to blow up his body in size and strength.
Athletes use steroids because they work, they make you much better than you are and just look how the game has changed over the past couple of years, and the way the bodies have changed.
In the court of public opinion Bonds is guilty. I will not be a holdout juror. I will not believe any of Bonds’ excuses. Bonds knew what he was doing. He made his choice to cheat. I will make mine.
Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer was broadcasting the Yankees-Orioles game last night from Yankee Stadium and he used the word integrity when talking about Bonds.
“The tragedy of a guy like Barry is that he’s not in the Hall of Fame for 762 home runs, he would be in there because he was one of the best players of his era, he didn’t need the home runs to do that,” Palmer said. “He was going to the Hall of Fame anyway.”
Bonds may not get there now because of the cheat factor. Former baseball commissioner Fay Vincent told Bloomberg News of the verdict, “I think it will be seen by most people as affirming that Bonds was cheating and using steroids. I think it diminishes his standing among baseball fans and historians, and it reduces his short-term prospects of getting into the Hall of Fame.”
Noted Sports Illustrated writer Tom Verducci of the situation and HOF consequences: “Andre Dawson said it best: The steroid users have a legacy of their own choosing.”
There may be another trial in Bonds’ future. Prosecutors must decide if they want to retry Bonds on the perjury counts and take another shot, so to speak, to see if they can convince a jury that Bonds knowingly lied about taking steroids.
“Despite being a beloved, local figure who broke numerous baseball records while a member of the San Francisco Giants, the jury came to a conclusion that Bonds interfered with the government’s investigation,” said Fernando L. Aenlle-Rocha, a White & Case white-collar criminal defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor in the Criminal Division of the United States Attorney’s Office in the Central District of California. “However, it is telling that the jury was not able to reach a verdict on the perjury charges, which they likely viewed as more serious. At least some of the jurors weren’t convinced by the government’s evidence as to those charges.”
Whether Bonds goes to trial or not again, is up to the government. The bottom line, though, is that for the rest of his life Bonds will be on trial. People will be finding him guilty or not guilty forever.
He will remain the pumped-up poster child for the steroid era. His legacy is forever tarnished. And make no mistake, he’s guilty of obstruction of justice.
kevin.kernan@nypost.com