Aaron and Bonds

Are there any living athletes who have provided a more wholesome and dignified role-model for society than Hank Aaron? And are there any who are more loathsome and contemptible than Barry Bonds? I suppose there may be a handful in either case, but there cannot be many.

Years ago, I actually memorized Milo Hamilton's call of Aaron's #715. Even to this day I can still hear the words, and see the videotape of Aaron, Downing, the pair of college-kids who ran out to congratulate Aaron on the achievement, etc.

I mention this now because Aaron has recently (this past Saturday the 17th) given the commencement address at a college in Mequon, Wisconsin. Some press reports indicate that Aaron's words may be construed as some sort of a rebuke to Bonds. Certainly Bonds is in need of rebuke. But Aaron has maintained a respectful silence towards Bonds and the steroid scandals in general, and the quotes being publicized are very subtle, very implicit in their criticism (if, indeed, they are criticisms at all).

Only 30 years separates the two men-- Aaron born in 1934, Bonds in 1964. Less than half of one lifespan. Yet just think what those 30 years meant, both from the standpoint of money, but also from the standpoint of social-acceptance and tolerance. When Aaron played in Milwaukee and Atlanta, there were still many restaurants, hotels, and neighborhoods where his attempts to enter or do business would have been met with a firm "No." In some instances, of course, the response would have been much less polite than that.

I wonder if Barry Bonds has ever been told "No" in his adult life. Or even just in his life, period. Certainly, a man paid the type of money which Bonds is paid-- and has been paid for the last 20 years or so-- can easily arrange to avoid hearing that word, except in the most dire of emergencies.

How pleasant it must be, to never want for anything that money can buy! Yet how sad it must be to always want for everything that money can't buy. And how strange to live one's life in constant experience of both.