Wax Heaven Support

I agree with Wax Heaven about banishing the steroid era players who have been caught. We can't change the games themselves, but we can ignore tainted statistics. Roger Maris still owns the single season home run record of 61. No asterisk, just skill. Sorry Babe, the asterisk is gone from Maris' record. Hank Aaron is still the Home Run King. Welcome back Roger and welcome back Hank. We missed you. If there has to be someone who broke Aaron's record in 2007, change the name to Kurt Brown. I outlined my reasons why in an earlier post.

Most of the high profile steroid users, sorry *alleged steroid users, wore the number 25. Bonds, McGwire, Palmeiro, Giambi, even Sosa at one point with the White Sox. I would like to proclaim the greatest hitter to wear number 25 in the steroid era is Jim Thome.

Jim is a constant professional, who volunteers his off-time to help worthy charities. He's unselfish enough to swing a pink bat on Mother's Day, wear number 42 on Jackie Robinson day, and loves being a team player. See, you can still be a team player and get your numbers. Yes White Sox fans, I loved Aaron Rownd and Frank Thomas too, but Jim Thome is so much better than Aaron Rowand at the plate and Jim is so much better with the media and fans than Frank ever was. I think at some point Frank may have "believed the hype". Although, I am so glad that McGwire for Thomas trade never happened that was almost a done deal around 1992.

When Jim Thome hit his 500th home run, he put a prize package together for whatever fan caught it. Then the fan gave part of that prize to Jim's charity. In turn, Jim offered to fly the fan and a few friends in to the Cubs-Sox game to watch the action in his personal suite. This is the kind of guy the fans should be rooting for. And why did Jim want that home run ball so badly? So he and his father could take a trip and personally deliver it to the Hall Of Fame during the off-season. That is the complete opposite of what Barry Bonds stands for.

C'mon, this is the type of player we need to be rooting for. I'm not ashamed to admit that I was standing in my living room for Jim's entire at bat when he hit 500. I had the grin of a child and started to tear up with joy when that ball went out. I wasn't even angry that he didn't do it the previous night, because I was at that game. It was the first 500th home run to be a game winning home run. Appropriately enough, it came on Jim Thome bobblehead giveaway day.

The Kurt Brown Situation

With the fifth pick in the 1985 draft, the Chicago White Sox choose catcher Kurt Brown from Glendora High School in California. Those words are now the sweetest words in the English language. With the sixth pick in the 1985 draft, the Pittsburgh Pirates chose Barry Bonds.

The White Sox were so close in the '85 draft. They chose a catcher who never made it past AAA, instead of an outfielder who broke Hank Aaron's home run record. That one pick may have made the difference between making the Sox a World Series winner and making them a close second that never made the playoffs. The world may never know.

For years, I've heard White Sox fans play the "What If..." game with this. Yes, even me. Barry was an excellent player before steroids and an even better player after them. The thing is, he would've been a lock for the Hall Of Fame even without "performance enhancing" things. He just wouldn't have made it past Hank Aaron. Now it looks like Barry's career is over.

Would Barry be in the mess he is in if the White Sox chose him? I have no idea. Hawk would have probably traded him for a crappy pitcher, like he did with Bobby Bonilla.

Kurt almost made the majors. He came so close, but he was hiding a terrible secret of his own. It wasn't steroids or anything like that. He was blessed with Knoblauch Syndrome. He just plain forgot how to throw the ball. Or at least he thought so. He hid it so well, that nobody noticed until he was with the Oakland A's club and confessed this to manager Tony LaRussa. He was out of baseball in 1992. Kurt went back to school and got a degree. While Kurt was studying, Barry landed in San Francisco and the rest is history.

This makes me feel even better with the White Sox choosing Kurt over Barry. I can respect someone going back to school to educate themselves. I can't respect someone destroying their body for a fleeting moment of glory. If I could, I would give Kurt Brown the home run record. It certainly wouldn't be any more tainted than it already is and it would be in the hands of someone more deserving of our accolades.

Thank you Kurt Brown for being such a class act. You are the example we should teach the children.