Marty Lurie Talks San Francisco Giants Baseball
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Life without Bonds


SBC Park is not selling out, there is no Barry
Bonds to be seen at the plate, the Giants lost
their closer Armando Benítez for most of the
season and all-of-a-sudden I do not get calls
from my “friends”for Giants tickets ?

By Amaury Pi-GonzálezSome say that if the Giants played at the McCafee
Coliseum they will also draw 10,204 on Monday
nights(like the A’S), other will tell you that the
San Francisco Giants were a show because of
Mr.Barry Bonds and that is why they were selling
out.

Some people truly do not want Barry Bonds to
tie or break the records of Ruth and Aaron.
Why ? Well, when Aaron was chasing Ruth he
got death threats, hate mail and all that comes
from having a lot of success in a historical sport
and although we do not want to think that many
do not want Bonds to break these records because
he is black, I still wonder about that, honestly

Others simply do not like Bonds,for whatever
reason and would like to see him “retired”
yesterday. Others do not think he deserves these
records, especially If they believe he was usuing
the famous performance enhancing drugs.
So there is a difference of opinion and that is
the way it is usually in America. If you take
a poll in just about anything the country seems
to be always split 50-50, so why shouldn’t not
be the same with Bonds ? Some might even
go as far as saying that Blue states will
favor Bonds over Red states.

Wait. If you have a guy 11 homeruns away from the Babe and around 52 more from Aaron, of
course the people want to see him play, hit the
ball and keep breaking those records. The Giants
built a wonderful park that in a couple of years
will be hosting the All Star game. Of course
Bonds is the show, he would be the show any
place else with those numbers he has accumulated
why should the Bay Area be different ?
Aside from the “medium”prices of homes here
in the Bay Area being around $500,000 and
our gas around $3 per gallon are we really that
different ? People complaint about paying $3
for a gallon of gas but they pay $4 a cup of Latté
and no complaint…

Does anybody here believes Barry Bonds would
not draw if he was playing in New York, or
Chicago or Atlanta or Baltimore or Seattle?
Of course not, this is human nature.
Most people today could care less if Barry
Bonds used steroids(I agree that If
he did he was cheating) but baseball is not
a pure game, there have been scandals
and will always be scandals. The spit ball was
illegal but Gaylord Perry make a career with
that pitch.

Bonds is not a popular player, specially with
the Media. What he said in Spring Training
were he blaimed the Media for all his problems
was so ludicrous that a 9 year old could also
say: “Barry, you are crazy”.

But eventually if he comes back or not the
Giants are going to have to live after Bonds
and that is the biggest question here.
Maybe they should have signed baseball
most exciting player, Vladimir Guerrero
last year ? Maybe not ?

Although there is lot of disagreement in many
issues I would think that as a baseball player
most people would agree he is one of the greats
of all time. I don’t care If you think he is among
the 5, 10 best of 20 best to ever play. No matter
the list or the order Barry Bonds is among one
of the greatest ever. The San Francisco Giants
(for a team that since they arrived in 1958 from
New York has never won a World Series
do have Willie Mays and Barry Bonds
in their history and there are not many better
than those two. If you saw Willie Mays play,
and I did, he was the best ever for me-the
most complete-all around player in the history
of baseball.

I never thought that the Giants were going to
build a new ballpark and never dreamed one
as beautiful at SBC Park, after many-a-nights
at Candlestick Park anything else was going to
be an improvement but this is a great facility
and that is another non starter for discussion.
Even ESPN in a poll named SBC Park as the
most beautiful baseball park in America.

Can the A’S build a new park in Oakland ? If
they do not, they will probably have one ready
for them in Las Vegas and then the Giants could
have the whole Bay Area market(around 6 million
people)for themselves. And that would put the
Giants in a class by themselves since any area
in this country with 6 million people or more
have two MLB teams.

I have felt privileged to have seen Bonds play
and called some of his great homeruns, for baseball
is timeless and for me it has no color, the only
color I see during a game is in the uniforms,
the grass,the fences. I think most people are like
me in this regard and if you really like the sport
and have spent most of your life watching baseball you know that records are an integral part of
this game.

Nobody knows if Barry Bonds will comeback in
May, June, July or ever this year. One ex Major
League Hall of Fame player told me: “If he does
not comes back this year, he is done”. Which
I think is the most reasonable thing to assume
since most baseball players over 40 just don’t retire
and comeback. Frank Sinatra retired a few times and came back, but he never had to face a
90 mph slider.

Nobody knows the future, although some like
Peter Gammons try and try but he is also not
close to 50% correct all the time, so we should
not worry. If Barry Bonds comes back lets enjoy
his play and if he ties or breaks these records lets
also enjoy that for we might never in our lifetime
see another player like him. You might love him,
admire him or hate him and detest him. But talent
is what makes a player and Barry has lots of
that.
—————————————————-
Pi-Gonzálesz is on his 12th season as Spanish
play by play announcer for San Francisco Giants
selected weekend home games and on his
3rd season as Spanish play by playannouncer for
the Seattle Mariners Spanish radio network
during all 81 home games at Safeco Field.
On Saturday May 7, Amaury will be on
Telemundo Deportivo weekly round up show
talking baseball on KSTS CH 48 Telemundo
Network for Northern California out of San José.

0 comments

1 Anonymous { 05.02.05 at 1:47 pm }

I thought this was about Barry Bonds, but you just couldn’t resist taking some shots at the A’s, couldn’t you? I thought you used to work for them, did you leave them on bad terms?

2 Anonymous { 05.02.05 at 4:50 pm }

I’m not so sure if blue people would generally be more supportive of Bonds than the red ones would. In my opinion and experience, blue people are more about seeing beyond rhetoric and illusion and wanting people in power to take responsibility for their actions. Bonds wouldn’t pass the test.

3 Anonymous { 05.03.05 at 1:30 am }

The blue and red states differences is always fun
I agree.

To the readers about the A’S/ No I never worked for the A’SA but for 17 years worke for the radio
stations that held the rights to broadcast in Spanish.
I have nothing but great memories with the A’S
of the 80s specially. Got 3 rings from them
88-89-90 also during the All Star Game in Oakland
in (I think 1987)I was named to the All Star
Clout Executive Committe. It is not a shot a
the A’S. The fact is that if the A’S do not build
a new park in the next couple of years they
are gone. This is just a fact it is not a shot
at them it is reality. But they migh,look I said the truth I never thought the Giants were ever
going to build a new ballpark and they did, so
there are always surprises. Both of my sons
were raised A’s fans, born in Fremont and my
wife Loves the A;S, so there is a lot of Love
in my family for the A’S.
Saludos
Amaury

4 Anonymous { 05.03.05 at 6:18 pm }

I’m in the Marine Corps, and I serve with a lot of guys who are from the South and are also big baseball fans. However, they pretty much ignore Bonds, and I think it has to do with the fact that he plays in San Francisco. I’m not trying to get into an argument, but as far as my buddies are concerned; San Francisco promotes homosexuality and I think you can figure out the rest.

You have to understand, we’re fighting a war. Not just for our freedoms, but for our values too. Marriage and family are a big part of these values; especially to these guys.

You can call it intolerance, stupidity or anything you want, but it’s the way a lot of people feel. Too bad, since Barry Bonds is such an awesome player.

Semper Fi!
Bill

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