Carny Reaction: What Will You Do When Barry Hits #756?

by Don, With Malice...

Something WCK from 100% Injury Rate said got me thinking... What WILL your reaction be when Barry Bonds hits #756, and confines Hammerin' Hank to #2 all-time?

I asked my fellow Carnies...

DCScrap, Our Book of Scrap: I will pretty much ignore it. Like I did when he hit #'s 600, 660, 661, 700, 714, 715, and 755. To me Bonds' stats do not exist. His cheating has been documented to death and he's never fought any of the accusations. He fails the eye test, the facts test, and the common sense test and is a fraud.

Don, With Malice... : I'd like to think I could do something that matters... something poignant - but here in Japan Sadaharu Oh's considered the HR king (868 in NPB). So I think I'll just scoff.

Sanchez, Shot To Nothing: I will not be impressed 756 times. I will then bash-one-out 756 times in one day just for the heck of it.

Sooze, Babes Love Baseball: I'm gonna fucking puke everywhere.

dswinder, Sons of Sam Malone: I'll probably crawl into the fetal position, suck my thumb, and cry out: "I did all I could Hank...I did all I could..."

BD, Sports Show On Mute: I honestly don't know how I'll feel. On one hand, I idolized Bonds as a child and considered only Ken Griffey Jr to be a better player. On the other, Bonds cheated, and it's hard for me to be happy about a cheater breaking Aaron's record. Especially a cheater who's an ass-hole. And seems to think everything is because of his race. From where I'm sitting he's the bigot. I'd say I'm a lot closer to the second hand at this point.

JA, The Feed: Don't know that this counts as a reaction or not but this is what I've been thinking about.

Every time someone says the number 756 I think of Ken Griffey Jr. I think of the young Junior, smiling and beloved by baseball fans, I think of the perfection of his swing and the majestic arcs of his home runs. I think about the way he covered ground in centerfield and the way that he made people care about a moribund franchise in Seattle. I think of the winning run in the 1995 playoff series against the Yankees and how there might not even still be a team there if it wasn't for Junior.

Mostly I think of one particular night sitting in the bleachers at Yankee Stadium when the Mariners were in town. Jay Buhner and Junior were getting killed all night by the drunken bleacher creatures. Songs were being sung that compared Buhner to a horse's posterior and Junior was getting razzed for not being as good as his father and for being, ahem, light in the loafers. Buhner never turned around but Junior would look back, always with a big smile on his face, whenever the crowd turned its attention his way. Somewhere about the seventh inning a Yankee hit a drive into the right center field gap and Junior took off after it. He dove, extend horizontal to the ground and the ball found its way into his glove. He stood up, returned the ball to the infield and then turned toward the bleachers. He took his glove off, placed it on his right hand and spun it around like a top, smiling all the while. The meanest, surliest, drunkest fans in New York had no choice but to laugh and applaud him.

So basically I think that when Barry Bonds hits 756 my reaction would be how much more enjoyable it would be if it was a player who actually seemed to enjoy the game and his place in it breaking the record. Hank Aaron wasn't able to do that as a black man in a changing country but Junior could have united every baseball fan and who knows how many millions of others the same way he won over the Bleacher Creatures so many years ago.

Sportsgirl365, Strike Zones and End Zones: I would love to say that I wouldn't care, but that moment is going to be filled with so many different and confusing emotions that I can't say for sure what my reaction will be. I can tell you how I feel now: cheated, disappointed, anxious, and a little nauseous. But the nausea could just be the hangover.

DMtShooter, Five Tool Tool: Try to look at the bright side of it, which is how Bonds doing this really, really pisses off fat old white blowhard sports writers. Let's fact it, folks -- the only truly lovable thing about Barry is the pain he causes in these people.

As for the record itself, how meaningful can it be when you can be pretty sure it will be eclipsed by people you can name today?

Alex Rodriguez is sitting at 500, and he just turned 32. Let's say Barry caps out around 770 or so. That means Rodriguez just has to average 30 a year for 10 years, and he clears it easy. ManRam has an outside shot (487 at 35 means that 5 years at 40 homers a piece gets him in the ballpark). Vlad Guerrero is halfway there (352) at 31. Poo Holes is at 271 and he's only 27. 40 a year for 10 years gets him in range.

So rest easy, America. Barry's just renting this thing.

, Winning the Turnover Battle: I'll cheer. And the probably be the only blogger in the world to defend him.

OMDQ, One More Dying Quail : When Barry Bonds hits number 756, I don't know for certain how I'll feel. I think it will be part happiness at seeing the fall of a long standing record, part sadness at the thought of a classy guy like Hank Aaron being bumped down one spot on baseball's ultimate totem pole, part concern at the prospect of having to explain this whole situation to my son someday.

UPDATE: More reactions here.