Barry Bonds Day

Vaillancourt Fountain in July. The water's off in August.

On Friday the balconies were closed. It was Barry Bonds Day at Justin Herman Plaza, and building security blocked access to the stairs leading to the best vantage points. So life goes in the 9/11 world.

I joined the crowd on the square. We watched some of the most famous names in sports—Joe Montana, Michael Jordan, Willie Mays, Wayne Gretzky, and Hank Aaron—congratulate Barry Bonds on the big screen. We listened to Mayor Gavin Newsome, broadcaster Mike Krukow, and Giants players and owners pay tribute to the all-time home run leader.

When Barry Bonds rose to speak, everyone applauded warmly; his home town is one place where he is heckler-free. Gracious and funny, he seemed less guarded than usual. (See video below--sorry for the jitters, but I was zooming from a distance with the camera held over my head.)

There’s no question that Barry Bonds took anabolic steroids. ("Who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?”) He was the best player in baseball before other players started to use performance enhancers. They surpassed him, were not criticized but lauded, and he needed to keep up. It was not the choice that many of us would have made or would advise a young person to make, but it was understandable.

Some say that the steroid era in baseball was a sad chapter that’s now over. That belief is a delusion. We are at the dawn of the age of human enhancement, and our ethical thinking can't keep pace with developments. Doping with our own blood is frowned upon, but taking a whiff of oxygen in Denver is okay. Coffee is fine, but caffeine pills are not. Whether a son gets his baseball genes from a father or from a syringe makes a difference. Someday we will inject microscopic robots to eradicate harmful germs and even cancer cells; but what if they’re used to make us bigger, faster, stronger, and smarter? There are many questions, but few answers.

Meanwhile, in the present, a great player became Superman, and he was amazing to watch. (He was such a dangerous hitter that he was intentionally walked with the bases loaded.) His time will pass soon enough, and Friday was a time for celebration. © 2007 Stephen Yuen