After Barry Bonds was convicted of obstruction of justice, some wondered if that verdict might impel Major League Baseball officials to take away the records set in his career. After all, prosecutors in his case even argued that the reason Bonds might have lied about his steroid use was to protect just those records.
“The reason (Bonds lied) was the powerful secret he had been using steroids and human growth hormone in connection with his profession as a professional athlete,” prosecutor Jeff Nedrow told the court during Bonds’ perjury trial. “He had concerns it would taint his accomplishments he had achieved during his career.”
However, his accomplishments will apparently remain untainted: during a meeting with AP Sports editors, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig said the commission “will not consider changing Barry Bonds’ records following the slugger’s conviction on obstruction of justice last week.”
“In life there’s always got to be pragmatism,” Selig said. “I think that anybody who understands the sport understands exactly why.”
Bonds holds the career (762) and season (73) home run records, breaking marks set by Hank Aaron (755) and Mark McGwire (70).
Want more news, sent to your inbox every day? Then how about subscribing to our email newsletter? Here’s why we think you should. Come on, give it a try.
