Barry's World: Is He Wrong To Honor Jackie Robinson?

Barry's World is the FanHouse's look into the season that is Barry Bonds.

Jeff Pearlman, he of Barry Bonds book fame, doesn't seem like much of a Bonds fan. Actually, he isn't one at all. Just read this column he wrote this past summer. You'll get an idea of what I'm talking about.

So, because of Pearlman's attitude towards Bonds, I went into reading his latest Page 2 effort on Ol' Big Head with much trepidation -- one in which he argues Bonds' wearing of Jackie Robinson's No. 42 Sunday to honor him is a huge facade due to Bonds' prior actions.

Now in his 22nd major league season, Bonds' track record in areas of race and sports is, to be polite, abysmal. Here is a man who, according to infinite associates and peers, has rarely -- if ever -- gone out of his way to assist a rookie African-American teammate trying to find his way; who sees young black fans not as potential heirs to the game, but as autograph-seeking gnats to be insulted or dismissed. Four years ago, Bonds spit in the face of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum by ignoring an invitation to be presented with one of its Legacy Awards (taken aback by the public outcry, he finally visited four months later).

To his credit, Bonds once used his celebrity to influence a political campaign. To his discredit, the candidate he endorsed was former California governor Pete Wilson, an arch-conservative whose stances on minority issues were only slightly to the left of David Duke.

Wow, that's some damning information right there, huh?

Essentially, this is Pearlman's argument:

I have no doubt Barry Bonds believes that, by wearing No. 42, he is doing what appears to be the right thing. Read that again -- what appears to be. Yet the right thing is seldom about words (ask Don Imus), written or said. It's about intent, purpose and -- most of all -- actions. Who do they impact? What do they mean? What do they say?

Here, on the 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson changing the world, is what Bonds is saying: I am Barry Bonds -- and I don't give a damn.

I pretty much agree with Pearlman's overall premise here -- Bonds' racial transgressions seem rather well documented. But, I have a hard time believing that Bonds is only wearing Robinson's number because "it appears to be the right thing." I would think, somewhere within that cold, black heart he supposedly possesses, there is at least a part of it that is honoring Robinson for the right reason.

Although, I didn't interview 500 people about the man and compile my findings into a book like Pearlman did, so I'm pulling from the "give the guy a break" frame of reference and Pearlman is writing from knowledgeable writer side of things.

But hey, can't we just give Barry a pass every once in a while?

Previously at FanHouse:
Barry Bonds Is Going Home Run Crazy
Barry's World: Bonds Is Back in the 'Burgh
Barry Bonds Cares Who Attends His Home Run Party
Barry's World: Will Bonds Be Unanimous HOFer?