Bruce Jenkins: Steve Phillips Is Wrong

It's not just our man Larry Brown who thinks Steve Phillips is way off base when it comes to Barry Bonds breaking the all-time home run record at home -- it's San Fransisco Chron columnist Bruce Jenkins, too, who rails against Phillips in his latest blog post:

Like most everyone with common sense, Phillips believes that Bonds should hit his 755th and 756th homers at home. That's how it should play out, for the sake of Bonds, his adoring San Francisco fans, and posterity. But Phillips takes it a step farther. He says the record has to be broken here, and that if Bonds remains short of the mark when the Giants leave next week for a six-game road trip through Los Angeles and San Diego, he should sit out the entire trip.

I'd like to see Bonds make history at Mays Field, just like the majority, but I also think it would be bitterly appropriate for him to do it in L.A. or San Diego. He has a long history of damage in both stadiums; some of his most impressive moments have occurred there. If the fans are booing -- hey, isn't that the story here, that people question the legitimacy of his record? Many will cheer, because they just can't help themselves. Many will bring cameras, flashbulbs going off like crazy. Many will boo. Some might get a little bit nasty. Isn't that a lot more authentic than performing at home to unadulterated worship?

While I'd argue that Jenkins ought to tread lightly when invoking authenticity in the same breath as any discussion of Barry Bonds, he makes the important designation here. Yes, it'd be great if Bonds broke the record at home, but he doesn't have to do so for the record to be worthwhile, as Phillips insists. After all, it'd be nice to inject some semblance of pragmatism into the surreal saga that is this home run chase.