I grew up loving baseball. My team was the Chicago Cubs. My favorite player was… well of course… Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks. I remember his unique style at the plate; he would slowly and deliberately roll his hands and fingers on the bat handle as he awaited the next pitch. Watching on our family’s black and white television, I tensely waited each at bat for a home run and Jack Brickhouse (yes that was his name) cheer, "it’s back, it’s back, it’s a home run!" My second favorite player was Ferguson Jenkins, the Cubs’ best pitcher, number 31. He had an amazing curveball and I expected him to win every start, even against our arch-rivals the St. Louis Cardinals and the great Bob Gibson. Rounding out my favorites among the Cubs was Billy Williams, the most graceful player I have ever seen. He was pure poetry in everything he did on the field.
My three heroes were black. I am white.
In his column today, William Rhoden of the New York Times suggests Barry Bonds was prosecuted because he was black and compares that prosecution to the charges brought against heavyweight boxer Jack Johnson for trumped up violations of the Mann Act over one hundred years ago. I respectfully disagree.
Barry Bonds was prosecuted because he was the best, the most high profile player in the game. His indictment would put the use of illegal steroids and their dramatic side effects on the front pages for weeks and months. Tens of thousands of young athletes, many still in high school would no doubt get a more “clear” picture of the risks and downsides of steroids than from the pusher with the gym bag that lurked underneath the stands.
Prosecutors are allowed to selectively prosecute. Leonna Helmsley, a famous hotel owner and celebrity of sorts, was prosecuted for tax evasion and challenged her conviction on just that ground. The courts denied her challenge. Why do you think Martha Stewart was targeted? Not because the prosecutors didn’t like her chocolate chip muffin recipe. No it was because she was famous. Because if she could go to jail for telling a little fib to an FBI agent, anyone could go to prison.
In my opinion, that’s why Bonds was prosecuted. If you are going to take on steroids and the requirement for truthful testimony before a Grand Jury, you want the biggest fish in the pond. Do you think the prosecution of some random minor leaguer would garner the same or even any attention of the press?
Sharing the sports page with Mr. Rhoden’s column this morning was another famous black athlete, Tiger Woods. Despite his dramatic fall from grace, Woods remains beloved by golf and non-golf fans. Thousands on the course at Augusta and millions watching on television yearned for Tiger to make a charge. Black or white they hoped he would find the fairway and putts would fall.
As a former federal prosecutor and baseball fan, I think that prosecutors bemoaned the fact that Barry was black. They knew race would be infused into their efforts to expose the harms of steroids; certainly complicating a “clear” case of lying. But alas, I come at this issue with my own sensibilities. I respect Mr. Rhoden’s contrary position.