Why should we care about Barry Bonds' Trial?

This week, Barry Bonds' perjury trial commenced and in essence, the home run records were put on trial.  Bonds has not played in a professional baseball game since 2007, and the charges and this trial have been stewing since before even then.

First the legal side

Many legal experts agree that the prosecution has an incredible task ahead of them in getting a conviction, mainly because some of their key evidence, namely a urine sample, has been disallowed as evidence to be used during the trial.  Add to the fact that if Bonds takes the stand (99.99999% chance he won't), he'll plead the 5th.  Nothing else can be expected from Bonds.  For sure, only two people know if Bonds knowingly took steroids....Bonds (who wouldn't incriminate himself) and his old trainer (Greg Anderson), who is being sent back to prison for the fifth time for failing to testify.  Unfortunately for the prosecution (and more fortunately for Mr. Bonds), just because a star witness refuses to testify, this can't be directly correlated to the legal definition of guilt on the defendant’s part.

In the public's eye, Barry Bonds is guilty as all get out.  If his personal trainer, who knows exactly what Bonds took, won't testify, it's because he knows that Bonds is guilty.  Why else would he not testify?!  In the defense's opening statement they stated again that Bonds believed he was using flaxseed oil and arthritis cream, when in fact he was using The Cream and The Clear (two designer steroids).  Yes, as the lead prosecutor said, this is laughable.  According to several reports, Bonds never ate anything or put anything in his body without knowing its exact contents.  Rick Reilly once wrote an article about this, saying that Bonds refused to eat off the spread in the Giants' clubhouse because they couldn't tell him the exact ingredients (and amounts of each) that were in each dish.

Now the home run records

Although it's not being given much attention, I think that the home run records are also on trial here.  While everyone will admit that Bonds did break both the single season and all time home run records (two of the most revered records in all of sports), if it is proven that he knowingly took steroids, I believe Bonds' numbers should wiped from the record books and the records returned to their rightful owners...Roger Maris and Hank Aaron.  Yes, I said Roger Maris...Mark McGuire has already admitted to using steroids and Sammy Sosa's complete brain fart of the English language while testifying in front of the Congressional hearing fooled no one as to his guilt.  Many people point to the fact that Major League Baseball did not have a drug testing policy until a few years ago and didn't outright ban steroids before then.  Sorry folks, they actually did.  One little observed line in baseballs bylaws stated that all drugs that were illegal in the U.S. were also illegal in baseball.  You and I aren't allowed to legally buy or use anabolic steroids (or whatever people are calling it these days), thus baseball players couldn’t/can't either.

This trial has been in the making for years, and unfortunately for Barry Bonds, even if he is found not guilty, in the court of public opinion he'll never be exonerated.  Has everyone forgotten that OJ Simpson wasn't found guilty?  (Lying to a Federal Grand Jury and murder are vastly different, and by no means am I comparing the type of crimes...merely the outcomes of the trials.)

Let's ensure the home run records are returned to their rightful owners regardless of the trial’s outcome.