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Marc Ecko
(September 2007)
Marc Ecko, a 35-year-old fashion designer has money to burn, so he bought
the ball ( for $752,467! ) that juiced slugger Barry Bonds hit out of
the park to pass Hank Aaron as baseball’s all-time home-run champion and
branded it with an asterisk, signifying that Bonds’ achievement was aided
by drugs and deception. Ecko offered the defaced ball to the Hall of Fame,
which gladly accepted it. The criticism now being aimed at Ecko, like
so much of the commentary related to Bonds, is wrong-headed. He has done
baseball and history a great favor.
For now when the ball is put on display at Cooperstown, it will prompt
children to ask, “Gee, Dad (or Mom)
why does that ball have that star
thing on it?” And Mom (or Dad), one hopes, will reply, “Well, once there
was a great baseball player named Barry Bonds, and he was the best in
the game. But it wasn’t enough for him to be recognized as the best
player of his time; he was greedy and angry and arrogant, and wanted
to be regarded as the greatest player of all-time. So he cheated. He
used illegal substances that made him extra strong, and gave him a boost
of strength just when he was starting to get old. The drugs worked:
he broke lots of records, won lots of awards, and made lots of money.
But because he cheated, he didn’t become the greatest baseball player;
he became one of the worst. Because he made everyone cynical about the
records he broke, and made people suspicious of players who hadn’t cheated,
and he encouraged lots of players to do what he has done
lie, break
the rules, and get an unfair advantage. That’s why the ball he hit to
break the all-time record for home-runs has that asterisk
so nobody
will ever forget that it was a home run that never should have been
hit, and that by hitting it, Barry Bonds debased baseball.” Bonds, as any rational person who has examined the body of evidence
must conclude, is guilty of doping beyond any reasonable doubt. Nevertheless,
many sportswriters, athletes and broadcasters still stubbornly and illogically
defend Bonds, and are now focusing their ire on Ecko. “This is a silly
prank that has no place in the Hall of Fame, ” wrote New York Times
sports columnist William Rhoden. “A fashion designer is putting his
spin on history, forcing the Hall to accept that spin as a condition
of receiving the historic ball.” “Spin?” Bonds’ cheating to achieve his performance goals isn’t just
a rumor or suspicion, it is backed by testimony, documents, experience,
common sense and fact. Bonds’ trainer is a convicted steroid peddler,
and he is in jail for refusing to supply answers to a federal grand
jury that is investigating his pal and client. Barry Bonds’ name was
on the records of a steroid supplier, and Bonds told a grand jury that
he in fact took steroids, but “accidentally.” Those are three facts
out of a thousand. And they’re convincing by themselves. The “spin”
is the assortment of rationalizations and excuses that Bonds’ defenders
keep repeating to pretend Bonds’ home run record is legitimate. A fashion designer is taking action only because Major League Baseball
was negligent in allowing Bonds’ dishonesty to continue until it disgraced
the game. The Scoreboard would prefer for nothing whatsoever to represent
Bonds in the Hall of Fame—not a plaque, not a bat, not a word. But
because he was allowed to cheat, Bonds defaced baseball’s record book.
Thanks to Mark Ecko, anyone who looks at the 756th home run
ball will know it.
E-mail: ProEthics President
