http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/13...collusion-case
Some of you might remember the strange end to Barry Bonds' career.
Despite being 43 years old, Bonds had a nice 2007 season with the Giants, hitting .276, 28 HR, and a .480 OBP in just 340 at-bats.
Surprisingly, he wasn't signed by any team in 2008, despite expressing a willingness to play for the Major League minimum! He never played baseball again.
Bonds contends that teams colluded against him, and basically shut him out of baseball.
An arbitrator in the case disagreed.
It's worth noting that bonds was arrested following the 2007 season for perjury, related to the BALCO steroid case.
I imagine that all of the teams in baseball felt he would be too much of a distraction, even if he put up decent numbers.
He was also a huge headache in the clubhouse for basically his entire career, but teams (mainly the Giants) put up with it because he was such a monster hitter.
I wonder if he was still doing roids in '07 despite all of the trouble brewing.
Bonds really screwed himself, because he was a HOF-caliber hitter without steroids. He wouldn't have had the amazing late-career seasons without the roids, but I believe he still would have gone down as one of the all-time best hitters in baseball, and instead his whole career is tainted.
Pretty much the same can be said for Roger Clemens on the pitching side.
This is opposed to players like Brady Anderson, who likely would have been dogshit without the aid of steroids.