The Mail
MORE SUPPORT FOR THE KNIPFELSTER
Rainee Stiles' flagrantly anti-Jim Knipfel letter (March 15-21) happened to be published the same week that your paper ran two highly enjoyable articles by Knipfel: "Who's Sleazy Now, News?" (in Counterfeit Detection) and "Insecurity Systems Ride the Rails Underground" (cover story). What the New York Press needs is more Jim Knipfel articles and fewer Rainee Stiles letters.
?Richard Fried, Brooklyn, NY
A difference between your viewpoints is how much the steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs actually helped Bonds as he entered the "decline" years of all great players. I have never heard of steroids improving your eyesight. But what I have seen is how steroids can make a good player great. As a Cubs fan, I watched almost every game in that 1998 season, when Sammy Sosa slugged it out with Mark McGuire for baseball's most coveted record.
I watched in awe as Slammin' Sammy hit bomb after bomb out of Wrigley Field. I found it almost too hard to believe when he hit 20 home runs in the month of June, but at the age of nine, I didn't think twice about it. What I also didn't look at was that his career high in home runs prior to that 66 home run season was 40. That is a giant jump, and now, thanks to the congressional hearings, we know that Sosa's power surge wasn't completely natural.
I believe that both of you would agree that what Bonds allegedly did was not illegal at the time. Your main difference is whether or not Bonds should be investigated by MLB for the extent of his dealings with BALCO and steroids. Mr. Hollander, you believe that since Barry Bonds hurt the game by injecting himself, he should be scrutinized and punished for his actions. Mr. Sullivan, your view is that Bonds will pay for his actions regardless of investigation results, so Major League Baseball should leave him alone.
I would agree with your view that Major League Baseball should not punish Barry Bonds for allegedly using steroids in an age where no rules governing steroids were in place.
That is the same principle as that of habeas corpus, which states that a person cannot be charged with a crime they committed before the law was installed. However, I also believe that the investigation of Bonds is vital to the future of Major League Baseball.
An investigation, no matter what happened, would finally bring an end to the Steroid Era. The reputation of Bonds is irrelevant compared to the welfare of baseball. With an investigation, baseball will forge ahead into a new, hopefully scandal-free, era. By investigating Bonds, baseball will be ridding itself of a great evil. Either the Steroid Era will end with Bonds being one of the greatest ever to play the game, or the Steroid Era will end with a former superstar cast away in shame.
So I believe that Bonds should be investigated for his involvement in the Steroid Era, but not punished for any illegal acts he committed that were perfectly legal at the time. I think that both of you would agree that Major League Baseball needs to do something to rid itself of the demons of the Steroid Era.
?Clark Dennis
I do not expect the rest of the world, let alone McCauley, to mourn Imette's death until the end of time but he ought to respect the fact that there are people and communities that will be doing just that.
?Mary-Mildred Stith
Perhaps it is also my daily immersion in the conservative world of finance, mixed with my gay and straight friends who categorize human sexuality into a black or white picture, rather than the colorful spectrum that I myself experience. Is it too much to hope for that we could transcend our ideas of male and female, gay and straight, and just be merely people in love?
?Lei Grismer
?Phillip Butts, Director of Marketing
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