JASON GIAMBI is hoping his 70’s style mustache and renewed popularity will earn him a late invite to the All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium next week. Barry Bonds can’t find a Major League Baseball club that will take him.
Andy Pettitte recorded his 10th win of the season against the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday. Roger Clemens has reportedly been forced to sell his Bentley to pay mounting legal costs.
Such is the fall out from the great baseball steroids scandal.
The “good guys” who admitted the error of their ways have been given a pardon by both the fans and the League. The “bad guys” who protested their innocence and hid behind a shield of self-righteousness are no longer welcome among the fold it would seem.
There are plenty of teams in need of a left-handed power hit – the Arizona Diamondbacks being the perfect example. Who better to fill the role than the man who holds the MLB home run record with 762?
All free agent Bonds will cost is money. But he comes with baggage, not to mention the media circus.
The 43-year-old faces charges of perjury and obstruction of justice following his testimony in the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO) investigation.
Bonds, apparently, is desperate to get back in the game. With the trading deadline now three weeks away, it will be interesting to see whether any club is desperate enough to take him. For the moment, the risk outweighs the reward.
In stark contrast to Bonds, Giambi is enjoying a renaissance year in the Bronx.
Jason Giambi's popularity has never been higher
Not so long ago, rumor had it that the New York Yankees were looking for ways to terminate his seven-year, $120 million contract due to his admission that he took performance-enhancing drugs.
After a slow start to the season that prompted him to grow his now famous mustache, Giambi is among the American League’s leading home run hitters with 18 and there is talk about him coming back for another year.
The official Yankees website is leading a campaign to Support the ‘Stache’ and win “The Giambino” the final place in the AL All-Star team.
Many of the players, along with thousands of Yankees fans, wore novelty mustaches at The Stadium yesterday in support of their team-mate.
At a time when Bonds is the forgotten man of baseball, Giambi’s popularity has never been higher. It almost brings a tear to your eye.
“It’s really a humbling experience, to think of everything I’ve gone through and the things that I’ve battled back from – to have that closeness again with the fans in special,” he said.
Even the boos that greeted Giambi’s appearance at the plate during away games seem to have dissipated.
His fellow Yankee Pettitte has also been embraced by the fans and the steroid revelations in the Mitchell report forgotten.
To quote from the bible, be sure your sin will find you out. How Bonds and Clemens must be wishing they had come clean now.
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