Baseball can finally step out into light

NEW YORK -- Barry Bonds is back home in Los Angeles, unemployed and unwanted in the sport he dominated for two decades. Baseball is throwing itself a party here, a coming-out party for a new wave of stars, a huge and happy step away from the steroid shadows that dogged the sport last year.

Bonds could still hit, if someone would let him. But, after an off-season in which he was indicted on felony charges and the Mitchell Report detailed the rampant use of steroids in baseball, his absence from this summer’s All-Star game enables the sport to look ahead rather than look back.

“You’ve got great stories -- Josh Hamilton, Ryan Braun -- going into their first All-Star experience,” New York Mets third baseman David Wright said. “I see the new generation of players coming through as pretty special.

“There’s no negatives surrounding the All-Star game. All the stories are positive. The baseball purists can just sit down and enjoy the baseball.”

The Mitchell Report linked 21 active players with the use of performance-enhancing substances. The rosters for tonight’s All-Star game at Yankee Stadium include just one of those 21 -- Miguel Tejada of the Houston Astros.

An All-Star game with rosters dotted with Mitchell Report alumni would be “like when Amy Winehouse won the Grammys after getting arrested,” Hall of Famer Paul Molitor said.

In fan voting for the final spot on the American League roster, rookie Evan Longoria of the Tampa Bay Rays -- two years removed from Long Beach State -- beat out three veterans cited in the Mitchell Report: Jason Giambi of the hometown Yankees, Brian Roberts of the Baltimore Orioles and Jose Guillen of the Kansas City Royals.

The rosters include 25 first-time All-Stars, and the starting lineups include three starters at age 24: Braun, Hanley Ramirez of the Florida Marlins and Dustin Pedroia of the Boston Red Sox.

The list of All-Star perennials not here includes Bonds and Roger Clemens, each unemployed and prominently cited in the Mitchell Report, and Sammy Sosa and Mike Piazza, each of whom could not find a job and retired after the season started.

Ivan Rodriguez, a 14-time All-Star, did not make the team. Neither did Ken Griffey Jr., a 13-time All-Star. The rosters also do not include 10-time All-Stars Tom Glavine and Randy Johnson and eight-time All-Stars Greg Maddux and John Smoltz.

“There’s been different times you felt a transition, groups of perennials moving on. This year is certainly that case,” Molitor said.

“In addition to the new faces, baseball is in transition, into the post-steroid era. That doesn’t associate all the people that moved on with that. But baseball is trying hard to put on a fresh face. To have so many new guys gives everybody a good start.”

That delights Chipper Jones of the Atlanta Braves, who made the first of his six All-Star appearances in 1996.

“A lot of good young players are in the game -- a lot more than when I came in,” he said. “In order to make an All-Star game 10 or 15 years ago, you almost had to be one of about six guys, or else you weren’t going. You knew the middle of the National League lineup was going to be Bonds, Piazza, McGwire. That’s just the way it was.

“With the influx of good young players, it’s kind of a renaissance.”

The All-Star game last year had the air of the end of an era, not the beginning of one. The San Francisco Giants played host to the game, and to a celebration of Bonds, three weeks before he would break the all-time home run record.

“I remember the introduction for him was great,” said Dan Haren of the Arizona Diamondbacks. “San Francisco obviously loves him to death. In the Bay Area, he could pretty much do no wrong.”

That was not the case outside Northern California, as evidenced by the boos that constantly accompanied Bonds on the road last year, and that would not have been the case had he played in this year’s All-Star game.

“It’s always great when you give fans a positive thing,” said Michael Young of the Texas Rangers. “Barry was being celebrated for his accomplishments, but there were always negative questions that followed.

“You have Josh [Hamilton]. You have Yankee Stadium. You have a lot of great players here for the first time. The game is in a good place right now. I think the game is moving forward.”

The game is moving forward without Bonds. Jeff Borris, the agent for Bonds, said Monday he has received no offers and is not optimistic that Bonds will play this season. Borris said the players’ union continues to investigate.

Michael Weiner, general counsel for the union, did not return a message asking when a decision might be made about whether to file a collusion grievance.

Jones and Lance Berkman of the Houston Astros each said he could understand why a general manager might hesitate in signing Bonds even if he could help the club.

“All the things with Bonds are not positive,” Berkman said. “It’s a risk-reward situation. There’s a distraction you might create on your team, and the GMs have to weigh that.”

Said Jones: “I think Barry Bonds was the greatest player I’ve ever seen. I would venture a guess to say GMs out there probably don’t want to have to deal with all that goes along with having Barry on a team.

“Would he help any ballclub? Most definitely. There’s no arguing that. I don’t think people want the everyday media hype that comes along with having him.”

And then Jones realized just how true his words were.

“I can honestly say this is the first question I’ve had about Barry all year,” Jones said.

“It gets back to that adage: Out of sight, out of mind.”

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bill.shaikin@latimes.com