The shame of the game

Clueless Barry Bonds and the Juiced Sox Scandal of 2007.

Yeah, it’s that bad.

Not since the fixed World Series of 1919 has baseball been in such a fix, its most accomplished player indicted Thursday for lying about cheating his way to its most glamorous record.

United States of America v. Barry Lamar Bonds.

United States of America v. Its Own Doggone National Pastime.

Yeah, it’s that awful.

Sure, everyone suspected Bonds took steroids. Absolutely, everyone wrote that Bonds probably took steroids.

Heck, Commissioner Bud Selig was so sure Bonds was going to be indicted for lying about steroids, he refused to publicly applaud him during his chase of Hank Aaron’s home run record last summer.

Everyone -- except perhaps the exceptionally deluded San Francisco Giants fans -- saw this indictment coming.

But we had no idea how it would feel once it arrived.

It feels slimy. It feels sick.

To hear Thursday that even the federal government is now so certain he took steroids, it is betting its 95% conviction rate on it?

It feels like the back of Barry Bonds’ neck looks.

It is grotesque and surreal.

Not one of the bloated Bonds 762 homers connected like this one.

This would be like the recent Michael Vick federal indictment, but only if Vick were Joe Montana, and only if the dogs were discovered to have thrown most of his touchdown passes.

This would be like the recent NBA referee scandal, but only if an official actually spent a decade fixing every game involving Michael Jordan.

Dang, the phony really was a phony.

His 73 homers in 2001? Liar.

His .812 slugging percentage in 2004? Liar.

His 351 homers after 1998, when he allegedly began using steroids out of jealousy for Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa? Big fat liar.

Some folks say Bonds should be exonerated because, at the time of his alleged use, steroids were not outlawed in baseball. Bad argument. They were illegal without a prescription.

Other folks say that this is only a charge, not a conviction, so Bonds should be given the benefit of the doubt. That benefit has been foolishly extended for four years.

Time’s up. Game over. On federal indictments, the government swings and misses even less than Bonds did.

You’ll notice, we write about Bonds’ career in the past tense. That is because, as a baseball player and future Hall of Famer, he is now officially finished.

As a surly, aging slugger, he was going to have trouble finding work this year even without the indictment. The legal questions will turn him positively radioactive. He’s done.

He was also going to have trouble entering the Hall of Fame simply because of the same whispers that have kept out Mark McGwire. Now, there is probably no way he will even be eligible.

The moment he is convicted in this case -- convicted of anything involving lying about steroids -- Selig will undoubtedly ban him from baseball for life.

He will be Pete Rose without the bad haircut or long autograph lines.

Even if writers wanted to vote for him, they couldn’t.

Bonds will disappear, leaving behind only a asterisk, although not a literal one.

Baseball will not forcibly smudge his career home-run record of 762.

If baseball starts messing with asterisks, it will have to deal with spitballs and stolen signals and records set during an era in which African Americans and Latinos didn’t participate.

Baseball didn’t place an asterisk on the Cincinnati Reds’ 1919 World Series victory over Shoeless Joe Jackson and the cheating Chicago White Sox, so it can’t do it here.

The real asterisk will be worse. The real asterisk will be a black cloud that will hang over the entire game until we learn to trust it again.

The 1919 World Series lasted nine days, but its impact affected baseball for years.

How long will this last?

The 1919 World Series placed baseball in such a hole, it took the mighty Babe Ruth to save it.

Is anyone strong enough to save it now?

Today you will read that Alex Rodriguez, with his “noble” effort to remain with the New York Yankees for a quarter-billion dollars, will play the part of Ruth.

He will eventually break Bonds’ record. He will make us believe in the integrity of the game’s majesty again.

Not so fast. You are assuming Rodriguez is clean. Until baseball can test for human growth hormone, can we assume anyone is clean?

Rodriguez flicks home runs like McGwire once flicked home runs. Rodriguez controls the plate like Bonds once controlled the plate. Rodriguez grows larger every year like, well, like all of baseball once grew larger every year.

There are no accusations here. There are only observations that Bonds’ indictment can now, sadly, allow us to have about everyone.

In George Mitchell’s upcoming baseball-sanctioned report, there will be many more names linked to steroids. Now that Bonds has been nabbed, those players will be instantly convicted in a court of public opinion, and the cloud will grow.

It is one thing for a couple of boozy guys in the bleachers to stand above the United States of America’s star baseball player and chant, “Ster-oids.”

It is quite another thing for the United States of America to do it.

Yeah, it’s that bad.

Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Plaschke, go to latimes.com/plaschke.

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BARRY BONDS BEFORE 1999

42

His jersey size

10 1/2

His shoe size

7 1/8

His cap size

17.11

At-bats per HR

.556

His Slugging pct.

34.2

Stolen bases per season

BARRY BONDS 1999-2007

52

His jersey size

13

His shoe size

7 1/4

His cap size

9.2

At-bats per home run

.712

His Slugging pct.

7.7

Stolen bases per season

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Bonds’ regular-season statistics

*--* YEAR TEAM AB R H HR RBI AVG 1986 Pittsburgh 413 72 92 16 48 223 1987 Pittsburgh 551 99 144 25 59 261 1988 Pittsburgh 538 97 152 24 58 283 1989 Pittsburgh 580 96 144 19 58 248 1990 Pittsburgh 519 104 156 33 114 301 1991 Pittsburgh 510 95 149 25 116 292 1992 Pittsburgh 473 109 147 34 103 311 1993 San Francisco 539 129 181 46 123 336 1994 San Francisco 391 89 122 37 81 312 1995 San Francisco 506 109 149 33 104 294 1996 San Francisco 517 122 159 42 129 308 1997 San Francisco 532 123 155 40 101 291 1998 San Francisco 552 120 167 37 122 303 1999 San Francisco 355 91 93 34 83 262 2000 San Francisco 480 129 147 49 106 306 2001 San Francisco 476 129 156 73 137 328 2002 San Francisco 403 117 149 46 110 370 2003 San Francisco 390 111 133 45 90 341 2004 San Francisco 373 129 135 45 101 362 2005 San Francisco 42 8 12 5 10 286 2006 San Francisco 367 74 99 26 77 270 2007 San Francisco 340 75 94 28 66 276 Totals 9847 2,227 2,935 762 1,996 298 *--*

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QUOTES

What others are saying about Barry Bonds, who was indicted by a U.S. grand jury Thursday on charges of obstructing justice and perjury for lying about using steroids:

, Dodgers special advisor and Dodgers

‘People say, “Does

this hurt baseball?” Baseball is strong.

It will continue to

be strong. I don’t think it’s going to hurt baseball.’

‘I think it will benefit baseball. If you’ve got dirty laundry, you’ve got to clear it out and move on.’

, former Dodgers third baseman, played part of the 2006 season in San Francisco with Bonds:

‘I think that when you’re on top of the game, when you’re arguably the best player in the game, it’s something that comes with the territory. And Barry’s the type of person who’s a straight shooter. He didn’t kiss anybody’s. . . . They’re out to get him.’

, former Dodgers third base coach, coached Bonds in Pittsburgh from 1986 to 1992:

‘I talked to him some this year. He’s beat down by it. I can’t even imagine what it’s like to be him. He’s probably the most recognized athlete in the world. He’s probably the

most degraded athlete in the world. And he could be the greatest athlete in the world. He’s the ultimate

of everything. . . .

‘I never saw him do it [steroids]. I have no reason to think that he did until he admits it.

I think that when you don’t know the fact, you

shouldn’t guess. What appears to be fact sometimes isn’t.’

, the 91-year-old daughter of

Babe Ruth:

‘I feel bad for Bonds. The fact is, is that his career is tarnished completely now that the indictment has come down. That is going to

be a tremendous punishment for him.’

, Washington Nationals pitcher who gave up Bonds’ record 756th home run this season:

‘It kind of comes up on certain players. “Do you think that it was all-natural? Do you think he maybe used something?” Does it come up on Barry Bonds? Yeah, people talk about it. But it comes up on other people too. . . . I don’t want to say, “Oh, no, Barry Bonds has

ruined baseball” if everything were true. It’s one of those things where time will tell.’