Unlikeable Heroes ~ 10 May 2007

Despite my rabid fanship of baseball, I just can’t do it. I can’t bring myself to warm up to baseball's super heroes, Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds.

Roger Clemens had my support when he retired from the Yankees amidst all the hype of his final pitching performance and in the 2003 World Series, to boot. Then, when former team mate Andy Pettite encouraged the Rocket to join him in Houston and be closer to his family as Pettite had done, Roger followed. (See Anything Randy Can Do...)

After the 2005 season in which Roger had a decent year for the Astros, he held back on his decision to play baseball in ‘06. Finally, he relented, receiving an obscene prorated salary for his partial season and mediocre record of 7 - 6 (despite his damn fine ERA). Sure Roger is a three planet and north node in Leo kind of I’ll do only what I want and when I want Leo. But this year his decision to return coincides with Saturn on Mercury and Chiron and Neptune opposing it. Simply, fans should be sick and tired of Roger’s dramatic hoopla by now. He retired to milk the memorabilia market, moved to play near his family (how sweet) and now moves back to New York, defying both his previous retirement claims to help a Yankees team that tumbles out of control and lacks coalescing chemistry.

It’s hard to know what kind of physical shape Roger is in. Cautions go up with Saturn in Leo and Chiron Neptune in Aquarius in aspect to his Mercury, though. He needs to take time to foster his body to proper strength and season readiness, prior to going for broke. Yeah, that’ll never happen. He gets frantic emergency text messages from his Yankee team mates that should make his cell phone bill nearly as prodigious as his salary. The risks of an early return: inflammation (Neptune) and lower leg pulls (Chiron) knee tension (Saturn) and possible difficulties in the upper abdomen region (Leo).

One wonders how Roger, at this age, recovered from being a pitcher on the decline years ago to the powerful phenom he is today (steroid rumors abound). He still strikes out more than his share of batters. Will his record reach great heights this year? Unlikely. Roger’s presence and Leo-Royalty demands and conditions of exclusion in his contract certainly will cause dissension and resentment among teammates. His bombastic, arrogant, head hunting (throwing intentionally at opposing batters with the agenda of hitting the head) have worn thin. With the powerful Saturn/Neptune/Chiron pattern this year, tarnish appears to have set in on the golden boy.

Next year Saturn will be in early Virgo as the season starts. Roger more than likely will apply the same tactics, but then, as Saturn aligns with his Pluto and opposes his natal Saturn and Chiron, the “quit while you’re ahead” adage applies brilliantly.

Another steroid king and fellow Leo, Barry Bonds now stands on the precipice of hitting more home runs than any other ball player in the history of the game. At the time of this posting Barry has hit 745 homers, just shy of Hank Aaron’s record of 755. Truly, it’s amazing that teams still pitch to Bonds. Perhaps no one wants to be accused of trying to cheat the fate of his record.

Steroid rumors have hurt Bond’s reputation in the past. Has he done steroids? Please! How does someone go from a ten shoe size to more than thirteen? At in their late thirties to early forties no less! According to baseball, steroid use is illegal and punishable. Will he be punished? No. He won’t admit any wrongdoing. While hearings and legal cases spin around Bonds with the frenzy of the animated Tasmanian Devil’s whirlwind, Bonds chooses to disrespect the game with obstinate silence and fulfill a poor Leonine role model for children wanting to be just like him.

No doubt, Bonds has one of the best swings (if not the best) and hand-eye coordination of any player of the game. No doubt Bonds would not be where he is in the home run race had he not used growth hormones. Should he be allowed to have the record? It’ll be interesting to see. The controversy has not even started to fire up. Wait until Saturn reaches Bonds Jupiter (the last ten days of June). While he should have the record by then, that’s when the controversy begins to peak. It won’t be over with that either. Over the next several years and through 2010, the choice driven inspiration of Sedna persists in challenging his record. For years Roger Maris wore an asterisk after his home run record as if it were a scarlet letter. Pete Rose remains an outcast of baseball’s elite because of illegal betting on the game. It’s going to be interesting to watch, for certain.

Bonds will maintain his hurt pride routine: After all he’s done for baseball, you people will Saturn me - you know, dissing or applying the new term Plutoed to him. I’ve tried to figure when he’ll break the record. I’m having a hard time seeing it chart-wise, but when he does I can’t wait to see the price of the baseball that did it.