I am not a big fan of Barry Bonds, but I feel compelled to support him. The press and the public are not treating Barry fairly. Barry is closing on Babe Ruth for second place in career home runs, hitting his 709th round-tripper yesterday.

Baseball is a game. It always has been a game and always will be a game. Nothing more. Nothing less. The institution of baseball has had a long history of cheaters and always supported these cheaters. Very little has been done about cheating in baseball. It's a part of the game. We've accepted cheating in baseball until now. What's changed?

Sammy Sosa, Wilton Guerrero, Chris Sabo, Albert Belle, Bill Hatcher and Graig Nettles were caught cheating with corked bats. George Brett was caught cheating for illegally applying pine tar to his bats. Gaylord Perry was the king of spitballers, once allowed, until 1920.

And there was Shoeless Joe Jackson, caught in the 1919 Black Sox legend of throwing the World Series. Heck, Jackson's efforts have been immortalized in several movies. Now most of you probably don't know that Barry's dad, Bobby Bonds was caught cheating with a flattened bat. I guess it runs in the family.

Pete Rose though is paying dearly for his gaffe with a lifetime ban from baseball for allegedly gambling on baseball. Admittedly, gambling in of itself is not cheating. Afterall, Rose's gambling probably did not contribute to him setting the major league record of 4,256 hits.

Barry, I am glad you did not gamble. Look, the history of baseball shows us that cheating during a game is okay and gambling on baseball is not okay. Keep hitting away. If baseball treats you differently for cheating than past acts of cheating, then you will have been treated unfairly. And if that occurs, I will ban myself from baseball forever.

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive