A Letter to Barry...

Dear Barry,

Thank you. Thank you for bringing winning baseball to my city, the city of San Francisco. Thank you for giving me so many moments to cherish and cheer the greatest game of all. And thank you for never wavering and never compromising yourself for the sake of others. That above all else is what I respect about you the most.

From day one you never pretended to be anything other than what you are, and that's a truly great ballplayer. Along the way you've brought more joy to the fans than you will ever know and as you pass the legendary Hank Aaron tonight with home run #756 the true fans congratulate you on a truly awesome accomplishment.

So many people talk about you and talk bad about you, but you already know that. They say you're a cheater and that the numbers you've put up could never have been accomplished without steroids. What they don't talk about is the 46 homers you hit in 1993, at Candlestick Park of all places, where it was near impossible to reach that number.

They also forget to mention that you've reached 756 in over 2,500 fewer at-bats than "The Hammer". They never talk about that fact that through the first 12 years of your career (1986-1997) you were hitting a home run every 16.23 at-bats, while Aaron averaged one every 17.79 at-bats over the first 12 years of his career.

Hank hit 47 homers at age 37, you hit 46 at that age. But of course everyone seems to think it's just not possible for a man that age to actually get better, of course they don't mention that was Aaron's career-high for home runs in a season. Everyone points to your magical 73 homer season and says something is not right, but of course no one thought it was wrong just three years earlier when two guys passed the 65 home run mark.

You say you want to keep playing, and I have to tell you that hearing you say that brings a smile to my face. I just hope you stay where you belong, in a Giants uniform with #25 on you back. But whatever you do you'll always be the greatest ballplayer I've ever seen and I'll support you until the end.

Sincerely,

Adam Doctolero