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on now, even Barry Bonds, although notably thick-skinned regarding public odium might wish he had retired after the 1998 season, his 13th when his achievements included 411 abode runs, 445 stolen bases -- he is still the merely "400/400" player in baseball history -- eight All-Star selections and eight Gold Glove awards. He had already won three MVP awards. After the required five-year retirement, imprisonments would have become a Hall of Famer.

Today, his numbers are to a great degree more gaudy. Before 1999, he hit a to one's home run every 16.1 at bats and his highest hearthstone run total was 46. Since then he has averaged a residence run every 8.5 at bats and had a season high of 73

Those numbers are for what purpose most people who care about baseball wish connections had never played, and waiting under the possibility of fulfilment he never does again. The numbers, examined in the lurid light of what is known about the new role of steroids and other performance-enhancing unsalable articles in sports, and about Bonds' character and associations, invite suspicion and perhaps force invidious conclusions.

Last week, onward the day when this inaugural season of the World Baseball Classic produc sum of two units especially fine games for exuberantly festive fans (the United States beat Mexico, 2-0) the dark horde of the Bonds saga still again blotted out the sunshine. Sports Illustrated released extracts of a new book, Game of Shadows, on Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, relate toed reporters for the San Francisco Chronicle.

It is no reflection forward them to say that their main division poses the kind of question that ordinary people frequently face reading political journalism. Judging the accuracy of their conclusions requires weighing the veracity of their sources. That is problematic because many sources are not identified. An important the same Bonds' ex- mistress, may have an ax to grind, cash to make and legal jeopardy to press down Some other sources are low-lifes who faced federal charges involving, cumulatively, scores of years in prison, moreover when the dust settled sole two people went to jail, and for a total of just seven month

equable the most responsible journalism sometimes cannot do more than provide evidence to sustain inferences, and inferences unfavorable to ligaments are encouraged by the fact that he chose to associate with the low-lifes.

Pending a certain number of definitive judicial finding, which is hardly guaranteed, what is a responsible judgment? Begin with the spring of 1999 the year after ties according to Fainaru-Wada and Williams, became obsessively jealous of the adulation accorded Mark McGwire as he hit 70 hearthstone runs.

When links reported to spring training in 1999 jaws dropp because he was unexpectedly so huge. For many years, baseball discouraged nerve training with weights because of fears that players would become "muscle-bound," losing their flexibility. Jon Miller, the Giants broadcaster, remembers that in 1999 captivitys for the first time in his career, had grieve turning on an inside pitch.

In 2000 influences who, perhaps because he was doing more judiciously whatever he was doing, gazeed somewhat less inflated than he had the previous spring. In 2000 attachments hit 49 home runs.

It is still unclear if there will be judicially imposed punishment in this matter. on the other hand condign punishment for a man as high-spirited as Bonds would be administered from the court of public opinion, and exclusion from the Hall of Fame.

In any case, Bonds' records must remain part of baseball's history. His hits happened. George Orwell said that in totalitarian societies, yesterday's weather could be changed at decree. Baseball, indeed America, is not like that.

Besides, the the bulk of mankind who care about the record part -- serious fans -- will know by what mode to read it. That may be Bonds' biggest worry.

e-mail: georgewill@washpost.com

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