Newswise — With the San Francisco Giants' Barry Bonds closing in on Hank Aaron's record of 755 career home runs, lingering concerns about performance-enhancing drugs raise interesting questions about how America chooses its heroes and recognizes outstanding achievement, according to a philosophy professor at the University of Indianapolis.
"Few people think Ty Cobb shouldn't be in the Hall of Fame, but by most accounts he was a dirtier, meaner player than Barry Bonds," says Jonathan Evans, Ph.D., whose courses include Ethics and Philosophy of Sport. The records and awards of Hall of Fame pitchers Gaylord Perry and Whitey Ford still stand despite admissions of cheating, he adds " Perry with his famous spitball and Ford by cutting the ball.
"Babe Ruth didn't necessarily cheat, but he often acted selfishly and treated even his teammates badly," Evans says.
Record books should be based on objective measures, of course, but a healthy society also should consider questions of personal character when honoring the accomplishments of public figures, he says.
"We all should pause when glorifying or celebrating the achievement of someone who got there through immoral means," he says. "Perhaps the end result is that we will have to recognize Bonds for breaking the record " after all, Major League Baseball was complicit in what he and others have done " but that we shouldn't hold this achievement as being on par with Hank Aaron's achievement."
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