Graphic By: John Severino

Good. In fact, excellent. Fans who know the history of the game know that 755 is the most sacred number in all of American sports. It is held by Henry Aaron, who is not only a class-act representative of everything that baseball can and should be but also arguably the best to ever play the game.

Barry Bonds simply does not have the strength of character that is exemplified by people like Aaron or Bonds' godfather, Willie Mays. If he had any sense of his legacy in the history of the game, he would have retired at the end of last season, and baseball would have been better for it.

Strictly from a statistical standpoint, Bonds is also one of the greatest ever. He is most definitely the most feared hitter to ever step to the plate. In 2004, he demonstrated this with some very strange and astounding numbers. Even though he only hit 45 homers and drove in 101 runs, he recorded a major-league record 232 walks and had an on-base percentage well over .600 (meaning he reached base in over 60 percent of his plate appearances). That year, Bonds also had a national-league best .362 batting average. Bonds has been putting up these kind of numbers year in and year out.

He has garnered six National League Most Valuable Player awards and used to be a prominent base-stealer and one of the best defensive outfielders in the game (he won eight gold gloves from 1990 through 1998)--that is, until he got so pumped up that he couldn't move anymore. So why does MLB simply want him to go away?

For good reason. Steroid allegations surrounding Bonds and other players have been a scourge on the public image of the game in the past few years. In a commercial for his new reality show, Bonds on Bonds, he says that he has passed every steroids test that MLB has thrown at him with flying colors.

That may be true, but he did admit to unwittingly using the cream and the clear a couple of years ago, his former trainer, Greg Anderson, is currently in jail for supplying other players with performance enhancers. Also, there is a new book out, Game of Shadows, that provides details on Bonds' steroid use over the years (but does not reveal hard sources).

In fact, there is a veritable mountain of circumstantial evidence against Bonds--so much so that MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, would probably like nothing better than to see him retire and pull his scandals away from major league stadiums.

Even at the beginning of this year, Bonds (who has one home run and a batting average around .200) has continued to be the big story, despite excellent seasons thus far from players bound to have more positive impacts than Bonds. Albert Pujols, for example, has 12 home runs already, enough to lead the majors (incidentally, I believe Pujols will end up breaking Aaron's or Bonds' record for career home runs if he can stay healthy).

Right now, Bonds is under official investigation by MLB. Regardless of whether or not anything comes of that investigation, he needs to step away from the game right now, for the sake of his own legacy and so that baseball in general may move forward, away from the steroid era.