Marathon Pundit: It is so. Barry Bonds indicted

Supposedly Chicago White Sox outfielder "Shoeless" Joe Jackson was confronted by a young fan who heard he'd been indicted on conspiracy charges for his role in the 1919 "Black Sox" scandal who said "Say it ain't so, Joe."

Well, as far as so-called home run king Barry Bonds goes, it is so--he's been indicted for conspiracy and obstruction of justice today for lying to a federal grand jury about not abusing steroids.

It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

A few months ago, Jack Cashill wrote about Barry Bonds and the "anything goes" culture of the San Francisco Bay area. While baseball fans around the world were disgusted by Bonds allegedly-chemically enhanced chase of the legendary Hank Aaron, the folks of the bay area cheered him on.

Hat tip to Third Wave Dave for the Cashill article.

UPDATE November 16 11:10AM: Pat Hickey in the comments brought up this Bonds bile, involving former Chicago White Sox slugger, and Gary, Indiana native Ron Kittle, who had an unfriendly encounter with Bonds in 1993. As he recounts in his book Tales from the White Sox Dugout:

The setting was the visitors' clubhouse at the Chicago Cubs' Wrigley Field home in 1993, when Bonds’ San Francisco Giants had come to town. Kittle, by then retired from the game, had asked Bonds to sign two jerseys Bonds had worn in games, so that Kittle could auction them for Indiana Sports Charities, his philanthropy helping kids with cancer.

I paid about $110 of my own money for them, so they could be auctioned off at the golf outing. I did that all the time for stars like Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Derek Jeter and Roger Clemens. When I tell them how their autographs help the cause, every player gladly signs -- with one exception.

I walked up to Bonds at his locker in the Wrigley Field visitors' clubhouse, introduced myself and said, ‘Barry, if you sign these, they'll bring in a lot of money for kids who need help.

Bonds stood up, looked me in the eye and said, “I don't sign for white people.” If lightning hits me today, I will swear those were his exact words. Matt Williams and other Giants were in the room and they heard what Bonds said.

I stood there for a minute, and the veins in my neck were popping. I've only been that mad a few times in my life. I was going to beat the (heck) out of him, really kick his (butt), but Williams saw what was happening, so he came over and got between us. Matt said, "Ron, that's just the way he is."