He'll be there

Sports Illustrated's Jon Heyman has the scoop on commissioner Bud and the soon-to-be home run king Barry.

"SI.com has learned that barring something unforeseen and drastic, Selig plans to be there when Bonds breaks the all-time home run record of Selig's longtime friend and Milwaukee mate Hank Aaron."

It's the right call. I can't imagine someone breaking a record like this without the commissioner of the sport on hand.

Baseball can't have it both ways. It's a sport that's ridden the home run ball to record attendance. It spends the entire night before the All-Star Game putting on a home run exhibition.

If officials are convinced Bonds broke the rules of the game, then move to ban him. If he's so destructive, so corrosive to the sport, then he shouldn't be on the All-Star team. Hell, if he's that bad for the game, he shouldn't have been allowed on the ballot.

But he was and ended up a starter. The fans want to see him play. So should the commissioner.

Update: Selig denies he's made a decision. "I have made no decision on the Barry Bonds situation. None. Zero."

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A reminder that cheating in baseball comes in a variety of ways.

Remember Sammy Sosa's corked bat?

Several sources close to the Cubs have told me Sosa was not the only Cubs player who used a corked bat, at least in 2003. On the night Sosa's bat exploded for all to see, officials from Major League Baseball notified the Cubs organization during the game that they had one hour to get rid of any other corked bats of Sosa's in the team's clubhouse before they came down to inspect his arsenal of bats. More than 70 marked corked bats then were extricated quickly by Cubs personnel from the clubhouse, about a third of them belonging to other players.

Here's the 2003 Cubs Roster.