Sports Store Removes All Barry Bonds Items

An argument can be made -- if people are so opposed to Barry Bonds, then why don't they do something about it? Well, a Chicago sports memorabilia store has done just that.

Bleachers Sports, a sports memorabilia and baseball card store operating on the North Shore for the last 15 years, is refusing to offer Bonds items as he closes in on Hank Aaron's career home-run record of 755.

Store owner Keith McDonough believes Bonds is approaching this hallowed record unfairly.

"Bonds knew he was taking performance-enhancing drugs, and he continued to take them after Major League Baseball declared their use to be illegal," said McDonough, whose store is in Winnetka.

"We have 5 million baseball cards and we have removed all of Bonds offerings, including cards and signed items, and [we] will hold a bonfire on the day he breaks the record.

"We have hundreds of children as customers, and at least they will know that we do not support attaining athletic superiority through chemical ingestion. Quite simply, we want kids to say 'no' to taking steroids and any other drugs like this, so we will at least not sell Barry Bonds in our store."

Hey, I'm right there with him for trying to set an example for the kids. One thing though, have they rid themselves of Rafael Palmeiro, Jose Canseco, and Sammy Sosa items as well? Those are all players who have been either caught cheating or been heavily implicated. That's something I'd like to know. At any rate, this store owner must really dislike Bonds to put sales in jeopardy. That's saying a lot.