Bud Selig looked like he’d rather be anywhere but watching Barry Bonds hit the home run that tied Hank Aaron. It appeared on tape like he had to be urged to stand after Bonds launched No. 755 Saturday night. Selig didn’t applaud, didn’t show much emotion at all, and issued only the most tepid of congratulatory statements after the game was over.

We know why, of course. A true celebration by Selig would be seen as an endorsement of all the things Bonds is accused of doing/taking/injecting/whatever. Ignoring the feat, though, would be seen as un-commissionerlike. What’s Selig to do?

Well, we saw what.

You wonder what it would have been like back in ‘98 if Selig had stood for something more than the influx of cash that was flooding into baseball’s coffers while Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa staged their memorable home run chase. Instead, he said nothing - nothing as McGwire grew to the size of a Winnebago, nothing after an Associated Press reporter noticed a tub of Andro in McGwire’s locker, nothing. He said nothing because he was, after all, the man who stood before the cameras in 1994 and mournfully said baseball was canceling the World Series because of a players strike. The home run chase revived baseball interest.

Then along came Bonds. Big, bad, Barry. Barry was different - antisocial, antagonistic, and arrogant.

Oh, and he was good. Extremely good.

So now, baseball’s most hallowed record is stained and the commissioner, once again, speaks loudly by saying nothing.

Yes sir, that was quite a summer in 1998. Hope it was worth the cost.