By Mike Schmidt

updated 1:37 a.m. ET Aug. 8, 2007

Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt hit 548 home runs and was a 12-time All-Star before retiring in 1989. A three-time NL MVP, the third baseman was MVP of the 1980 World Series when the Phillies won their only championship.

This Barry Bonds thing has got me confused.

I can’t make a decision. I get several interview requests each week and questions everywhere I go.

“What do you think about Barry Bonds?”

I’m sure all of the guys in the 500 Club are going through the same thing. Most of the older hard-liners believe he cheated, broke the law, is beating the system, and want nothing to do with him. Apparently Hank Aaron is in that group.

Those guys feel the same way about Pete Rose, too.

The current generation, however, seems to be a little more tolerant. They’re willing to accept his achievements as a product of a commitment to fitness, unique hand-eye ability, size and strength, longevity, and whatever is — or was — accepted as normal 10 years ago.

The controversial issue is whether he added size and strength with illegal supplemental help, allowing him not only to do extraordinary things as a hitter, but allowing him to extend his years to the point of challenging the game’s most coveted record.

I’ve gone on record saying if I had played in the 1990s I would have found it hard not to fall to the same temptation, especially when there was no testing and a lax attitude by those in charge. Back then, the game and its players were thriving on the power surge.

Knowing the repercussions as I know them now would have made that decision easy. But being a young player trying to make my mark, be the best I could be, make the most money I could make, get to the top, I’m not sure I would have said no. More power to those that did, and most think Barry was not one of them.

So fans, and some current and former major leaguers, find it hard to give Bonds the respect that should follow this achievement. It is directly related to the issue above, but there are other reasons.

There is the picture painted by the media, and supported through reading Bonds’ quotes, that he has a surly “I’m Barry Bonds” attitude and has a different set of rules that those around him must accept.

Quite simply, he appears to have a very arrogant and self-centered existence and, as he approaches the record, he revels in his celebrity with little concern for his image. It seems there is little that would, or could, endear him to all of us in his actions.

Hey, who am I to talk? I was a little self-centered in my day as well. A certain amount of it, I’m sure, comes with the territory.

In general, the perception that today’s players have risen to a level of stardom where they have lost touch with the real world seems strong. Television does it. These guys see themselves as rock stars, as entertainers. Maybe they are.

Big Papi is a household name. He’s on TV more in one month than Hank Aaron was in his career. These are the times we are in, true. But it creates resentment and jealousy from players of the past who played in relative obscurity.

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I had a long paragraph written on the differences in today’s game compared to Aaron’s era, but I’ll not push that issue. But I must ask: Do you think most fans believe the Home Run King should come from that era, when it was much tougher?

Not my era, mind you. Aaron’s era. That’s the hard thing to accept, that records set pre-1990 are falling like crazy. I was seventh on the all-time home run list just over 15 years ago, now I’m 12th.

Aaron played his entire career when men were fighting for their livelihood on the field. There were no guaranteed contracts and pitchers knocked you on your ass if you overswung at an outside pitch. There were no elbow pads to ease the fear of inside pitches. The game policed itself, and only the strong survived.

Today’s players are a happy family, many once were teammates. They understand there is a gigantic pie and plenty to go around. Before free agency started after the 1976 season, players were tied to organizations and forced to be loyal to towns and their fans.

Even through the ’80s, many players played for only one organization, which bred a more natural competitive environment. Today’s game is competitive, of course, but not nearly as tough as it was back then. Not so much when I played, but Aaron’s era and before, when you earned your pay year to year. Every year was a free agent year for them. You don’t think hitting was tougher?

It doesn’t sound as if I respect today’s guys after reading that, does it? Well, I do, but those are facts. Any current player, even Barry, would agree with me.

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