Mad Magazine Takes Swing At MLB, Namely Bonds, Selig

Mad Magazine Takes Swipe At MLB

The September issue of Mad Magazine “features a caricature of a blown-up Barry Bonds, with the headline, ‘What, me Barry?,’ a takeoff on the Mad icon Alfred E. Neuman and trademark, ‘What me Worry?’ Mad slogan,” according to Thom Loverro of the WASHINGTON TIMES. The cover shows hypodermic needles “sticking out of an inflated Bonds all over his body,” with the sub headline, “We stick it to Baseball’s Giant Fraud.” Also in the issue are such cartoon features as “Classy ways to celebrate Barry Bonds historic season,” including MLB Commissioner Bud Selig “standing over Bonds with a checkbook, as he is being carted away on a stretcher, with Bonds telling Selig, ‘Keep that checkbook open, commish. I feel my pancreas going.’” The issue also features a fictitious open letter from Selig that reads, “Baseball is actually in the midst of a golden age unrivaled by any other sport, not counting, of course, pro football, NASCAR, and competitive wiener-eating. ... Reports of [HGH] use were particularly upsetting, because it had been my firm belief that in the ‘post-steroid era’ the players’ still ox-like physiques were being maintained through strict regimens of squat-thrusts and banana-walnut smoothies.” The letter has “what appears to be the [MLB] logo on the top, and has a signature that is supposed to be that of [Selig] on the bottom.” Loverro: “Mad magazine may not have the same cache it used to ... but it is still alive and strong, and getting into the hands of kids whose image of baseball in September will now be that of a clownish, fraudulent business.” Mad Magazine’s editors did not respond to calls, and MLB officials did not find out about the issue until Friday (WASHINGTON TIMES, 8/26).