Hypothetically, Barry Bonds has been suspended from playing professional baseball during the 2007 season and will be permanently ineligible for induction into the Hall of Fame.

That was the decision of “arbitrator” Lester Munson in a mock arbitration proceeding held Nov. 14 at The John Marshall Law School.

But he stopped short of ordering that Bonds' baseball records be eliminated, altered or marked with asterisks.

Noting that he was bound by findings of the George Mitchell Report, Munson said that the use of steroids by Bonds and others allows elite athletes to work harder and longer, and to recover faster from injuries.

Team owners have looked the other way because homeruns fill ballparks, he recalled, although Major League Baseball now wishes the steroid controversy had never happened and that Bonds would disappear.

“Commissioner Selig must do something about it before spring training, if ever,” Munson urged.

Bonds was “represented” at the hearing by attorney Joel Daly, John Marshall's director of external affairs. Law professor and author Eldon L. Ham appeared as counsel to organized baseball.

Ham spoke of the “best interests clause” in the players' contracts, dating back to the 1919 Black Sox scandal, and pointed out that the self-governing power of Major League Baseball has been affirmed by the courts.

He said the real issue is that steroid use hurts players and the fundamental integrity of the game of baseball. The institution is obligated to take good-faith action when there is just cause.

Daly argued that Bonds hadn't failed a drug test since the requirement was instituted in 2002, and has denied use of any banned or performance-enhancing substance.

He called baseball's persecution of Bonds a “witch hazel hunt,” fueled by a vindictive former girlfriend and jealous ballplayers. “Let his career end with an exclamation mark, not an asterisk,” Daly pleaded.