The price of happiness

$752, 467 was the going rate for happiness in the auction of Barry Bonds' 756th homerun ball.  The paranoia and excitement of the chase only increased ravenous memorabilia collectors' bidding war for tickets and for the ball itself following the record breaking homerun.  And just like the ruby slippers in Salman Rushdie's short story "At The Auction of the Ruby Slippers" in his novel East, West this piece of memorabilia had a fanatical cult following that included people from all aspects of life.

Tickets to "the auction" of Bonds' "ruby slippers" began increasing in price as he got ever so closer to achieving a milestone.  As he got closer, fewer members of the general public were in attendence and more of the promanent members of society were present.  General admission tickets were being sold for ten times the amount paid as a result of the public's materialistic obsession.  The "exiles" in this case became the very same people that had pumped in so much of the money that made this moment possible.   Despite the infamous BALCO scandal that Bonds was involved in, many fans and collectors were oblivious to the detrimental effect he has had on the game.  In Rushdie's fictional world, the world is crumbling around the auctionplace, however those that are fully committed to the proceedings are "absorbed by a higher drama (p. 101)."  Much like baseball, the pursuit of the impossible has shifted those involved's concern from what's right and wrong to what's mine and yours.

The narrator provides rationale for his obsession of the ruby slippers.  He intends to utilize the magic that they provide in order to win back his cousin Gale, the previous love of his life.  However as he engages in the bidding war, he realizes that in order to attain the slippers, he runs the risk of sacrificing everything he has earned to that point.  As a result, he drops out of the bidding war for the slippers and goes home to sleep.  He has come to the realization that there are plenty of fish in the sea and that tomorrow something of equal or greater importance will be sold off to whomever has the most money. 

While I will not say that Barry Bonds ruined the game of baseball, the ever increasing desire for the pursuit of records and memorabilia does negatively affect sports and those involved.  People are willing to sacrifice everything in order to attain unrealistic goals and materials.  This applies not only to the athletes themselves, but the fans' desire as well.  The pursuit of the record increased potential for violence, theft, and greed.  Fortunately the narrator of Rushdie's short story came to his senses prior to giving it all up.  And fortunately for many of the general public, we are stuck outside looking into the "shrine of the ruby-sequinned slippers (p. 90)."