P-Dog, not to be an asshole or anything, but when you say you’re pulling the race card cuz people don’t want to see a black man break white records, last time I checked the all time hr leader is Hank Aaron… and my eye sight isn’t the greatest but wasn’t he black?
he didnt change it at 35… he got progressively bigger over the years… so… its not like he just inflated in a split second.
p-dog, you get all of bond’s games locally in cali? espn should do those ‘BREAKING NEWS LIVE COVERAGE BONDS AT BAT’ (for those of us not in cali) for all of his at bats like they did with him trying to get 660… that rocked 
the race card slipped my mind… good point, when mcguire was chasing the record it was the happiest time in the world, even pitchers saying they’d throw him perfect balls etc… been a lot different with bonds…
I hate when people say Bonds was the best ever. Maybe the best you’ve ever seen, but the greatest homerun hitter of all time is Babe Ruth. Bonds already has 400 more career at bats than Ruth and still hasn’t caught him.
Babe Ruth? LOL.
Come on, you can’t compare today’s athletes to yesterday’s “athletes”. I laugh at the thought of even calling them athletes when compared to sport today. Do you think Babe would have hit all those homers going up against Clemons or Halladay? Puhleasssse! Babe Ruth was also one of the top pitchers back in his day, so that gives you an idea of the quality of pitchers back then.
Here’s my thoughts…
He is the best baseball player around, not because of his physical attributes, or his keen eye, or his bat speed.
There are tons of ballplayers out there with similar attributes, Puljos, Giambi, Jiles, Sheffield, A-Rod included.
Barry is the best baseball player around because of his brain. Just his presence at the plate has most pitchers (especially the younger middle relievers) shitting in thier pants. Barry is up there not just facing the pitcher, but also the catcher and the opposing manager, and he usually wins the battle. The pitches he moves on or doesn’t move on end up cornering the pitcher into throwing him what he wants, and where he wants it. It’s a total chess match with him and no one can compare. Even if he did juice or didn’t juice it doesn’t matter, barry has ice in his veins and steel in his spine. He won’t be broken by anybody.
It’s all about the edge, and he has it.
He’s a dick to the fans? Who the hell cares! If you want to be involved with something where there’s big love for the fans, go to arena football games where the players walk around the stands to get chatty with the minions… The things he’s trying to accomplish are almost superhuman, I think he’s worried about bigger things than how Johnny-autograph-seeker-just-going-to-turn-around-and-sell-it-on-ebay-anyway-Q Public “feels.”
He’s a dick to the media, as someone mentioned before, because the media slaughtered his dad, and because they always ask him the same shit, “How do you do it Barry? Balco? What do you know about it?..” The dude is the baseball stud of the universe and he doesn’t even get to enjoy it. How would it feel to be at the pinnacle of a sport or discipline only to be ripped up by the media every freaking day. I tell you, I would definitely consider hanging it up, but not Barry, he goes out there every day and jacks dinger after dinger almost in defiance of what the media is trying to do to him.
I think everyone should just leave him the hell alone, and sit back and be amazed by the majical shit he’ll do this year…
babe ruth??? gime a freaken break!he played against zero competition! he never ever onced played against a black or hispanic man. he never once faced a late inning left handed specialist. he never faced a closer or set up man. the guy was a fat slob, drunk. if he tried to play today in his past playing condition he wouldnt do shit.
i think it is safe to say that the league sucked when a) a guy can be the best pitcher and home run hitter at the same time, and b) hit more home runs than the entire league combined.
seriously the babe playing when he did would be like bonds playing little league.
loopfit-has bonds hit a bomb of clemens or halladay?
come on nasty i think you know what he meant…
and while were on the subject, bonds has homered off of something like 375 different pitchers. id be willing to bet that babe ruth never faced that many diffeent pitchers in his entire career. considering he played at a time when there was like 8 teams lol.
and how many times has Bonds faced Clemens or Halladay??? Clemens twice? Halladay, never?
I play fastball every summer and when I’m “on” I’ll hit at least twice as many over the fence that season. Maybe it’s confidence - the feeling of power or maybe it is hand eye coordination but I know it affects my game BIG TIME.
1)None of you know if he used or not so you have to assume he didnt because there is no direct proof.
2)Every player gets bigger as they get older.
3)Baseball players DID NOT lift for the longest time. It was considered taboo until the last few years. Take a bunch of good athletes, get them on a good program with good food and good LEGAL supplements and you will see a very imposing human being.
4)It would be different if these guys looked like powerlifters or bodybuilders on the field. They dont. They are just bigger than the average player. They are grown ass men who train hard. Some of you should try it.
5)The people talking the most about this are the people who actually know the least on the subject. the media should shut up.
One more thing on the gaining weight issue. I had a guy come to school to cheer and he weighed 165. He was a very average athlete. After training with me for 4 months, we got up to 190. This is an average athlete who didnt eat right but worked out right. Imagine if you take a great athlete who works out right and eats right. the results will be phenomenal.
First let me say Babe Ruth would of hit just as many homeruns today, ballparks are like 320 to right and when he played forbs field was like 400 to right. I wish Mcgwire wouldnt have retired early to play golf he would already be past 700Hrs, considering it took Bonds 1,500 more at bats to catch him. Last Ted Willams is probably the best player if it wasnt for the war he’d of hit over 700hrs last man to hit .400. Plus in several yrs from now we’ll all the talking how A-Rod will hit 800+hrs if he doesnt pull a Griffey.
as someone pointed out bonds only hit more than 50 one time. so did he only juice that year or what?
to the avg. fan the only thing juiced is the ball itself, add that to the ballparks getting smaller and smaller. When they changed the balls over the pitchers said they could feel the difference on how tightly there wound. Plus hitting is all forearms, wrist and legs. Even though Bonds is built like a tank now someone taking steroids doesnt make them HR hitters, but most people dont think that way. big guy doesnt equal big bat speed. Look at Shefield probably the fastest bat around but more of a line drive hitter. Even his HRS are line shots!
People that knock today’s game in favor of the old timers crack me up. The truth is that there are factors like a juiced ball that help out today’s players, but there are plenty of other factors that make today’s game harder. P-dog mentioned a couple of them like relief pitchers and closers, as well as an increased world wide talent.
A quote for some of you on Babe Ruth:
Now take that same line of thought, and apply it towards Bonds. Just as Willie Mays outclassed Babe Ruth as an athlete, Barry Bonds has outclassed his godfather. Athletes have progressively gotten bigger, stronger and faster throughout the years.
It’s pointless to compare generations, but how would Ruth do in today’s game? Well when Ruth was Bonds’ age, he was an overweight drunk playing in the minors, barely able to touch his toes. Now do the reverse and think how well a muscle-bound Bonds would do facing the old timers. Bonds would light them up.
It isn’t fair to compare because today’s athletes are at a whole different level. The game has changed. Ruth is a nice icon, but he wouldn’t be able to get it done today at the same level of success he had back in the day.
“I wish Mcgwire wouldnt have retired early to play golf he would already be past 700Hrs”
um did you watch mcgwire’s last season in the bigs? did you watch him get pinch hit for in the playoffs against the d-backs? mcgwire retired because he couldnt play any longer. mcgwire could do one thing, hit hr’s. that is all.
“Last Ted Willams is probably the best player if it wasnt for the war he’d of hit over 700hrs last man to hit .400.”
ted was definitely a great player. the war did cost him some stats, but he still isnt on the level of bonds. he isnt even considerd to be the greatest of his generation, mays is. ted was probably the greatest pure hitter of all time. however he has no where near the power of bonds, the speed of bonds, or the defense of bonds. oh and the way things are going right now bonds may be the next to hit .400.
“Plus in several yrs from now we’ll all the talking how A-Rod will hit 800+hrs if he doesnt pull a Griffey”
a-rod just might hit 800+. however he has a long way to go and to say it now is simply speculation.
you can bring up williams, ruth, mantle mays, whoever you want. the fact remains that no one ever in history has the combined power and speed that bonds has. he hits for power, avg, plays gold glove D, steals bases, draws 175 walks per year, etc etc etc.
if bonds would have been pitched to the season he hit 73 he wouild have easily hit 100 homers!
l’ll give you the fact McGwire was hurt but his last season he had 11 consecutive hits that were Hrs who else would do that I just think Ruth and Mcgwire are the best power hitters. Bonds has only been the spotlight for 3 yrs what did he do all the other 14yrs? What part of him hitting 100hrs in 2001 isnt speculation, look at the pace A-rod is at 42,45,52,57,47Hrs in the last 5yrs. One more thing the yr Ruth hit 60Hr the REST OF THE LEAGUE HIT 54 total hrs. Im not sure Bonds will hit .400 because you have to leg it out, and thats not something hes going to do. I have a better question whos the better 40yr athlete Bonds or Clemens, I think Bonds turns 40 next month?
“Bonds has only been the spotlight for 3 yrs what did he do all the other 14yrs?”
are you serious???
clemens is still a good pitcher but he is not nearly as dominant as bonds. plus he only plays once every 5 days.
Bonds is an 8 time gold glove, but let’s be honest, he is no longer a golden glove defender. He isn’t a defensive liability yet, but the one true obstacle that may keep him from catching Arron is that he plays in the National League. If he played in the American League and could DH the last couple of years of his career, he would have it easy. Give Bonds props for not taking the easy route and leave the Giants to sign with the Yankees.
As for Bonds hitting .400, I don’t doubt he could do it, but with the crappy line up the Giants have this year, they need him to bat for power, so he probably won’t finish the season over .400.
Also, here is my theory on how Bonds will do this year. When Bonds hit 73, his team missed the playoffs, but Bonds got a lot of looks. The following two years, the Giants were winning games and Bonds didn’t get as many good looks, cause games were close and teams threw around him. If the Giants continue to struggle this year, and opposing pitchers have a comfortable lead, they will go after Bonds like they did a couple years ago, just for the challenge, and Bonds will have another record setting year.
Lastly, another thing to toss out there about Bonds, back before the 2000 season, before he had even hit 73 homers, ESPN the Magazine wrote an article about Bonds being statistically the best player of the decade for the 1990’s. It came down to him and Griffey, and they gave the nod to Bonds. If it wasn’t for the fact that the media hated him, he should easily have at least another two MVP awards, cause no one in the league could match his stats.
No other athlete that I have witnessed is dominating the one on one game like Bonds is. Not Jordan, not Tiger, nobody. What Bonds is doing is without precedent.
Bonds is an awesome hitter but his fielding sucks ass, dude can hit a ball 600 feet but can’t throw the ball half way to home, what the hell is that and he still hasn’t won a ring and probably won’t win one either.