This one goes out to Barry Bonds. McGwire was nuts and his forearms are HUGE, but Barry’s the man. It’s crazy that he can pull that off. For those of you that don’t know, he’s now up to 72 homeruns. McGwire must be pissed. Oh yeah, Kudos to Ricky Henderson too. That guy has broken, and still holds, mad records. Recently smashed Ty Cobbs all time runs record.
73 now isn’t it? and that he also recieved the most walks in a season as well, one of the great sports performances of all time. I saw him on the news at the presentation with Willie Mays, he seemed a genuine nice guy.
Nice guy?! Barry or Willie? Let’s run down the list of things that bug people about Barry. First of all, he doesn’t stretch together with his teammates before a game. He has a personal trainer he stretches with in the locker room. He does not eat with the rest of his teammates. He eats specially prepared meals from his dietition. When an opposing hitters slams a “no doubt about it” homer off one of his pitchers, he has been known to keep his hands on his knees while just turning his head to see where in the stands the ball ends up. He had a member of his entourage call the commissioner’s office late last year to see if he won the MVP or his teammate Jeff Kent won the MVP. He did not want to stick around if he did not win the MVP. He just wanted to go home early t rest instead of congratulating his teammate. That is why Kent has been quoted as saying that, though Barry and the rest of the team are fine on the field, off the field, Barry doesn’t care about them and they don’t care about Barry.
What are you talking about hyok?
Don’t you have your own stretching and eating protocol or would you happily follow the average person’s program? As for Kent’s MVP, on the most important offensive category, .ops, Bonds was streets ahead of Kent. Just as he was this year a mile ahead of guys like sosa. Give props where they are due. The guy is a winner.
Thanks for that we don’t get that sort of info so much here only the propoganda.
Sosa is a better player and person and representative of the MLB than Barry Bonds will ever be, period. Oh yeah did I mention that I live 3 blocks from Wrigley?
Bonds hitting wind blown homeruns in a park with a 300 ft fence is not impressive. Impressive are these stats. McGwire 6,182 at-bats 584 homeruns. Bonds 7,924 at-bats 564 homeruns.
Reg, there is no argument about Barry’s athletic ability. The guy is phenomenal. My point is he is not the most likable guy. For the reasons I stated, I, for one, was not rooting for him to break the HR record. Check this out http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/inside_game/magazine/life_of_reilly/news/2001/08/21/life_of_reilly/ Even if only half of what Rick Reilly is saying is true, that is plenty for me to dislike the guy. Again, this doesn’t change the fact that he is an incredible athlete.
Anyone care to mention how many of those HomeRuns’ that everyone claims were windblown and over a 300 foot fence, where actually at home, or barely cleared the fence?
If I recall correctly when he was at 50 Homeruns, about half were away games, which means yes, he was on the same streak in other ballparks. Oh yeah, something overlooked, at 50 almost 50% of his HomeRuns were to tie his team, or to give them the lead.
Not only his homeruns, and walks are amazing, but his slugging percentage.
In a interview with ESPN Magazine Bonds talked about how he has to stretch and work his knees with a personal trainer up to 2 hours before every game. Perhaps that’s why he doesn’t stretch with the team?
It’s also amazing what Kent said in Sports Illustrated, when Kent is also often concidered one of the outside guys of the team. Many people think his words were twisted in the media.
The most telling fact that has been mentioned is the career homeruns/at bats ratio. Mcgwire’s has a much better ratio, period. As for the single season walks; it was no great feat for Mr. Bonds. Teams simply walked him because he didn’t have a good hitter behind him and they were in a pennent race, so you can’t afford to pitch to him. Thats all. Besides, the single season home run record, in my opinion, has no bearing in credibility anymore. They have done something to the density of the baseball; look, for the entire history of baseball, no one hit more than 61, then all of a sudden people are hitting 70+? And don’t give me the malarky about weight training. Bat speed has little to do with muscle mass. No, these records are falling because #1 the balls are much harder and #2 the piss poor pitching due to MLB expansion. After all, there were 8 teams when Ruth and Maris played; did ya know that?
Hey LG, did you know that bonds broke the record for homeruns on the road in a season. He also had half the atbats that McGwire had. The guy is a gamer. Give him his props. How many homeruns did he hit that barely made it over? Almost none. How many more homeruns would have hit had he not gotten walked 3 times per game? Probably 90.
hey guys go to this story on bonds. it shows some pretty impressive numbers. ESPN.com: MLB - Bonds vs. McGwire: Who had it easier?
Cmon Man, give it up for Barry. The truth is the game has never been more competitive than it is now. If you put Barry as he is now back on the '27 or '61 Yankees, he would have hit 150 out. In just about any statistical category you want to look at, Barry comes out victorious. For goodness sake he broke Ruths all-time Slugging Pct mark! Unarguably to me, he had the greatest single season ever.
Poman, I realize that you don’t want to believe that weight training and having bigger and stronger athletes makes a difference to a swing. But think about this: once someone like Bonds has developed their swing and is technically sound you don’t believe being stronger would contribute to bat speed and the amount of force someone could put into a swing. You are probably right to a degree that expansion teams have watered-down the pitching in the majors(as a whole) but I think you are foolish to completely disregard the fact that today’s athletes are faster and stronger than ever before. And someone else mentioned that he didn’t have anyone hitting behind him so he was walked constantly. ARE YOU FUCKIN’ LOONEY???!!! He has Jeff Kent hitting behind him; one of the best hitters in the majors and last year’s MVP. Also, I think Bonds has had one of the greatest years a player probably ever could have(and I have been a fan of his for years), but I have to put some sort of an asterik next to his season stats. Bonds has been about 205 lbs. for nearly 10 years and this spring he checked in at 225 lbs. and stayed that way for most of the season. Coach Davies did mention that steroid use is running rampant in baseball and judging by that huge weight jump I don’t completely blow off the idea that he used steroids this past off-season. I could be wrong and I would like to think that I am. Maybe he just used androsol(lol). Regardless, a fantastic season and anyone who tries to take away from it is just showing jealousy .
Of course I’m not saying Bonds had anything but an incredible season; surely one of the best statistical seasons ever. I’m just saying that you have to put it into context. The walks ARE because he really didn’t have anyone hitting behind him. Jeff Kent had a wonderful year in 2000, but this year 22 homers and a .290 average? Hardly good middle of the order numbers, and certainly not good enough to keep pitchers from walking Bonds to get to him. And no, I do not subscribe to the fact that major league players are more talented than in the past; thats totally ludicrous. Only the best of the best made it to the big time back then; there were only 8 teams for goodness sake! So, if Bonds hit back in the 40’s and 50’s, with the incredible pitching they had and 154 game schedule, as well as the less lively ball, I’d say he’s a 40+ homerun guy this year, maybe even upper 50’s, but no way he hits 73.
yeah, but what the article didn’t tell you is that a lot of players don’t travel on the same team bus, stretch with their own trainer, and stay at a different hotel, a lot of the star players do these types of things now, so bonds is a jerk, but this is another classic case of the media not telling the whole story, and if someone had balls here’s what they’d say, this guy never hit more than 50 homers in his life, then all of a sudden at age 38 he puts on 25lbs of muscle and hits 73…
I guess Bryan would like an article on how Bonds worked his $&@ off during the offseason. Last year he had to go through 2 hours of therapy before every game, he thought he was going to retire.
Instead he decided to clean up his diet and workout with Jerry Rice… I’d say it was a good decision.
And those that support the stories about Bonds being a jerk, then calling the one or two good articles about them only half right is actually rather humorous.
Well,
Barry is awesome. First, he hit 36 hrs on the road, which leaves 37@home. Pretty even. Next, he hit 320…I do not think sosa has ever hit 320 or ever will. Third, how many gold gloves has he won, its like around 7, so we know defense is solid. Fourth he only needs 16 stolen bases to reach 500. I think that that should make him the first, maybe second, person to ever have 500 hrs and 500 SB’s. He also broke the walk record and the slugging percentage record babe ruth set, slugging is total bases per at bat. So if anyone can find a flaw in his game please try to do so.
How many complete seasons has mcgwire played, not too many, how many times has he, or sosa, hit over 300, not too many, golden gloves for big mac and sosa, not as many as barry, stolen bases…dont even go there.
BTW he will also set a record when he wins his fourth NL MVP...mos MVP's by one person.
The only flaw that people can find is that he isolates himself… Hey in days when a player chokes his coach and then has the audacity to sue him, or when players are brought up on drug, murder, assault (like all of Charles Barkeleys bar fights), and spousal abuse charges He actually doesn’t seem that bad. Also if you were the best in the world at what you did you’d have an ego too (see 4 time MVP).
Poman, I’ll give you that Jeff Kent had a subpar year for him so that made a pitcher’s choice b/w putting Bonds on base and pitching to him that much easier. I still don’t agree with what you say about the talent in the majors being better back then but its a moot point b/c I can’t really say anything to prove it and you can’t really say anything to disprove it so on to something else. If you still don’t believe that weight training makes a difference then look at the difference some serious weight lifting did for Bonds. Like I had said earlier he has been 205 lbs. for quite some time and now all of sudden he is 225 and sets the home run record and slugging % record. Take it as you will.
If I remember correctly Bonds and his father are the only 400 HR’s 400SB guys. 300 HR’s and 300SB’s is only Bonds, his father and Mays. With 16 SB’s he’ll be the only to get to 500 and 500. A-Rod and Griffey may pose a threat to that, but still it’s simply amazing.
Ohh, and Bonds has 3 MVPs, almost won his fourth in 91, which would have given him 4 in a row.(I’m still pissed Pendelton got that one, simply because his team did better) Plus Bonds has been in the running for two or three other MVP’s. When they hand him number 4 this year, it will be a record, that likely will not fall soon.