Another Bonds Post

by Hirp

It really doesnt matter if he took steroids or not. Nevermind that there wasnt a rule against it at the time he allegedly took them. He's hit 756 home runs, so he's the king now. If you think less of the record, thats your right. Just as many thought less of Maris' 61 because he had a longer season.

Just about anytime a major record is broken in major sports, we get the "what ifs'  When Emmit Smith broke the rushing record, the what if was if Barry Sanders had kept playing. Or what if Jim Brown didnt retire early. Or if OJ had played 16 game seasons. People just dont want to see records broken. We want to see them approached, but generally we want the records to all hold up.

I understand why people are angry about Bonds breaking it after getting help from chemicals. It sucks, it really does. But if it wasnt this, we'd talk about the smaller parks, or expanision and how its deluted the talent. It could have been Griffey doing it, and we'd have something to question.

Theres really nothing left thats pure and as it seems. Political offices are bought. A teenage pop singer comes up and looks all clean and pure, and we want to dirty her up right away. 

I dont think the media is targetting Bonds. I think they are targetting us. They know drama sells papers and makes us watch tv. They didnt dig too deep in 98 because if they scared us away, they'd be losing readers and viewers down the road.

I really understand those who hate Bonds, and he isnt my favorite guy either. But at this point, I cant say my favorite guys are any cleaner. If I want to disregard his record because it wasnt done "fair" then I have to be fair and disregard everything else of this era. Peter Gammons was right, this isnt the steroid era. Its the whatever it takes era. This is just a reflection of us and our times, and its digusting. We're upset because we're digusted with ourselves, so its easy to put it on Bonds. He's a jerk anyway..

But try and understand why you're upset if you are, or why you defend him so much if you do. Do you want to defend him, or innocence? Are you angry at him, or angry that you cant play dumb any more like you could in 98 and before?? And we still do. We blindly accept the homers by Fielder, Howard, A-Rod, Hanley..Jose Reyes and Ichiro are just lighting fast, and we accept that as fact. But we had our eyes opened to Bonds, so everything he does is tainted. Its just a bunch of bull, if you want to throw the book at him and ignore the very real possibilty that anyone you talk about is just as guilty as him.

Is it justice and a fair playing field you want,or are you just upset that cant play dumb any longer?

InsanMajor Leaguer

882 days ago

Score 0

First, it does matter that he took steriods, he couldn't even smell the record if he hadn't. His homerun production significantly increased from the ages of 37+ (something like that) when everyone knows that the prime for any athelete is between the ages of 27-31. Second, he's not the king. the Babe is the king. Ballparks were a lot larger back then and Buth hit so many triples that would've been homeruns in today's league. With the modern era of baseball, Ruth's record would be close to 900.

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MegECass110AAA-er

882 days ago

Score 0

334 homeruns since he turned 35.

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HirpSoccer Kid

882 days ago

Score -1

Babe played in an all white league, how can he be the king? If you can rule out Hank because of the era he played in, and it having smaller parks than Babe. And you can rule out Bonds because he played in a steroid era, than by your own reasoning we can rule out Ruth for playing in a segregating game.

You don't have to like it, but the offical stats of Major League Baseball list Barry Bonds as the all-time Home Run king. Just as they list Pete Rose as the hit king, and Cy Young as the all-time wins leader. It's offical, and undebateable. The validity of the records can be debated, but they are records none the less.

As for 334 HRs since turning 35. Well, Aaron hit 235. So now for a ball player do achieve greatness, he should do so during a certain age period? Roger Clemens has 139 wins since turning 35. That's 39% of his career win total. Bonds has hit 45% of his HRs since turning 35. Nolan Ryan struck out 2037 batters after turning 35, thats 36% of his career total. Which % is acceptable?? Mickey Mantle hit 32% of his HRs BEFORE the age of 25.

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JuTMSY4Legend

882 days ago

Score 1

of course...we can rule out Josh Gibson for playing in an all black league and Sadahuru all for, essentially, an all japanese league with smaller balls...(baseballs...)

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InsanMajor Leaguer

882 days ago

Score 0

Are you kidding me? What does race have anything to do with Babe Ruth's greatness. Some ofthe best pitchers in MLB history pitched during that time.

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HirpSoccer Kid

882 days ago

Score 0

What does race have to do with it? Think of it this way. Take everyone that isnt white in baseball today, and kick 'em out. Your left overs make up the teams, an all white league. Do you think Steve Traschels #s would be as bad if no longer had to face Pujols? Soriano? Rodriguez? Wouldnt Matt Stairs do better when they had to use the white pitchers in triple and double a to complete rosters? Ruth played in a league that had the best WHITE players of his time. Not the best players. His numbers, as well as the pitchers numbers, are severly skewed. But that was the era, so their #s stand. If you just look at them on paper they are one thing, but if you look at them with the right perspective, you see they arent as great any longer.

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