Bonds Is About To Do Something Historic...Does Anyone Care?

[Chris G.]

Does anyone care? I mean this guy is breaking a major record. I just don't see the hype that I was expecting when, or if the Babe was passed. The whole HR's in a season thing was big a few years back, but it seems as this isn't such a big deal. I kinda know why it's not that huge (no pun Mr. Bonds), but seriously, this guy is a about to pass the biggest name in Baseball history. I thought 3 records would never be broken...1. The hits record, 2. The hitting streak record, and 3. The HR record.

Thoughts?...

[Brock Samson]

 FYI:
   I took the call from the original annon. tipster. asking if we would be interested in a little company named BALCO,.. Sometimes I actually do something around here... 

[chargerboy69]

He is a steroid freak. Thats why I don't care. . . . Oh, and I am a ATLANTA BRAVES FAN. . .John Smoltz for President .

[MassCharger73]

He's a cheater. And besides Hank Aaron holds the record, not Babe Ruth.

[69_Hemi_Charger]

Personally I think that he shouldn't even be allowed to get the record. He's a cheater and why should he be rewarded for doing so? I even say take away all of his records, but allow him to keep playing. Cheaters never win, and will always be found out eventually.

[BigBlackDodge]

I think Aaron holds it with 755. He broke Ruths record back when our beloved muscle cars were fairly new..........'74.

Zero respect for Bonds.


BBD

[TheGhost]

Ah, but the Babe didn't use steriods.  I doubt that Hank Aarons did, either.



Bonds does not deserve this honor.  I hope he chokes the rest of the season.  I will laugh my ass off if that happens.

[Blown70]

HMMM I do not reacall a positive test?  Yes he has a black eye from the BALCO deal  You have a guess how many pros are doing that?

I have been and am encouraged.  I hope he continues toward his goal.

Tom

[Lowprofile]

Most people don't care because of the obvious reason..........

[dkn1997]

Aaron and Maris should be the only recognized home run kings. 

Ruth deserves special consideration 1. because maris took more games to break the single season record and 2. Ruth did it in an era where 20 in a season was a very big number.  He had more homeruns than a couple of entire teams that year!!

Aaron is the only one who you can truly say is not up for discussion.  100% legit, he did it, no cheating, bla bla bla.

Even Ruth was probably credited with, by some accounts, with a couple that bounced over the wall (ground rule double today)

[HDCharger]

Bonds went from about 175 when he first came into the league to about 225 solid muscle.  Did he do it on weights and protein?  I doubt it.  Just look back at his ballcards and pictures, its pretty obvious.  Aaron did it fair and square.  When the Babe played the pitchers mound was 6" taller giving a much bigger advantage to the pitcher.  In addition, they used way less balls the entire game than they do now.  Pitch in the dirt gets a new ball.  Balls got soft in the old days and didn't fly near as far. 

[69charger2002]

aaron should not be passed by bonds.. simple as that. breaking ruth is not really breaking the record.. have you ever looked at hank aaron up close? he wasn't even that big of a guy.. that's IMPRESSIVE.. no real hitter's ballparks.. they were usually all 330 down the line. 400 in center. period. PLUS the fact that he never hit over 47 in one season. that's incredible. consistent, legit, and record holding. aaron should keep the record.. at least for now
trav

[Old Moparz]

Bonds? He's just an obnoxious player that happens to be good. I don't like him, but he is entertainment I suppose. Without any doubt, I do think he & many others used steroids. Just like Bill Clinton never had sex, what a crock of s**t all that is. It's all a big circus with tons of money pumped into it, just not my money. I love baseball, but the last time I was at a game was in the early 90's & it was when someone gave me a ticket. I follow the games in the paper, but rarely watch on TV since my satellite company won't pay Steinbrenner his fee to get the Yankee games.

Personally, I have more respect for players from years ago that played for the shear love of the game. I just saw an interview with Willy Mays & think that he was a big fan of the game as well as a good player. I don't care what players earn, all the more power to them. If the dumb ass owners are willing to pay stupid money, then they have no right to complain about high priced players. It's no different when some bonehead pays $1 million dollars for a Hemi car & wonders why he can't sell it for more later.

I'd like to see all players become steroid users. Let them experiment with whatever they want to try, or even surgery to add another arm or a pair of legs. Think about it, if you have a guy like Bonds or McGuire with all that power AND a third arm, imagine how hard they could swing a bat. Another pair of legs might set some base stealing records too. Just make them sign a waiver that they won't bleed the health care system when they get some rare disease later on & don't know why.

Let the records happen, it doesn't matter anymore anyway.

[nh_mopar_fan]

He's a scumbag, cheating lowlife as well as being a poor excuse for a human being. Other than the buttswabs in San Francisco, the rest of the fans are booing his ass, as well they should.

[BB1]

 

[RD]

just hypothetically speaking...

is it entirely possible that a man in 10 years can put on 50 lbs of muscle through proper exercise, dieting, and weightlifting?  If that is true (10 years is a long time ya know) then maybe, just maybe steroids only helped a little and the rest was on him.  Who knows? Oh and personally, I do not give a sheit

[Mike DC]

 
I agree that the steriod controversy has basically removed all legitimacy from Bond's achievments in the public's mind.

And part of his problem is that Bonds has never courted the press at all. 
Mark McGwire was probably just as doped up as Bonds is, but his good personality/public image gave people more incentive to lend some benefit-of-the-doubt.  Barry Bonds doesn't have a lot of good will to fall back on when the scandals come knocking.

 

[Old Moparz]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2005/08/01/VI2005080100834.html


       

[RD]

 
I agree that the steriod controversy has basically removed all legitimacy from Bond's achievments in the public's mind.

And part of his problem is that Bonds has never courted the press at all. 
Mark McGwire was probably just as doped up as Bonds is, but his good personality/public image gave people more incentive to lend some benefit-of-the-doubt.  Barry Bonds doesn't have a lot of good will to fall back on when the scandals come knocking.

 

good point mike, i think it's just that bonds is black and palmeiro is hispanic...  ITS RACIST!!!! 

I say that somewhat in jest, but answer me this, WHY ARE THERE NO WHITE GUYS GETTING HEAT ABOUT STEROIDS?

someone answer that one!

edit:   

[BrianShaughnessy]

I'm no Bonds fan.     I just barely keep aware of most sports anymore.    I follow my old Detroit teams from a distance.     So here's my 2 cents.

MLB had a chance to come clean awhile back but instead they took the $.    While there were no rules against what McGwire did at the time,  there probably should have been.     Same with the rest of them at the time and throw Bonds in there too because that's when he started.

Aaron gets his due for being Mr. Consistant year after year in an age when racism was rampant and he lived through death threats if he broke the Babe's record.   Those of us around in then know it was a big deal and there was a lot of hatred.    I don't blame him a bit for appearing angry at times now.    
 
Ruth gets his due just because after all this time,  he is a legend and we still refer to him even tho he's been dead 50+ years.    If you ask me,  he got ph8cked on that SI greatest athletes of the 20th century deal coming in 2nd to Michael Jordan (who ).    He's the guy that started it all.   He was a pitcher for years also and didn't get to bat half the time.   Shorter seasons and dead balls were just a few of the things he had to contend with.

No,  Bonds is not about to do something historic because Aaron already did it...    maybe next year if he's around if he passes Aaron by some chance.    I think he'll probably be on the DL shortly.      

Oh yeah....   Secretariat should have been 2nd on that list with Ruth #1.        

[nh_mopar_fan]

 
I agree that the steriod controversy has basically removed all legitimacy from Bond's achievments in the public's mind.

And part of his problem is that Bonds has never courted the press at all. 
Mark McGwire was probably just as doped up as Bonds is, but his good personality/public image gave people more incentive to lend some benefit-of-the-doubt.  Barry Bonds doesn't have a lot of good will to fall back on when the scandals come knocking.

 

good point mike, i think it's just that bonds is black and palmeiro is hispanic...  ITS RACIST!!!! 

I say that somewhat in jest, but answer me this, WHY ARE THERE NO WHITE GUYS GETTING HEAT ABOUT STEROIDS?

someone answer that one!

Well, Ken Caminiti is dead....

[4402tuff4u]

....................................................................(the sound of crickets)

[mikepmcs]

Knew most of these stats being a 3rd gen Yankees fan(i do believe the first word out of my mouth was yankees)
but thought i'd get some statistical garb for you all to chew on.  Just to end(or not) the discussion on who is and always will be the greatest slugger of all time, not to mention he swung a telephone pole for a bat.
"The sultan of swat" although some of his records have been eclipsed will always be the greatest "slugger" of all time.

Sportswriter Bill Broeg once wrote, "to try to capture Babe Ruth with cold statistics would be like trying to keep up with him on a night out."


Name        Games   At-bats   HRs
=================================
Aaron       3298     12,364   755
Mays        2992     10,881   660
Ruth        2503      8,399   714

Aaron and Mays played far more games than Babe Ruth did, mostly because Ruth spent his first four seasons as a pitcher. Both had many more at-bats than the Babe did. Ruth hit a home run in 8.5% of his at-bats, while Aaron and Mays went yard 6.1% of the time.
To put it another way, how would the career numbers stack up if Mays and Ruth had had Aaron's 12,364 at-bats, assuming that they hit home runs at the same rate over the extra time?
Name     Projected HRs
======================
Ruth               1051
Aaron              755
Mays               750

The thing about Babe Ruth is not only that he hit a ridiculous number of home runs, it's also that he hit an even more ridiculous number than his contemporaries. The Babe out-homered whole teams many times. Someone on ESPN.com (it might have been Rob Neyer, I can't find it any more) once determined that if every season had been as homer-happy as 1998 and Ruth had hit them at the same relative rate to the rest of the league, he'd have wound up with over 2000 for his career. He really was a giant among Lilliputians in his time.

(Astute statheads may be grumbling at this point about Aaron and Mays playing in the pitcher-dominated 1960s, and how they might have done in a more offense-friendly era. I acknowledge the dissonance but cannot give you a good answer. I recommend pestering someone at the Baseball Prospectus.)

Now let's add Barry to the mix. As it happens, his stats through 2002 are a pretty decent match for the Babe's.
Name        Games   At-bats   HRs
=================================
Aaron       3298     12,364   755
Mays        2992     10,881   660
Ruth        2503      8,399   714
Bonds       2439      8,335   613


Name     Projected HRs
======================
Ruth              1051
Bonds              909
Aaron              755
Mays               750

Bonds goes deep 7.4% of the time, meaning the advantage is still Ruth's.

Oh and he wasn't as fat and as slow as everything makes him out to be, for most of his career he was in standards compared to a lot of players today.

Like all those fatties on the red sox 

[nh_mopar_fan]

Oh, and Giambi went through hell last year as well. They wanted to find a way to terminate his contract and dump him.

[41husk]

I thought Mark McGuire was white