Bonds hit #756, and is now the HR king. Prepare yourself for bitter haters to spend the next 40 years trying to delegitimize his accomplishments because they liked Hank better. Ignore them- Bonds has been the most potent offensive baseball player in the modern history of the game.
If you don’t believe me, check out the big brain on Matt:
The man holds the record for most career home runs and most home runs in a single season. What’s more, not only did he hit 73 home runs in 2001, but he also “managed to shatter two of Babe Ruth’s longstanding records — most walks (177) and highest slugging percentage (.863) in a season.” That record of walks stood until . . . the next season when he drew 198. Then in 2004, he drew 232 which helped hold him to 45 homers but helped power him to an OBP of .609, a major league record. He had nine different seasons with over 30 stolen bases, plus two 29 SB seasons and a 28 SB season.
He is, in short, the greatest offensive player in the history of baseball. Not being someone who pays much attention to baseball, I don’t pay a ton of attention to Bonds, but it’s silly for people to just shut their ears and pretend this didn’t happen. Yes, it appears that during the period when Major League Baseball had no steroid policy, he took steroids. And the day when MLB invalidates all the other records from the Steroid Era — rescinds the World Series titles and the division penants, takes back the Cy Young awards and the Golden Gloves, etc., etc., etc. — I suppose it would make sense to take Bonds’ achievements away too. But until that happens, the records are the records and he played better than anyone else.
Exactly. As a side note, can you imagine what Matt would know if he did pay attention to baseball?
In closing- Bonds is the greatest HR hitter. Officially. And watching #756 again this morning, and his swing was just as pretty as it was for the previous 755.
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So who really deserves the asterisk? Peter Ueberroth, Fay Vincent, and Bud Selig. They did nothing while steroids flourished, because owners liked what it did to the game. It resulted in more homers, and more spectacular homers at that. It generated interest in baseball during some rocky times and led to the silly Home Run Derbys before All-Star Games. The owners marketed on steroids and they depended on them just as much as the players who used them — and these commissioners didn’t lift a finger to stop it until Congress asserted what little authority it had to embarrass MLB. Only then did Selig start pushing against the Steroids Era.
Agreed.
*** Update ***
One last thing- it is an absolute disgrace that Selig was not there in the stands.