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Bonds, Baseball & the HR Hunt |
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Written by Andrew Olson - View Profile
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Wednesday, 11 April 2007 |
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Barry Bonds is only 20 Home Runs away from breaking the most coveted statistic in all of sports. The All-Time Career Home Run List. Hank Aaron, of course, currently holds the top position with 755 Career Home Runs. Bonds has hit only one so far this season, but now only stands 20 round trippers away from tying Aaron.
We have all heard of the Barry Bonds scandal along with other prominent Major Leaguers using steroids or other performance enhancing drugs. By now you are probably still sick from all the commotion it caused just last year, and with Bonds only getting closer, it’s sure to be Anna Nicole Smith worthy of the media’s spotlight. I mean really, you do understand that in the middle of the Iraq situation, Congress and the President have also been very involved in the Nation’s greatest pastime as well, right? Well before you refuse to read anymore about Barry Bonds and the steroid issue, take a glance at the numbers.
Barry Bonds has played in 2,867 games so far compared to Aaron’s 3,298. That’s 431 games less. Of course, if Bonds plays every game this year he’s looking at adding 150 games to that market. Maybe he retires if he breaks the record, maybe he’ll come back to shatter it and push the bar to an unreachable level.
Hank Aaron had 12,364 career at bats, Bonds has piled up 9,529. A difference of 2,835. That’s a bit of a gap.
Aaron had only 1,402 career base on balls. Barry Bonds has already compiled 2,432; a significant chunk of those being intentional walks and also “intentional” walks.
So, by the numbers, every time Hank Aaron stepped up to the plate, he had about a 6.1% percent chance of hitting a Home Run. (Home runs divided by total number of At Bats). Barry Bonds is currently sitting at 7.7% percent. BUT, look at the discrepancy in Bonds’ base on balls stat-filler. As I said before, many of those were intentional, or “pitch-around” at bats. You might as well take away a large chunk of at bats for Bonds. And let’s face it, as the Home Run stat field narrows, the base of balls will only chasm apart. Let’s take away 1,000 of Bonds’ base on balls (& Hence at Bats, just to point out missed opportunities Bonds’ has had at the plate due to his opponents) and his percentage of stepping the plate and jogging to home is 8.6%. That is huge! If you always have pitchers throw to Bonds you’re getting close to him having the stat of hitting 1 Home Run every 10 plate appearances. So is Bonds really completely undeserving of the title?
Let’s face the facts. Bonds is almost certainly guilty of doing steroids. Fine. Bonds is also guilty of doing intensive weight and cardiovascular training. He probably has a dietician. Bonds is more than likely taking completely legal supplements that many the average American now takes. He is guilty of drinking Gatorade. And what exactly is the point? It’s all relative.
Gatorade is proven to help replenish and hydrate the body isn’t it? Most professional athletes now ban the booze and smokes and have full-time dieticians. Rigorous training camps and off-season weight training sessions. Just image what Babe Ruth’s career Home Run record would have been if he had a staff of doctors waiting on him hand and foot to get him optimum playing time, steered him away from stogies and booze. What if the Babe sucked down Gatorade and had off-season training programs. We wouldn’t be having this conversation, that’s what, because his record would be so far out of reach.
Besides look at the competition that Bonds has to deal with. Guys who can throw sliders and cut fastballs, slurves, and change-ups twenty miles per slower than there 95 mph fastballs. Not to mention most teams now have live video feedback, so they can watch the last innings at bats, see what they’re doing wrong how they can get an upper hand in the next at bat.
I’m not saying that Aaron was a bad player. And I’m not saying that Bonds should go down in the books without an asterisk by his name. All I’m saying is that Bonds is one of the greatest of all time, relatively of course, and that perhaps we should start to congratulate him on his historic performance instead of ostracizing him from Cooperstown.
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Ravings, rantings, and gibberish. (36)
writen by: Drew
What is up FoCo?
I am a recent college graduate of Minnesota State University Moorhead. After recieving my B.A. in English and Mass Communications this past August I moved down to Colorado.
I enjoy long walks on the beach, candlelight dinners, and heavy metal. My hobbies include reading and writing, music, movies, and getting drunk. Some of my favorite contemporary authors include Bret Easton Ellis, Chuck Palahniuk, and Kurt Vonnegut. My top movies are anything directed by Kubrick. I enjoy listening to anything that rocks.
Right now I am just trying to get to know Colorado and FoCo better. Mostly in order to find the best drink specials on each day that ends in Y. So if you know where I can get a cheap drunk on, let me know!
--Drew |
|  | "Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is Alchemy's first law of Equivalent Exchange. In those days, we really believed that to be the world's one, and only truth." | |
|  | We're not that bright, even though in our own little world, we're geniuses. We like 80s hair bands and one-hit wonders, but among us we have respectable tastes, too. Metallica, Iron Maiden, U2. Pursuit of all things trivial is a lifestyle, not just a game. We like some sports, love other sports, and can find something to say about anything. We watch TV and movies and we've read a book or two, even a few classics (Yes, Classic Comics count!)
We call it insight, you call it what you will. | |
|  | Felix Wong is an outdoor enthusiast living in Fort Collins. A mechanical engineer by day, he is especially passionate about bicycling, running, and backpacking. | |
|  | Hola Amigos! I'm Sandra. I like to believe that people are 70 percent good and 30 percent dumb. I'm stickin to that story. Reading this blog might make you want to be good, but probably just dumb. | |
|  | Donovan Henderson is editor of NEXTnc. | |
|  | Here at Nextnc we have some characters. Get a sneak peak behind the curtain and find out what amusing antics our staffers get themselves into on a weekly basis. | |
| | What is up FoCo?
I am a recent college graduate of Minnesota State University Moorhead. After recieving my B.A. in English and Mass Communications this past August I moved down to Colorado.
I enjoy long walks on the beach, candlelight dinners, and heavy metal. My hobbies include reading and writing, music, movies, and getting drunk. Some of my favorite contemporary authors include Bret Easton Ellis, Chuck Palahniuk, and Kurt Vonnegut. My top movies are anything directed by Kubrick. I enjoy listening to anything that rocks.
Right now I am just trying to get to know Colorado and FoCo better. Mostly in order to find the best drink specials on each day that ends in Y. So if you know where I can get a cheap drunk on, let me know!
--Drew | |
|  | Life's little morsels of inspiration, observation and encouragement seen through the eyes of the Nextnc reporter.
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|  | Ms. Giles currently lives in Colorado where she stars in her own private reality show. She writes aphoristic accounts of her life, taken completely out of context, and embellished with characters and situations disguised to resemble something close to interesting. | |
|  | over and out | |
| | My name is Michelle Turley and I'm 28 years old. I live in Severance with my hubbie, Brandon. We have 2 dogs and a cat. We enjoy camping, four-wheeling, and just being in the mountains. I like to cook, clean (go figure), flea market, and play poker. I have so much to say about poker... | |
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