The Hate List: Barry Bonds
Sunday, January 4, 2009 12:23
BARRY BONDS: He’s the guy I hate most in sports. The people who think his records have any legitimacy are blind or ignorant. Yo, Barry, let me clue you in on something —the human head does not grow in size past the age of 18. If it did, morticians would have to bury their customers in mushroomed-shaped coffins.
To be fair, Bonds probably would be in baseball’s all time top 20 even if he hadn’t cheated. His god-given skills were remarkable.
But, I’m not talking about anything god given here.
The worn out argument Bond’s apologists lean on –-“He still had to do the hardest task in all of sport—hit a baseball.”—misses the point When you put 50 pounds of solid HGH and Winestrol enhanced muscle on a natural 6’2’ 190 pound body, a fly to deep center, a line drive off the wall, a ground rule, fence hopping, double become home runs. What were once bang-bang plays at second become easy stolen bases. What were lazy singles become gap shots.
The Balco years’ (2000-’04) statistics cement the point. Until then, Bonds most home runs in a year was 1993’s 46. Between the ages of 36 to 40 Bonds hits over 1/3 of his 762 home runs. His home run to at bat ratio plummets to under ten for those juiced up seasons. Before then, he had approached that number only three times. More damning, in the first 14 years of his career Bonds averages 31 homers a year, for the next five years, he averages over 50. Such a statistical aberration cannot be explained away by Bond’s workout regimen or superior nutrition.
We’re supposed to believe that while every other athlete in every other sport experiences erosion of skills around age 35, Barry Bonds is the lone genetic exception? We’re supposed to believe centuries of recorded athletic statistics don’t apply to one man? Sorry folks, I’m just not that gullible.
Yes, I do hate Bonds. I am going to love it when justice is served.
natebarlow
says:
January 4th, 2009 at 7:30 am
It also doesn't help that Bonds abandoned your Pirates for the big bucks in San Francisco. I attended Bonds's first game back in Pittsburgh, which happened to be the Bucs' home opener that year. The team gave away little flags that wrapped into a small plastic tube. There was a double-digit delay in the bottom of the first to clean up the outfield after Barry was showered with the flags, money, batteries, etc.
Gairzo
says:
January 4th, 2009 at 10:44 am
Nah, I hold nothing against athletes that prosper in free agency. The Pirates couldn't compete financially and Bonds went home. His choice. No gripe from me.
Any fan who throws objects onto the field, disrespects the game and is probably breaking the law…
I was at Bond's first game, too. You could see the speed, the grace, the artistry of his' movement. I challenge any Bonds lover to compare his appearance then–an agile, fluid, 6'2" 190 pounder–with the pumpkin headed freak he became a decade later. No workout regimen can add that much weight, strength, muscle without chemical help and/or HGH. Even if it could, the price the athlete would pay in foot speed, hand speed, and bat speed would mitigate any gain of power.
Look at how 99.9% of athletic records are broken. Maris broke Ruths 34 year-old record by one and had 8 more games in which to do it. After 1961, there are three 50+ home run kings–until a spate of 50+, 60+ 70+ seasons beginning in 1995.
The time frame is important. Smack dab in the middle of the steroids era.
Statistically, historically, those achievements are bogus.
Beginning in 1995 McGwire, Sosa, Bonds repeatedly broke the 60-61 home run mark that had been the standard for 70 years. Contrast that with how swimming, pole vault, discus, NFL rushing, hockey scoring, and almost every other athletic record has been broken…
Bonds hitting 73 home runs broke Maris' record by 18%–perversely above normal percentages…
In 1964 Bob Hayes' broke Percy William's 1924 100 meter record (10.80) by 7%. Hayes ran an even 10 second dash. Usain Bolt just beat Hayes' record by 3%–by .31 of a second. Obviously, the more a record is broken the harder it is to keep breaking–i.e there ain’t never gonna be a 5.1 100 meter dash.
Clearly 55-62 is the limit for home runsamong people who don't cheat…
If Hayes had broken Williams record by Bonds' 18% he would needed to have run an 8.86 100 meters. Bolt would have had to bolt a 7.3. to beat Hayes by 18%.
Admittedly, the aforementioned 100 meter records had been broken by much smaller percentages many times between the years stated. But, if we were to chart those achievements–and charted the increments by which records are broken in most every sport–the resulting graph would look reasonably similar.
Of course, hitting a baseball involves a myriad of external factors the athlete can't control–wind, mound height, park dimensions, etc. That's why Ruth's and Maris' records stood for decades. The balls were wound looser/tighter, leagues were segregated, NL parks were bigger, etc.
Bonds, McGwire, Sosa, cheated the game I used to love–baseball powers-that-be let it happen.
natebarlow
says:
January 5th, 2009 at 2:58 am
Didn't mean to imply that I thought that would be the only reason–only an additional!
I generally don't fault anyone for taking what they can get in free agency–as long as their contract is legitimately up. I despise athletes who hold out mid-contract; you signed a deal, play it out, then fight for more. And there are certain cases which as a fan of a team, signing with a rival is completely unacceptable. Johnny Demon going from the Sox to the Yanks. Traitor.
I absolutely agree with you regarding the records and the cheaters.
Gairzo
says:
January 5th, 2009 at 5:11 am
I see your point, but, if we're honest about it…
You didn't hear many Pittsburgh fans bitch when Sidney Crosby signed a long term contract for less money… "No! Sidney…8.7 million a year? You deserve much more."
Let's say the editor of the Sporting News notices the scintillating commentary gracing the pages of this website and offers you a 350,000 five year contract.
You wouldn't go?
Hell, let's say Alex Rodriguez becomes a UFA and decides he wants to play in Boston? You're going to sympathize with Yankee fans?
People with athletic talent do what most people with other, less lucrative talent would do–they serve what's in their best interests.
natebarlow
says:
January 5th, 2009 at 9:23 am
Of course I would go, but wouldn't a true hater of a team hate players defecting to their arch-rival? It would seem to be part and parcel of hating, part of the rules. Logic and equality don't always apply.
I'll still hate A-Rod even if he came to the Sox. I'd want him to produce for them, but I'd still hate him.