History

[Damn True]

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/ea..._id=1003621797

A complete crock.

The HR derby thing was explained best by Bobby Abreu and David Ortiz this year. They both explained that the derby is completely different from either hitting during a game or even from hitting during BP. The reason is that in a derby you are doing nothing other than trying to yank the ball out of the park. In doing so one changes the way they load their legs and the path that their bat takes through the zone. Abreu to this day thinks that his HR Derby performance hurt his swing and it has taken him almost a year to recover from it. Ortiz was asked about Bonds in the HR derby in an interview with Bob Costas. He sat with Costas and watch the video of Bonds in the derby, while watching video of Bonds Ortiz showed that unlike other guys in the derby, Bonds swing were exactly the same as his in-game swings. That discipline prevented him from messing up his swing and at the same time, prevented him from doing much in the Home Run derby.


The funny thing about most peoples reaction to the steroids thing is that most have no idea what steroids do or how they work, let along have any idea about hitting a baseball. Steroids will not and did not make Barry Bonds hit a ball any further. How strong a guy is has a miniscule impact on how far the ball is hit. Hank Aaron weighed about 180lbs and hit 755 jacks. Frank Thomas & David Ortiz are both an absolute mountain of a man and will never hit as many and most wont be hit as far. Wille Mays and Willie Mcovey were both under 200lbs and hit a crapload of really long shots. Jack Clark was a monster and hit about 300 jacks. The difference is the quality of contact and the type of pitch.



Yes the use of steroids would allow a player to be stronger but the benefit there is that it would prevent injuries, it would allow quicker recovery times (Just ask Eric Gagne and Roger Clemens).

Not a great deal of difference between that and the use of amphetimines used by Aaron, Brett Schmidt, Rose & Ripken that allowed them to play better, harder and longer.

As for Bonds being "a jerk": To whom? You? Or to some reporter? In which case.....can you blame him?


.....and lest we forget. Bonds allegedly, allegedly, allegedly used steroids in 2001 & 2002. Take away the totals from those years and Bonds has:

637 home runs in 9155 at bats with 2165 walks an over .430 OBP, a nearly .600 SLG. The record for most career walks, 6 MVP awards, most consectutive games with a walk, most consecutive walks, he is the only player with 400 stolen bases and 400 homers, he is the only player with 500 stolen bases and 500 homers, 6 seasons slugging .600 or better, 12 all star appearances, 2 time MLB player of the year, 8 gold gloves 8!. Take away those two years and he is still arguably the best player in MLB history. The only contender is Willie Mays and the only thing Wille had that Barry does not is a stronger arm.

For those that claim he is a defensive liability. Well consider this. He currently has a fielding percentage of .985. His career average is .984 and he has only averaged higher than .985 twice.

[Steve1968LS2]

Steroids will not and did not make Barry Bonds hit a ball any further. .

Sorry, I don't buy that being stronger doesn't help send the ball farther... It doesn't help him be more accurate with the swing, but putting more force out AND KNOWING HOW TO HIT THE BALL is the combo that makes HRs.

[Steve1968LS2]

As for Bonds being "a jerk": To whom? You? Or to some reporter? In which case.....can you blame him?
.

http://www.brokennewz.com/sports/bonds.asp

[Steve1968LS2]

http://kutv.com/davidjames/local_story_134020938.html

He's a jerk to reporters, teammates, fans .. whoever.. bonds is "all about bonds"

Cheats on his wife.. yada, yada... I've never heard ANYONE say "wow, what a swell guy he is" ... do a websearch for "Bonds" + "jerk" lol

Or is it just a big conspiracy? :paranoid:

[Damn True]

Bummer you guys can't just enjoy it. You may never see this again. Too bad you won't be able to look back on it as anything pleasant.

[Damn True]

Bahh, nevermind. Enjoy your contempt. Bonds does.

[shmoov69]

I used to like baseball. Until the strike in the 90's ??
They are good. But waaaaaay overpaid. The guys that (seem to) work the hardest and have the shortest careers should get more money IMO. Football or hockey. Not guys that stand around for most of the game waiting for a ball to be hit to them.
But, it seems that most sports nowdays are fixed in some way or another. That much money involved means there is too much to be gained for a crook.

[Jims78elky]

Looks like the guy who caught the ball is in trouble with (or will be)
with the IRS.I didn't know that if you caught a baseball at the park
from a player that "because" the ball has significant value that the
IRS would do this, is what I read true? No wonder why I quit going
to games back in the 80's... Unbelievable! here is the news link.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slu...v=ap&type=lgns


-Jim

[hotrdblder]

Looks like the guy who caught the ball is in trouble with (or will be)
with the IRS.I didn't know that if you caught a baseball at the park
from a player that "because" the ball has significant value that the
IRS would do this, is what I read true? No wonder why I quit going
to games back in the 80's... Unbelievable! here is the news link.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slu...v=ap&type=lgns


-Jim

bs, thats the problem with the goverment, greedy sob's, so we can build houses in iraq after we blew them up

[BADVELLE]

Bummer you guys can't just enjoy it. You may never see this again. Too bad you won't be able to look back on it as anything pleasant.

Just wait another 7-8 years, A-rod will surpass Bonds, if he keeps up the current average of 40 per. You hear all the talk on the sports shows about the different era's in baseball, deadball, juiced ball, steriods, etc, this is primarily why most records are not that impressive anymore. Alot of things have changed in the past 20 years, to me the more impressive records are 300+ wins (511 is untouchable by Cy Young), 3,000+ hits (small ball is real baseball) and Ripken's consecutive game streak. Our society and game have changed so much, the players are making so much now and it is guaranteed money, most become very arrogant. If anyone watched the Hall of Fame inductions, Ripken & Gwynn, both class acts and just loved to play the game.

[Damn True]

Looks like the guy who caught the ball is in trouble with (or will be)
with the IRS.I didn't know that if you caught a baseball at the park
from a player that "because" the ball has significant value that the
IRS would do this, is what I read true? No wonder why I quit going
to games back in the 80's... Unbelievable! here is the news link.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slu...v=ap&type=lgns


-Jim

Not a big deal unless he sells it. As of right now it is simply a baseball. It's worth $2.00. That value remains static until someone pays more for it.

[hotrdblder]

all these records are unreal when you think about how long it takes being that good, 300 wins is 20 wins a yr for 15 yrs in a ROW!!! 755 hrs is 40 hrs each yr for 18 yrs!!!! its unreal, although i think bonds is a douche its not his fault he is better then all the other steroid users, bonds isn't the only one was he??lol look at rafe palmero. bonds deserves his credit, until he fails a drug test, but its too late for that he never failed one in past yrs so pat him on the back and get over it. and a-rod, he is a fool, a disgrace to the game with his antics,

[NOPANTS-68]

they still play that game in the U.S.? I hadn't noticed. lol

Buddy of mine met him at some type of a invitational party for media heads a couple of years back. He said Barry was as much of a jerk as they play him up to be. Just cold and made it seem like he was doing you a favor to talk with him.

All of that aside though, the guy hits the ball a mile. His job isn't to be Mr. Personality- it's to hit that little ball over that wall and he does it pretty well juiced or not. He does what he'd paid to do. No more no less.

[TonyL]

Bonds lost all my respect when he broke Babe Ruth's record and was quoted as enjoying it because "he was such a celebrated figure to the white man."

Not only is he a hyped up cheater, he's a racist too.

Baseball is ruined. Bonds will get to carry the torch for driving the final nail in coffin of a bloated corpse of something formerly great.

read this. (yes it's from the onion, but every word speaks the truth.)
http://www.theonion.com/content/news...tional_pastime

[Damn True]

Bonds lost all my respect when he broke Babe Ruth's record and was quoted as enjoying it because "he was such a celebrated figure to the white man."

Not only is he a hyped up cheater, he's a racist too.

Do you have a link to a source of that quote. I've never heard anything like that.

[TonyL]

look here for some of it. I haven't been able to dig up the quote. It was a while ago.
newsdaily

[Damn True]

If I recall correctly there were at one time people who still held up Ruth as superior to Aaron because he never played as a DH, was also a pitcher and the size of Yankee stadium at the time. Those people wanted to qualify Aaron as the the greatest "right-handed" hitter ever, which offers an ersatz slap to Aarons achivement. Right-or-wrong, this was precieved by many as a hold over from the racist resistance to the achivements of Aaron and others of the first generation of black players in MLB. The opportunity to finally put to rest any point of differentiation between Ruth and Aaron by having another black player, and a left-hander besides was used by many as a means of finally, once and for all, silencing those racists who deride the achivements of black players in MLB.

Is Bonds a nice guy? As a whole, probably not. But seriously, who cares? He is an entertainer. His job is to hit a ball as a means of entertaining you and I. I don't care if he is a nice guy, I don't care what his politics are, I don't care if he gave a quote to some dip$hit reporter in Pittsburgh or not. Just the same as I don't care about the opinions or actions of entertainers in the field of music, movies or TV. I pay, they perform. Walt Disney was a Communist and a horrific racist and anti-semite. Are you going to take away your kids Disney movies? The only thing I care about is weather or not his performance improves the Giants chances of winning a game and make no mistake, without him the Giants would be completely irrelevant this year, and for many years prior.

Is he a racist? I don't know. He has signed for me and I'm about as white as one gets. But consider the fact that he has legions of local hack beatwriters who dislike him because he has never been into doing interviews or giving soundbites. Can't really blame him. Even prior to the steroids thing every time he won an MVP award or did anything noteworthy THEY were the ones who disqualified it with statements like: "But he hasn't won a World Series." "But he hasn't played well in the post season." "But he does not have a great arm." "But he's not as good as Mays, Mcovey or his father." etc. I'd have disdain for them too. Would one of those people perhaps take a chance to put a negative spin on something that might have been said in the heat of the moment or taken completely out of context. You bet. They do it all the time to ballplayers, politicians and anyone else that might be capable of making a better headline. I think all of us have said things in the past that we might regret if they were made public right? Especially if some reporter elected to spin it in such a way as to make it look more damning than it actually was.

[BADVELLE]

If I recall correctly there were at one time people who still held up Ruth as superior to Aaron because he never played as a DH, was also a pitcher and the size of Yankee stadium at the time. Those people wanted to qualify Aaron as the the greatest "right-handed" hitter ever, which offers an ersatz slap to Aarons achivement. Right-or-wrong, this was precieved by many as a hold over from the racist resistance to the achivements of Aaron and others of the first generation of black players in MLB. The opportunity to finally put to rest any point of differentiation between Ruth and Aaron by having another black player, and a left-hander besides was used by many as a means of finally, once and for all, silencing those racists who deride the achivements of black players in MLB.

Is Bonds a nice guy? As a whole, probably not. But seriously, who cares? He is an entertainer. His job is to hit a ball as a means of entertaining you and I. I don't care if he is a nice guy, I don't care what his politics are, I don't care if he gave a quote to some dip$hit reporter in Pittsburgh or not. Just the same as I don't care about the opinions or actions of entertainers in the field of music, movies or TV. I pay, they perform. Walt Disney was a Communist and a horrific racist and anti-semite. Are you going to take away your kids Disney movies? The only thing I care about is weather or not his performance improves the Giants chances of winning a game and make no mistake, without him the Giants would be completely irrelevant this year, and for many years prior.

Is he a racist? I don't know. He has signed for me and I'm about as white as one gets. But consider the fact that he has legions of local hack beatwriters who dislike him because he has never been into doing interviews or giving soundbites. Can't really blame him. Even prior to the steroids thing every time he won an MVP award or did anything noteworthy THEY were the ones who disqualified it with statements like: "But he hasn't won a World Series." "But he hasn't played well in the post season." "But he does not have a great arm." "But he's not as good as Mays, Mcovey or his father." etc. I'd have disdain for them too. Would one of those people perhaps take a chance to put a negative spin on something that might have been said in the heat of the moment or taken completely out of context. You bet. They do it all the time to ballplayers, politicians and anyone else that might be capable of making a better headline. I think all of us have said things in the past that we might regret if they were made public right? Especially if some reporter elected to spin it in such a way as to make it look more damning than it actually was.

The Giants could or will with or without Barry, remember this is a team sport, it takes more than 1 man to win the game. Alot of the statements that the sportswriters have made about Barry, they have made the same comments about others in all sports, Dan Marino, John Elway (b/4 back to back Super Bowls), Roger Clemens, A-rod, the list can go on forever, that is what those people evidently get paid to do, goes with the territory. When you are making multiple millions each year you are going to get this type of attention.

We are never going to be able to compare players like Ruth to Aaron or Bonds for that matter, apples to oranges, different game, different time. The baseball has come along way since Ruth day, no one can compare the era's and it is sad and stupid when they do!

[Damn True]

The Giant's are in last place in the NL west this year with Barry. They would be far, far, far worse without him.

[6'9"Witha69]

The Giants could or will with or without Barry, remember this is a team sport, it takes more than 1 man to win the game. Alot of the statements that the sportswriters have made about Barry, they have made the same comments about others in all sports, Dan Marino, John Elway (b/4 back to back Super Bowls), Roger Clemens, A-rod, the list can go on forever, that is what those people evidently get paid to do, goes with the territory. When you are making multiple millions each year you are going to get this type of attention.

We are never going to be able to compare players like Ruth to Aaron or Bonds for that matter, apples to oranges, different game, different time. The baseball has come along way since Ruth day, no one can compare the era's and it is sad and stupid when they do!

Actually, Baseball is the most individual sport there is that has "teams". Unlike Basketball, Footbal, Soccer, Rugby, etc, Baseball games can be won or lost by 1 man alone. It is one of the reasons I hate baseball.

And True, as much as I hate to admit it, yes, the man's acheivements and his personality/views should be seperated. Perhaps the Disney line struck a nerve with me being a parent.