Congrats to Barry Bonds.* Was fortunate enough to be watching ESPN tonight to see Bonds hit his 756th homerun to become the all time home run king. Although I grew up in San Francisco cheering for the likes of Jack Clark, Willie McCovey, Kevin Mitchell, Jose Uribe, Matt Nokes, Dave Dravecky and some other folks you’ve never heard of, I just can’t fully celebrate Barry Bonds and his legacy. Maybe, time will provide many skeptics wrong. He’s an incredible player but just not #1 in my neophytic opinion especially in light of all the controversy surround Bonds. Here’s my top 5 players of all time and Chris Rock’s commentary about the Bonds situation on the Letterman Show. It’s hilarious…
- My Top 5 of all Time:
- 5. Ted Williams [best pure hitter]
- 4. Hank Aaron [most underrated and underappreciated player]
- 3. Babe Ruth [what if he pitched full time?]
- 2. Barry Bonds [what can you say]
- 1. Willie Mays [best all around player]
I’m biased towards Mays because of his SF connection but his stats are awe inspiring – like the others in the top 5. The guy was in the All Star Game 24 times. Had incredible power as testified by his 660 homers. He would have hit more had it not been for a 1.5 year stint to the Army. He would have at least, in my opinion, broken Babe Ruth’s record. Career numbers are stunning: .302 average, 3,283 hits, 660 homers, 2,062 runs, 1,903 RBIs, 12 Gold Gloves, and 338 SBs. On my list, Bonds can only go down this list depending on what evidence is revealed.
Regardless, congratulations to Bonds. * Here’s Chris Rock’s commentary and complaint on the Dave Letterman Show: “American ain’t after Bin Laden. They’re after bin Barry Bonds.” It’s hilarious especially the lines about winning a marathon w/o Kenyans or scoring highest in the SATs w/o Asians.
Filed under: sports
It’s going to be downhill for Bonds after his career is over.
“It’s going to be downhill for Bonds after his career is over.”
Life after steroid use is never easy.
As a lifelong Padres fan, I have no love for Barry . . . in large part because the Padres are his favorite team to hit home runs against (so yeah, there’s actually some respect hiding out somewhere in there). I have to agree that when he retires, his public opinion will continue to drop. I mean, look at the guy he beat for the single season home run title – Mark McGwire was almost universally loved (unlike Barry) at the time he broke the big record, but now there’s a good lot of disdain for him. Whether it ever appears in the record books or not, the public is likely to always view this record with an asterisk next to it.
I just had to respond to the Bonds kudos. I, too, grew up in the bay area (Richmond). And although I gravitated more toward the Athletics my first Giants game was against Pittsburgh and Roberto Clemente. I was fortunate to grow up in a area where there were 2 major league teams. I completely agree with you that Mays is the best all around player ever. I can also remember when Candlestick Park was open in center field and you could see the bay.
Good blog!
hmmm… i was a giants fan, too… did you mean will clark?
anthony: candlestick park? coldest place I’ve ever been in. winds were piercing there and alwasy a blast to see opposing fielders navigate the fly balls.
derek: jack clark was before your time. he played right field in the outfield with jeffrey leonard, and kevin mitchell.
will clark came after that. not a bad player at all…
i loved the stick.
will clark was one of my favorites too. robby thompson, rich aurilia, kirk reuter. good memories.
Check out this article about ball #756 on Komo. Apparently clothing designer Marc Ecko bought it and is now holding a vote to determine what to do with the ball. There’s a link to the vote at the bottom of the article.
Good times!
Whoops, that HTML tag didn’t work (forgive my poor syntax). Here it is proper:
http://www.komotv.com/sports/9889777.html