How good is Barry Bonds, exactly?

[Mike Aller]

Hit his 4th homerun today in his 20th at bat.

 

This guy is amazing.

[CubinNY]

Best baseball player of our life time (last 70 years), steriods or no steriods.

 

Tough guy to like off the field

 

I know I've posted this anecdote before but it still amazes me.

 

When I lived in Florida I took my wife to see SF play the Marlins (or Marleenz as the locals say it). Anyway, in his first at bat he hits a BROKEN BAT HR right down the right filed line. Aside from seeing Prior get hit on the elbow eariler this year, it was the most incredible thing I've ever seen in person at a ballgame.

[abuck1220]

Best baseball player of our life time (last 70 years), steriods or no steriods.

 

 

???

 

how can you say that? if he used steroids (and he probably did), he's a cheater. i don't know how you can say he's the best player of our life time if he's known to take steroids.

[sandberg23]

I didn't even realize he was activated. I still don't like him.

[abuck1220]

I didn't even realize he was activated. I still don't like him.

 

his mouth is activated also. when he was asked about the congressional investigation into steroids, his response to reporters is 'how much money have you donated to hurricane relief?' um...yeah...so about those steroids you took....

[CubinNY]

Best baseball player of our life time (last 70 years), steriods or no steriods.

 

 

???

 

how can you say that? if he used steroids (and he probably did), he's a cheater. i don't know how you can say he's the best player of our life time if he's known to take steroids.

 

I know how you feel becuase I feel the same way. If he used steroids he was taking an unfair atvantage. I still think he is the best baseball player of the last 70 years. I wish I could say otherwise.

[rocket]

Barry without steroids still is the smartest hitter in baseball. And I doubt he's using roids now, and he's still crushing the ball.

 

I love you Barry.

[abuck1220]

Barry without steroids still is the smartest hitter in baseball. And I doubt he's using roids now, and he's still crushing the ball.

 

I love you Barry.

 

then he was pretty stupid to take em before.

[treebird]

i love barry

 

and the best player in 70 years thing is right, in my opinion. if he did use hgh or whatever lots and lots as has been asserted, i still dont believe they make enough of a difference to discount him to the point where he's not miles ahead of the competition

[burnt out cubbie fan]

He's the best hitter in the game today and one of the top 2-3 of all time.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Barry being on Roids takes him out of consideration for best hitter of all-time, but he's the best hitter of this era if not more than that. I'm not sure I'd go as far as 70 years, but he's still pretty good at swinging the stick.

[CuseCubFan69]

Bonds is a great player, that in my eyes, ruined it by cheating. If he hit 50 HR's before the roids I'd respect what he has done (60+) but he didn't.

[UK1679666180]

Wait, he's lost 20+ lbs how can he do it?

 

Oh yeah, he's still got the quickest bat I've ever seen.

 

Odd how that works for some...

 

Still the greatest ballplayer I've ever seen.

[Mike Aller]

How do steroids help you hit a baseball?

[UK1679666180]

Builds muscle mass.... It doesn't generate bat speed, it provides more explosive energy during the muscle movements of the swing.

 

You'd think Bonds with his power and the "steroid use" would be a stiff like Kapler, but he's extremely fluid throughout his swing.

 

It helps you hit the ball farther, that's about it.

[CuseCubFan69]

Builds muscle mass.... It doesn't generate bat speed, it provides more explosive energy during the muscle movements of the swing.

 

You'd think Bonds with his power and the "steroid use" would be a stiff like Kapler, but he's extremely fluid throughout his swing.

 

It helps you hit the ball farther, that's about it.

 

The key is to add flexability to your program which Bonds did.

[CuseCubFan69]

How do steroids help you hit a baseball?

 

What UK said and if you already hit a ball as well as Bonds it just makes it go farther.

[Derwood]

Here's my argument against Bonds and steroids:

 

Bonds hasn't made a career of hitting 500 ft. homers. It's not like he's putting Adam Dunn swings on these pitches. He hits so many homers because he has the best eye at the plate i've ever seen, has a lightning quick bat (he chokes up too), and he NEVER misses a mistake.

 

The argument for him taking steroids would be his enormous head.

[katway]

Builds muscle mass.... It doesn't generate bat speed, it provides more explosive energy during the muscle movements of the swing.

 

You'd think Bonds with his power and the "steroid use" would be a stiff like Kapler, but he's extremely fluid throughout his swing.

 

It helps you hit the ball farther, that's about it.

 

The key is to add flexability to your program which Bonds did.

 

Steroids do help you improve speed (ask Ben Johnson if it can make you quicker), it's not just simply muscle mass. There are different types of steroids.

 

By improving bat speed, Bonds had the luxury to wait on the pitches in the zone.

 

In addition, if Bonds doesn't take steroids for the last 5 years, there is no way his body continues to hold up beyond 40 years of age. The fact is all hitters get smarter with experience, but often the body begans to fail. IMO, his body didn't fail as quickly because of the steroids. As such, he has had an advantage over Hank Aaron and other hall of famers who became smarter hitters, but their body wasn't as willing in their later years.

[Mizzou]

I didn't even realize he was activated. I still don't like him.

 

his mouth is activated also. when he was asked about the congressional investigation into steroids, his response to reporters is 'how much money have you donated to hurricane relief?' um...yeah...so about those steroids you took....

 

No, not exactly. He said that he felt that Congress should focus on more important things. Later, he talked about the hurricane relief. I'm no fan of Bonds, but let's not skew the facts when talking about him.

[UK1679666180]

Steroids do help you improve speed (ask Ben Johnson if it can make you quicker), it's not just simply muscle mass. There are different types of steroids.

 

Bat speed and running speed are completely separate. Bonds had the quickest bat in MLB long before he was accused of juicing, there's a reason for that.

 

The best hitting mechanics since probably Ted Williams.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Bonds was a multiple MVP long before steroids. Steroids, or more accuarately HGH, placed him on a level above anything we've ever seen.

 

I can't state with any certainty how much steroids improved Bonds, but he has been the best hitter I've ever seen play. There's no doubt about that.

[abuck1220]

I didn't even realize he was activated. I still don't like him.

 

his mouth is activated also. when he was asked about the congressional investigation into steroids, his response to reporters is 'how much money have you donated to hurricane relief?' um...yeah...so about those steroids you took....

 

No, not exactly. He said that he felt that Congress should focus on more important things. Later, he talked about the hurricane relief. I'm no fan of Bonds, but let's not skew the facts when talking about him.

 

sorry...i left out a couple steps in the barry bonds 'change the subject ASAP and make it look like the media is the bad guy' plan. so i used the cream and the clear...that guy from the pawtucket observer hasn't donated to the red cross yet!

 

i'm really surprised that everyone is sticking up for bonds. is it really a good argument to say 'well, all steroids would do is help him hit the ball farther.' isn't that the name of the game??? that's like saying, 'well, all steroids did for ben johnson was make him run faster' or 'all steroids did for that powerlifter was make him lift more weights.' come on!

 

he certainly does have a quick bat...no doubt about it. but there's no convincing me that steroids, hgh, whatever, didn't improve his game. if it didn't, there's no way he would risk his life, career, reputation, place in history, livelihood, name, etc just to see what steroids were all about. it helped him, he knew it, that's why did them and continued to do them. yeah, steroids haven't helped him any...he's only a physical specimen at 40+.

[Mike Aller]

I think they just pump up steroids way too much. Remember when being bulky was seen as bad?

[katway]

Steroids do help you improve speed (ask Ben Johnson if it can make you quicker), it's not just simply muscle mass. There are different types of steroids.

 

Bat speed and running speed are completely separate. ....

 

Let's just call it muscle speed. The fact is steroids just don't add muscle mass, they can and do add muscle speed. Inject in the legs and it's running speed, inject the correct arm muscles and it's bat speed.

 

The longer you can wait on a pitch because of your bat speed, the more you can hit like Ted Williams.