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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 1810926, member: 289"] THE PLAYERS BARRY BONDS established himself as the best player in baseball in the early 90’s. He certainly had the pedigree. His father was Bobby Bonds, one of the best players of the 1970’s. His Godfather was the great Willie Mays, a player Bonds was often compared to, at least early in his career. He struggled with that legacy. As noted above, “from 1986-89 hit .256 with a .345 on base percentage and a .458 slugging percentage. Per 162 games he averaged 81 walks with 104 strike outs. Then, from 1990-94 he hit .310, got on base 43.2% of the time and slugged .604. He averaged 119 walks and 79 strikeouts per 162 games. And he averaged 40 home runs and 44 steals because he was making better contact with the ball and getting on base more so he would have more opportunities to steal bases.” His improved mastery of the strike zone turned him into a superstar and is a hugely underrated factor in his career achievements, which has been overshadowed by his steroid use later in his career. As has been pointed out, he was already the best player in the game and he’d proved that in the early 90’s. A confluence of events propelled him to this level. The Pirates, who had been using him as a leadoff hitter, the way his father had been used, put him in the middle of the order, where Andy Van Slyke and Bobby Bonilla offered some protection. He suddenly had the opportunity to drive in runs. He became more patient at the plate, looking for a pitch he could drive. His fielding prowess, which was considerable, began to be recognized, (he wound up with 8 Gold Gloves). And the Pirates suddenly resurrected themselves after a dreadful 1980’s, winning three straight divisional titles. Bonds got most of the recognition winning MVP awards in 1990, 1992 and 1993. In 1991 the writers made an idiosyncratic choice of Atlanta’s Terry Pendleton, (.319 with 22 homers, 10 steals 86RBI and 94runs scored) over Bonds (.292-25-43-116-95). Everybody knew who the best player was. He went on to win a record 7 MVPs and appear in 14 All-Star games. His biggest year yet came when he returned to San Francisco to play for his father’s team, the Giants. He hit .336, walked 126 times to only 79 strike outs, hit 46 homers, stole 29 based, drove in 123 runs and scored 129. He wasn’t just the best player in the same. He was the best player in years. It was at this point he started to get bad publicity, as well. Sports Illustrated had a cover story entitled “I’m Barry Bonds – And You’re Not!”: [URL]http://cdn-s3.si.com/s3fs-public/2014/08/18/barry-bonds-si-60-cover.jpg[/URL] [URL="http://www.si.com/vault/1993/05/24/128640/the-importance-of-being-barry-the-giants-barry-bonds-is-the-best-player-in-the-game-today----just-ask-him"]The Importance of being Barry[/URL] It was the beginning of his oddest accomplishment- being both the best player in the game and the most disliked. The second shouldn’t obscure the first and neither should the steroids issue, (more on that next time). KEN GRIFFEY JR. had almost the same season in 1993 that Barry Bonds had: .309BA 45HR 17SB 109RBI 113RS. Actually, all those numbers are a little behind Bonds but for most of that season Griffey was the one you heard about. He’s been lauded as the greatest talent in baseball from the time he was signed as the first pick in 1987 draft. His early career reads like Mickey Mantle’s: in his first four years he batted an even .300 with an average of 22 home runs and 86 RBIs. Good numbers but not superstar numbers. But he had the sweetest swing in baseball and played center field with such speed and grace that sportswriters were poetic about it. He was so young that he was the youngest player in baseball for the first three full years of his career. Even in 1993 he was more than a year younger than both AL Rookie of the Year Tim Salmon and NL Rookie of the Year Mike Piazza – and he was in his fifth season. People expected him to own the record book by the time he was done. That didn’t happen, although he still had a tremendous career, hitting no less than 630 home runs. The problem was injuries. He played until 2010, a 22 year career. But in those last ten years, he missed 486 games. He only batted .300 once in that time- .301in 2005. People expected him to be the one to catch Hank Aaron for the all-time home crown but the injuries never game him a chance. Unlike Bonds, there were never any steroid rumors about Griffey and he was considered an exemplary teammate and was popular with the press. Many considered him, when healthy, the greater player. He won 10 gold gloves playing what is usually regarded as a more difficult positon, center field, (Bonds was a left fielder). I remember a TV commercial Griffey filmed in his prime. Somebody asked him what his lifetime batting average was and he correctly replied .302. That struck me. A player’s batting average in his prime is usually about 10 points higher than his final lifetime batting average. That put Griffey in the low .290’s. I wondered why a player with Griffey’s sweet swing and the speed to be a great center fielder would wind up batting .290 something. In fact Griffey, (in part due to the injuries) wound up batting .284. In his first big year of 1993 he had 96 walks and 91 strike outs. In his biggest home run years of 1997-98, he hit 56 homers each year and had exactly 76 walks and 121 strike outs each year. Unlike Bonds, he never improved and he never maximized his capabilities. He was strictly a “see the ball / hit the ball” guy”. His talent was so great he relied upon it to get him his numbers. He also didn’t run the bases as aggressively as Bonds, stealing only 184 times in his career compared to 514 for Bonds. Here are their “per 162 game” stats from Baseball reference.com: Bonds: 159 hits, 139 walks, 83 strike outs, 33 doubles, 4 triples, 41 homers, 28 steals, 108RBI, 121 runs Griffey: 169H 89W 108SKO 32D 2T 38HR 11SB 111RBI 101RS Using my numbers, Barry produced 490 bases and 188 runs per 162 games, Ken 419 bases and 174 runs. Griffey may have been the greater talent but Bonds was the greater player. [/QUOTE]

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