Looks like Barry Bonds is going after his own record.. (1 Viewer)

[Shane Martin]

Barry Bonds now has 4 home runs in 2 games this year so far. Could he break his own record?

This guy is just a freak with a bat.

 

[Michael*K]

And he leads off next inning. #5 maybe?

 

[Tom-G]

I'd love to see Bonds break his own record. Hell, I'd love to see him demolish the record by hitting 80. The man is the best player I've ever seen and probably ever will see.

 

[SteveRS]

He is on pace to hit 324 dingers this year

 

[John Thomas]

He needs to hit 150 or so - only to show the decreased value of home runs as of late. It's gotten silly; Heck, Brady Anderson hit 50 for the Orioles back about 5-6 years ago. :rolleyes

 

[Andrew 'Ange Hamm' Hamm]

Yeah, but when Brady hit 50, 50 was actually a big deal. These days, I expect 50 from guys like Jeromy Burnitz and Mike Lieberthal.

 

[John Spencer]

When Rafael Furcal starts hitting 30-35 dingers a year, then you'll know the ball is juiced.

 

[Brian Perry]

His HR streak is amazing but the irritating thing is that some people are now arguing that the he is the greatest player EVER.

By the way, is he still wearing that armor on his right elbow? I thought MLB banned such devices as they give the batter an unfair advantage. In fact, it would be interesting to see when Bonds started wearing it and when his offensive onslaught began. Is there a correlation?

 

[Tom-G]

He needs to hit 150 or so - only to show the decreased value of home runs as of late

The value of home runs may be diluted but that doesn't change the fact that Bonds is still hitting many more homers than anyone else. It's all relative. If Bonds was on this streak ten years ago, he would probably end the season with 55 or there abouts. What he is doing at age 38 is incredible. If he keeps it up, he has a shot at breaking Aaron's all-time record.

 

[John Thomas]

The value of home runs may be diluted but that doesn't change the fact that Bonds is still hitting many more homers than anyone else.

That wasn't my point. When your previous best HR total is 49 then it jumps to 73, there's something wrong. I'm not trying to lessen what Bonds has done, just the fact that the actual numbers he's put up are a bit inflated. He is the best HR hitter currently, no doubt.

 

[RobertR]

There's no doubt that in the last 5 years or so, the ball has been "juiced"

Being the engineer and objectivist that I am, my preferred approach to proving or disproving this would be to use two balls: one made prior to the alleged juicing, and a current ball. Hit them with a device that can apply a calibrated swing of the bat from a set "pitch" velocity. Measure the distance the balls travel. Question answered.

If Bonds breaks these records, I say more power to him.

 

[Ross Williams]

By the way, is he still wearing that armor on his right elbow? I thought MLB banned such devices as they give the batter an unfair advantage.

How does it give an unfair advantage? Is it so he's less scared to crowd the plate? It's not like the thing helps his swing.

 

[Brian Perry]

Ross,

That's exactly it -- it makes the player fearless about getting hit on his elbow and allows him to crowd the plate. Combine that with the fact that pitchers cannot effectively pitch inside anymore for fear of brawls or ejection, and you have a recipe for big homer totals.

 

[Grant B]

well considering the lasty 2 HRs he hit would have been balls, the armor didn't matter

Maybe i'm biased since I'm a season ticket holder(Ya think?)

Can't wait for the home opener

Why don't others have armor???

 

[Ross Williams]

Well, I just consider that part of the game now. The rest of his body is still open for a hit. The man is incredible no matter what way you put it.

 

[Carlo_M]

Larry Bowa (sp?) was just on sports talk radio, and it's the first time I've heard someone officially in baseball (who wasn't a pitcher) say this:
"I don't care what Rawlings says, the balls are tighter...they're like golfballs!"

 

[John Thomas]

my preferred approach to proving or disproving this would be to use two balls

I can understand the analytical approach to this but the numbers don't lie. Now, there are a few explanations for this phenomenon:

1) Players have become stronger/better hitters: Stronger, quite possibly [the whole McGwire debacle with the workout 'stuff' (I don't recall the specific name of the substance)]; Better? No. However, strength doesn't equal HR necessarily. It's one of the many variables in the equation.

2) Pitching is worse; with expansion teams, pitching has become diluted and therefore pitchers that shouldn't be in the big leagues are, and they're giving up the gopher balls. But, I just don't buy into this one. Hitters are worse as well. Starting players with career .220 averages?

I can understand for a position player but for outfielders?

Even taking these factors into account, it still wouldn't make up for the fact that the number of HRs have skyrocketed in the past several years. Again to all the Bonds fans, I'm not taking anything away from him. He's the best offensive player in the game right now. What I'm saying is that his (and many other players') HR numbers are inflated. If the ball isn't juiced, what do you attribute it to?

 

[Carl Johnson]

I would think that a lab could easily tell if a new HR friendly ball had been introduced. That story would make headlines from coast to coast and I'm sure that there are plenty of people who would love to be first in line to take credit for figuring it out so the fact that it hasn't happened tells me that it is unlikley. I would attribute the HR race to three factors, the first of which is better players. This isn't suprising, athletes breaking records is nothing new. The second factor is weaker pitching which has already been discussed. Factor #3 new and improved HR friendly ballparks.

 

[KeithH]

Andrew said:

These days, I expect 50 from guys like Jeromy Burnitz and Mike Lieberthal.

Mike Lieberthal! I wonder how many home runs the likes of Bucky Dent and Ozzie Smith would hit these days. They would probably be good for 20 homers a season now.
The whole homer thing has gotten ridiculous. Bonds could very well break his own record this year. That would be great, but as I said when Bonds set the record last year, what McGwire and Sosa did in '98 was really special.

 

[John Thomas]

I would attribute the HR race to three factors, the first of which is better players. This isn't suprising, athletes breaking records is nothing new. The second factor is weaker pitching which has already been discussed. Factor #3 new and improved HR friendly ballparks.

Better athletes? Yeah, I'll concede that. However, look at the past few seasons (98-01): I know of six seasons (Mcgwire 98 & 99, Sosa 98, 99, 01, Bonds 01) that would've broken Maris' 61 HR record. It took 37 years for someone to break his record. Then that record was broken in 3 years.

Another item: Better players/weaker pitching. How so? If hitters were better/pitchers wee weaker, why are there no modern players, with the exception of Tony Gwynn (who is #20 btw), in the top 20 leaders in batting average? Seems to me that batting average would be a better gauge of better players/weaker pitching.

HR friendly ballparks: Coors field and perhaps Enron Astros Field would be pointed out for this; however, there have been several stadiums renovated and the walls moved out to make bigger ballparks. That's not that much of a factor.