I prefer Tony Gwynn. Yes, Bonds was very good. But the roids, plus all the body armor he wore so he could hang out over the plate and not worry about the pain of being hit....? M'eh, tainted.
To me, both Gwynn or Carew were better hitters. Bonds was still great as a hitter (I remember him and Bonilla for the Pirates back when still watched baseball), but yeah, his size and strength made seeing his hitting ability difficult if one had not seen him before San Fran.
Oh, I definitely watched him as a Pirate. I greatly enjoyed those two NLCSs in a row when the Braves knocked the Pirates out. Interesting stat. Maddux struck out Bonds 16 times, although Bonds still hit .262 against him, which is certainly decent. Gwynn hit .429 against Maddux and NEVER struck out. Crazy.
Yeah, that body armor has a lot to do with me not respecting his output. Between the 'roids and taking a huge chunk of the strike zone out of play, I have a hard time not seeing his numbers as tainted.
Watching the killer b’s get knocked out of the playoffs, Bonds and Bonilla, was always fun as a Reds fan. Ichiro and Gwynn were far and away the best hitters I have seen live. I agree with those saying the roids and armor takes away from Bonds’ legacy.
A friend of mine lives in Bellingham, Washington, and he told me one of the greatest things he ever saw in sports was, while he was at a Mariners game sitting in the 2nd or 3rd row behind third base, he saw an opposing baserunner try to go from first to third on a single hit at Ichiro. What struck him was the throw: the ball never got more than 7 feet off the ground and hit the 3rd baseman's glove perfectly. The baserunner had just about started his headfirst slide when the 3rd baseman caught the ball. When you're a kid and you have to throw the ball a long way, you put a lot of height on it. Ichiro, needless to say, didn't need to do that.
You guys type too fast for me. I can understand no one mentioned "The Splendid Splinter" or even "Jolting Joe" as they were gone before most of you were whelped. I was always awed just watching Thumper's routine in the batter's box. Belted one outta the park on his very last at bat!
If I remember correctly Rocky Colavito had that kind of arm in right field. In a pinch he was brought in as a pitcher and was quite effective.
Andruw Jones had close (not quite) to that level of an arm. The crazy thing about him was how shallow he played center field because his ability to read the ball off the bat and his speed made it unlikely a ball would be hit over his head---unless it was leaving the park anyway. He took away so many of what would've been dinked singles by batters. Just a great (but underrated, IMO) defensive skill.
Roberto Clemente was the same way. It got to the point that no one ever attempted to go first-to-third on a sharply hit single to right. And one of the good things they did in Boston was to name the Ted Williams tunnel when he was still alive. I'm not sure it if he had already passed when they named the Joe DiMaggio highway in New York.
I've seen a few of his throws and, to self-congratulate, they remind me of a throw I did when I was 12 on that LL All-start team. Opposing team player hit a long ball just into left-center. I played CF, but it was over my head. Ball bounced off the fence (chain-link in those days) and right into my bare hand. It was drilled into us that we were to hit the cut-off man, but I'm seeing the kid who hit the ball round second. So I'm thinking I'm gonna try and get him. I heaved the ball in, just over the cut-off man, right into the second baseman's glove. Easy tag out. Of course, when I think back to when I was 12 and compare my throw to somebody like Ichiro's, I laugh and go, "yeah, I was never gonna be a professional." I didn't even play high school baseball.
There were probably a lot of guys back then who were great with the bat. Williams, DiMaggio, probably Clemente, Banks maybe, Mays, Musial, etc. I know I'm missing a few as well.
If I were a voter, I’d vote in the guys who were going to make the Hall without steroids like Bonds and A Rod. I’d leave out the Rafael Palmeiros. Clemens would be a tough call because right before the ‘roids he was kinda mediocre and looked like his career might not make the length necessary.
Guys, the point of hitting isn’t to make contact, it’s to score runs. Even before the steroids Bonds was better at it than those guys.
The people whose jobs and money are on the line disagree. It’s like saying the point of soccer is to pass the ball well. The point is to score goals.
These two Midwestern-y announcers on friggin ludes for one of the greatest throws you'll ever see courtesy of Vlad Guerrero