Will Bonds reach the Babe

[dustdevil28]

Well Bonds has hit 4 home runs in his last 4 games and with 11 games to go in the season he's 7 behind Babe Ruth. Will he reach him?

Right now as much as I hate it he probably will.

mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20050921&content_id=1218599&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

[FightingFalcon]

Where is the option for "Bonds is a little piece of shit and Babe Ruth had more class/skill in his pinky finger than Bonds does in his entire steroid-riddled body"?

[dustdevil28]

Next time I'll just leave the option of "write in" as one of the choices.

[CommonSense]

Bonds may be the most unpopular player in baseball. No other players want Bonds breaking these records. He will pass Ruth next year, but he will never pass Aaron. They will walk him, hit him, pitch around him, but they will never allow him to become home run king.

[dustdevil28]

Remember that the NL west has turned into a weakling divison and a player like Bonds could help the Giants get to the playoffs.

It won't matter how many times they walk him, hit him, etc. Bonds hit 50+ homers the same year he shattered a walks record (tell me that aint suspicious as hell). Bonds will make his great cruisade next year and even if he doesn't get it he'll be back on '07.

I think the tougher stand on steroids will hurt him tremendously, but he'll keep playing until he's 50, gray and just short of rolling a wheelchair to bat.

[dustdevil28]

The years over and Bonds finished 7 homers behind the Babe.

Their GM is stating that he hopes Bonds can play in 120 games next year so maybe their is still hope that he won't surpase Hank Aaron next year.

[FightingFalcon]

battleborn said:

The years over and Bonds finished 7 homers behind the Babe.

Their GM is stating that he hopes Bonds can play in 120 games next year so maybe their is still hope that he won't surpase Hank Aaron next year.

In an interview earlier this year, Bonds said he didn't care if he broke Aaron's record. He said he only wanted to break Ruth's record because he was a "fat white man" as I recall.

Too bad for Bonds that no one accepts his records as legitimate because we all know that he takes steroids.

[101ABN]

This is heresy in the bay area but to hell with Bonds.

He's guilty as hell on the steroid piece and the only thing that amazes me is how much local denial there is about it.

That said, I doubt he'll get many games in next year. The pins are gone. He limped off the field in his last game.

His best bet is to look for a trade to the AL.

He's such an asshole, he and Steinbrenner are a match made in heaven.

Oh yeah. He couldn't wash Ruth's jockstrap. Or Aaron's. Or Mays'. Or Robinson's. Period.

[dustdevil28]

I don't buy that Bonds said that in a interview this year James.

That may be the way that Bonds thinks, but whenever the issue of whether he's prejudice against white people Bonds has typically reacted with anger asking people to look at his white wife and kids and tell him he's racist.

Whether he is or not one thing is for sure, he's a first rate asshole

[FightingFalcon]

battleborn said:

I don't buy that Bonds said that in a interview this year James.

That may be the way that Bonds thinks, but whenever the issue of whether he's prejudice against white people Bonds has typically reacted with anger asking people to look at his white wife and kids and tell him he's racist.

Whether he is or not one thing is for sure, he's a first rate asshole

I'll do my best to find the article battle born - I'll search ESPN for it today.

Racist or not, I remember hearing those very comments out of Bond's mouth.

[101ABN]

You don't have to be a racist to be an asshole.


It's a rule.

[FightingFalcon]

Battle Born:

This article hints at what I'm talking about:

proxy.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=ratto_ray&id=1581953

Unfortunately, it's an ESPN Insider article and you can't read it unless you are a member (which I am not cause I'm not paying money for stupid stuff like that...)

I'm still trying to get the actual quote tho.

EDIT: OK, I finally found the quote. Bonds didn't make a racist comment (as I thought he did), but he still was an asshole:

"755 isn't a number that's always caught my eye--the only number I'm concerned with is Babe Ruth's. As a left-handed hitter, I wiped him out. That's it. And in the baseball world, Babe Ruth's everything, right? I got his (single season) slugging percentage, I got him on on-base, I got him on walks and then I'll take his (lifetime) home run record and that's it. Don't talk about him no more."

[dustdevil28]

James,

That's a very interesting report and quote. I figured Bonds would lap up passing Ruth, but I figured his main goal was still Aarons record. If nothing else, people can always irk Bonds by reminding him that the Babe would have made the hall as a pitcher as well if he'd stuck with that position.

It's too bad he doesn't get it though. The reason people still talk about the Babe isn't really the record, it's the larger-than-life persona the man had for nearly 20 years of profesional ball. Bond's in his career has shown himself to me tempermental, moody teammate who blames the media for everybodies perception of him.

Still in the end I'll be a lot happier if Hank's record is left alone. He's a classact to have at the top of the mountain.

[FightingFalcon]

battleborn said:

James,

That's a very interesting report and quote. I figured Bonds would lap up passing Ruth, but I figured his main goal was still Aarons record. If nothing else, people can always irk Bonds by reminding him that the Babe would have made the hall as a pitcher as well if he'd stuck with that position.

It's too bad he doesn't get it though. The reason people still talk about the Babe isn't really the record, it's the larger-than-life persona the man had for nearly 20 years of profesional ball. Bond's in his career has shown himself to me tempermental, moody teammate who blames the media for everybodies perception of him.

Still in the end I'll be a lot happier if Hank's record is left alone. He's a classact to have at the top of the mountain.

Babe Ruth isn't just one of the greatest players ever simply because he once held the single-season home run record. It's also because the man hit a lot of triples (many more than Bonds) and frequently stole bases. Not to mention that, as you point out, he started out the league as a pitcher.

Most people have an image of Babe Ruth as a fat old man who couldnt' run very fast; however, that is only true for the end of his career. At the beginning he was actually quite fast and could do everything. The man could hit a single, triple, home run, steal a base, bunt, pitch - literally anything you needed he could do.

That's what makes him one of the best players of all time. And Bonds will never come near him.