A new feature over at Baseball-Reference.com: the site has long had Similarity Scores so you could compare a player’s most comparable players through the same age. Now, at least for batters, you can look over the list of the ten most comparable – and their stats after that age. Here’s the numbers for Barry Bonds from age 36 (in 2001) to 2003, compared to the average from 36 on for his most comparable players through age 35:
| PLAYER(S) | G | AB | HR | R | RBI | AVG | SLG | OBP | OPS+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bonds | 426 | 1269 | 164 | 357 | 337 | .345 | .808 | .542 | 257 |
| Average | 393 | 1272 | 66 | 194 | 202 | .255 | .460 | .360 | 125 |
The list of comparables includes three active players – Jeff Bagwell, Frank Thomas and Rafael Palmeiro – but the numbers are even lower if you remove them. The others’ average numbers are not that bad for old guys, but they give you a sense of how truly unique what Bonds has done is. Lest you think this an unfair comparison, the other seven are all in the Hall of Fame, including Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Frank Robinson and Mel Ott.
All of whom were in increasingly steep decline at Bonds’ age.
With those numbers, and the physical prowness & agelessness they imply, I want whatever is in Bond’s hypodermic syringes!! If only Mays and Mantle had had the benefit of modern chemistry….
Just more fuel for the fire that Bonds is a lab experiment in a baseball uniform. And overrated, to these eyes.