| PLAYER | G | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | R | RBI | BB | K | AVG | SLG | OBP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 28 | 72 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 13 | 12 | 20 | 24 | .181 | .431 | .359 |
| B | 29 | 77 | 20 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 16 | 12 | 29 | 10 | .260 | .545 | .462 |
Player A: Babe Ruth, age 40. Player B: Barry Bonds, age 40-41 combined. Bonds has a bit more left in his gas tank after the injuries than Ruth did, and he may yet show us he has a lot more. But for now he does look to be at a similar stage in his career in terms of the decay in his legs. Most of the power numbers from that line are last season (he just homered for the first time this weekend) – if Bonds doesn’t start showing that same power this season, eventually people will start pitching to him again.
“… if Bonds doesn’t start showing that same power this season, eventually people will start pitching to him again…”
Bull.
No disrespect meant. Still – he’s WAY too close to sacred records for this.
I personally feel he cheated by using performance-enhancing drugs. Illegal drugs. (There, I got that out of the way.) Compare pictures of him when he played with the Pirates – please, side-by-side, do this.
Anyways, my take is this: if he can cheat, why can’t pitchers continue to refuse to pitch to him. I mean, it’s not like SF has been tearing it up without his “usual” start.
With all due respect sir – BULL.
If I were a ML pitcher I would pitch to him (but I would have before). My pitch sequence for the first three pitches would be FB up and in, breaking ball or off speed away and the another FB up and in. My guess is that he would get him self out in that sequence. In my pitching experience I never willingly walked a batter and Bonds would not make me feel any different. There is no chance to get a batter out without at least getting close to thte strike zone.
Mike Wilbon thinks he’s done, and I agree. I’d pitch to him and make him be the Barry Bonds of old (heh, I guess there’s a double meaning there). Hell, people for some reason are still pitching to Albert Pujols, why not to somebody who was great two years ago but now looks his age?
Pitchers can continue to refuse to pitch to Bonds. The point is that if he can’t hit anymore, there isn’t much reason to. The pitchers are there to win games, not to defend the honor of Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron.