Let's Get This Out of the Way: Barry Bonds and the Home Run Record

For the next couple of months, the heat around Barry Bonds and his pursuit of home run number 756 is going to rise considerably. It is very difficult to talk about Bonds, or hear someone talk about him without mentioning his attitude, or usage of performance enhancing drugs.

I consider Barry Bonds' drug usage to be on the same page as anything involving the athlete who causes this blog's title. However, given the current situation of the sporting world, I will touch on a side of Barry Bonds that you may not have thought about. One time, and one time only.

Miss this guy? And the Elastic?

I don't want to dwell on the home runs Bonds has hit. That brings the juice back into play. I want to talk about his development, with or without drugs, as a hitter and a player. Bonds, like Ken Griffey, Jr, was once a lead-off hitter, believe it or not, when he came up with the Pittsburgh Pirates. After being pushed back in the order, in 1990 he hit .301 with 33 homers, 114 RBI and 52 steals. Very solid numbers as questions about his attitude emerged.

In 1996 with the Giants, Bonds hit 42 homers, with a steal to caught stealing ratio of 40:7. His ratios the next two years were 37:8 and 28:12. The following year was an injury plagued season where he only appeared in 102 games at the age of 34.

Starting in 2000, his steal attempts were noticeably lower than ever in his career but still with a very high efficiency rate. This also is when his home run number started to from the mid 40's to the high 40's and, if you will, the low 70's in 2001. He also won Gold Glove awards every year between 1990 and 1998. He hasn't won any awards for defensive excellence since...but lest we forget, 1999 was also his big injury season.

Pedro Martinez is arguably the greatest pitcher of the past 15 years. Between Martinez, Greg Maddux, Roger Clemens and Randy Johnson, we have seen sure-fire Hall of Famers, and all of which dominated the game in their respective ways. Pedro has been different. When he was with the Expos, he threw a high 90's fastball to compensate his off speed stuff. With the Red Sox, he had the same fastball and his pitches were considered to be the best four pitches in baseball. His fingers bend in a way that allow him to be in contact with the baseball for a longer period of time than just about any other pitcher out there creating more late movement than anyone we have ever seen in this generation.

As he has aged, so too has his velocity. Though we haven't seen him yet this year, Pedro has been credited to becoming more of a "pitcher" in his later years; working more with finesse and placement, working counts and pitch selection, and managing the game more than overpowering batters. The character that is Pedro, he has adapted his style to give longevity to his career given his previous style, age, and his plagues of injury given the amount of innings he worked previously in his career.

The only difference between Pedro and Bonds is simply the talk about steroids. If there wasn't the steroid cloud surrounding Bonds, the same talk about Pedro's style and adaptations would be used with Bonds. He got hurt in his mid-30's and it forced him to change his game. A bad knee isn't as easy to put up high steals on, or get around in the outfield. How does he make himself more valuable one might ask? Adapt his game to what his physical capabilities allow. Become a player who is more power minded than to the five tools of baseball and that's something that he has done. The use of performance enhancing drugs, unless I am missing something, doesn't improve your eye at the plate, your pitch selection, or your patience. In fact, from what I understand, and saw from "The Beast" during sophomore football, they can make you very impatient. Again, this is Bonds fine-tuning his game to play longer and be more effective.

I don't endorse the use of performance enhancing drugs in professional sports. I am not a BARRY BONDS FAN. However, it is important, as critics of just about everything, to look at all sides of a situation. Hank Aaron will always be the home run king to most, and to most Barry Bonds will be a giant asterisk around the game of baseball for the duration of time. He was once known as the best all around player in the game...and now he is known as the most feared hitter. Oddly as it sounds, numbers have gotten in the way of the recognition of Barry Bonds' great career.

Hey, did you hear Josh Hamilton homered twice yesterday?!