My Case for Barry
So everybody likes to hate on Barry Bonds. I have grown increasingly tired of the attacks. From people selling books about him to the never-ending coverage of angry posts against him that were shown on ESPNews yesterday. It has become incredibly tiresome.
There were even people who were saying that he does not belong in the Hall of Fame, which may be the dumbest thing ever proclaimed about Major League Baseball.
Well, because of all of this hatred and disdain, I thought I would put in a good word for Mr. Bonds. I believe ‘Game of Shadows’ chronicled Barry’s steroid use in either 1999 or 2000, and for the sake of convenience, I will just go with everything pre-2000. By that season, Barry had already amassed 445 homeruns and 460 stolen bases. That’s right, Barry was a 400-400 guy long before anyone gave a damn about steroids. In fact, those were the Rennaissance years for the MLB. Big Mac hit 70 during the summer when Slammin’ Sammy was nipping at his heels and the cookie-cutter 1970’s dual stadiums were being demolished for Camden Yark copycats. Nobody knew about steroids and nobody wanted to know, including Bud Selig. Everybody just wanted to relish in the spotlight.
Now, Barry is the face of everything that is wrong with this era, the so-called steroid era. I have a question, does that make the 1970’s the coke-era or the pre-Jackie Robinson days the mighty-whitey era? Maybe the MLB should be like artists and have periods. Who could forget the MLB blue period. Much like the steroid period, in the blue period, everybody was doing it no matter what the team colors were.
Well, let us take a look at another player that could possibly be the face of this steroid era. Notice the incredible spike in production during the two-year stint in Toronto. In the four years leading up to his move to Toronto, Roger won a total of 40 games, lost 39 games, struck out 717 batters (an average of 179 per season) and seemed well over-the-hill. Then Rog goes to Toronto, it is a whole other country with different standards about acquiring performance enhancers you know, and in two seasons reasserts himself as a dominant pitcher. In two seasons north of the border, Roger won 41 games, more than his previous four seasons, while only losing 13 games and striking out an astonishing 563 hitters. Oh, and his ERA dropped an entire point in that time. But wait, there’s more! Roger got his fat deal in New York and returned to ordinary in his first two seasons in the Bronx before making a huge push in 1998 to get more money. In ‘98 he once again topped the 20 win and 200 strikeout marks all while losing a total of THREE games. Roger was a superhuman by that point. Then he retired after the 2003 season only to resurface in Houston late in camp and put together an 18-4 season with 218 strikeouts and a sub-3.00 ERA in a hitter’s park. That was only his 20th MLB season, so obviously such greatness is easily feasible. What did he do in year 21 you ask? Well, he only had 13 wins, but he did manage to have an ERA of 1.87. Read that again. An ERA of 1.87. Seriously. In a hitter’s park. ERAs weren’t even that low during the ‘Dead Ball’ Period. (Already sticking with the period theme.) Just throwing some gaudy numbers out there for all of you numbers people.
Perhaps you would like some information about this guy. Gagne began his career with the Dodgers in 1999 when he started five games. In those five games, he struck out a batter per inning in 30 innings of work. He showed some skills, but then in 2000 Gagne went 4-6 with only 79 strikeouts in 101 innings of work and posted a 5.15 ERA. Gagne continued to struggle in 2001 by going 6-7 with an ERA of 4.75. He struck out 130 batters in 151 innings of work, and seemed destined to return to the minors. Instead, the Dodgers moved Gagne to the bullpen for one more shot in 2001. What did Gagne do, you ask? Well, he simply put together the greatest three year stretch any closer has ever managed to do by saving 52, 55, and 45 games in 2002, 2003, and 2004 respectively. Oh, and his ERA only climbed above a 2.00 in 2004 when it was an K2-like 2.19. Lets not forget his little consecutive game streak that was such a big deal during that stretch. He also struck out 365 batters during that stretch despite pitching only 246.9 innings, which translates to nearly 1.5 strikeouts per inning. Not too shabby for a power pitcher that could not get the job done early in his career.
You say ’so what’ and ‘Roger added his splitter to make him better.’ Well, I counter with the fact that Barry, once a free-swinging speedster, much like his father, developed patience in San Francisco. While working with Willie Mays and Bobby Bonds, Barry became a much more patient hitter. He also shortened his swing to the picture-perfect swing that we frequently see today. His attack of the ball is so compact that there is minimal room for error on his part. Young Barry used to get his arms extended to the point that he was over swinging and getting around the ball. He was trying to hit homeruns and often overextended his hands leading to frequent strikeouts or pulling groundballs that should have been linedrives the other way. (As a young college ballplayer playing in a short home park, I too know what that was like.)
Barry became so patient and confident at the plate that he was able to wait for the perfect mistake in every at-bat. Once more, he was so functionally perfect that he was able to turn that one mistake into a homerun, whenever that mistake came, which was typically once every two games. For a four year stretch, Barry saw fewer hittable pitches than any other hitter in the league. Yet, his obscene abilities and fundamentally sound approach (and alleged added muscle) allowed him to take advantage of those pitches with a much higher success rate than the average Major League hitter. Screw it, he took advantage of those pitches at a much higher success rate than the greatest of Major League hitters.
I remember a game three years ago where Barry was fooled by a Jason Isringhausen splitter (when Izzy still had good stuff), and I mean completely fooled by it with his body weight already shifting forward. Yet, Barry managed to stay on the ball completely and rip a line shot into the power alley in right-center in Name-of-the-Week Stadium (what is it now, AT&T Park?). It was absolutely incredible. The steroids did not make him able to hit that pitch, and only one or two other hitters would have been able to stay on and behind the pitch enough even after being completely fooled to the point that they could get good wood on it. The alleged juice probably helped that ball carry a few feet over the wall, but what he did in that at-bat (and not how far the ball traveled) was the incredible part. Just like Vlad Guerrero has an ability to hit a ball no matter where it is pitched, Barry Bonds has the patience to wait for the absolute perfect time to swing and his obscene bat control allows him the ability to seemingly hit a homerun whenever he so chooses. I don’t think it is the steroids, I just think he is a mutant, and I am jealous. Even when I picked up the perfect pitch coming out of the pitcher’s hand, and knew it was my pitch to hit, I still could not/did not know that I was hitting it out. Several times I did, but several times I got greedy, went long with the arms or dipped the back shoulder and ended up flying out to right. Barry does not do that. So respect his amazing abilities, and know that he is just better than you.
Seriously, look at the numbers. If you made a mistake while pitching to Barry at any point during the late 1990’s to early 2000’s, he was getting a hit off of you. Most likely, it was going to be a homerun. Was he on supplements, or even more? Certainly. But we have already seen how clean even the worst hitters in the game are. Heck, even middle releivers are on the juice. Take a look at this list of players that have tested positive, admitted to some form of use, or have been implicated during this period. That list is just scratching the surface. All those holier-than-thou people who claim that he cheated the game are somewhate hypocritical. The fans (and the League office) stood and cheered when two likable characters chased 61, yet turned up their noses when a far better, yet surly player went after Hank Aaron.
I believe a much greater number of players used steroids or other federally banned substances that were not tested for in Major League Baseball during that period, and we will never know the true effect they had on the game. Barry was already one of the greatest players ever, and the homerun mark only cemented his position atop the greats of the game. Banned substances could not do that for David Segui.
So relax people. There are far worse things going on in the world of sports and the world in general. You have the opportunity to see something/someone that infrequently comes along (approximately ever 35 years). Enjoy it for what it is worth, a quick break from reality. Barry plays a game that we all dreamed about as kids, and in those dreams, we were larger than life. It just so happens that today’s ballplayers actually are artificially larger than life.
For the record: after we watched Barry hit 756, I turned to the soon to be Mrs. Hoops and told her that Barry would go on a tear now that 756 is out of the way. 757 took off last night, and I expect at least three more bombs before the end of next week. Barry will easily finish the season with 30+ homeruns. Not too bad for a 43-year-old with no knees and a blown elbow.
Quick note: While doing some research, I stumbled upon a recap of the moronic “Turn Forward the Clock” promotion that MLB did in 1998 and 1999 at Uniwatch. Man was idea ever terrible. If you want to relive those monstrosities, go to this link.
Urban Watch: Tune to the Indianapolis Colts-Dallas Cowboys preseason game this evening and root for the Legend. He’ll be the only white receiver for Da ‘Boys and he wears number 15.
