Baseball – Barry Bonds is much more than a home run hitter and a record holder – Part 2
One day before Tom Glavine’s historic 300th career victory, Barry Bonds hit his 755th home run to tie Hank Aaron’s career mark, and Alex Rodriguez became the youngest player in major league history to hit his 500th home run. Bonds’ record-tying Jimmy Jack (home run) was a 382-foot opposite-field smash against pitcher Clay Hensley of the San Diego Padres in an away game.
When Bonds tied Hank Aaron with 755 home runs, he had played 343 fewer games than Aaron and had 2,596 fewer at-bats. Bonds would break Aaron’s record on August 7, 2007 with a 435-foot home run into the right-center field stands off Mike Bacsik of the Washington Nationals. His home run came on a 3-2 count.
By the time he set his record, Bonds had homered off 447 different pitchers. In addition to the new home run record, Bonds also holds the major league career records for walks with 2,540 and intentional walks with 679. He holds the all-time major league records for most home runs (73), in base percentage (.609), slugging percentage (.863), and walks (232).
Barry Bonds is much more than a home run hitter and a record holder. He has been a record 7-time NL MVP (next closest player has 3 MVP Awards), 3-time Major League Baseball Player of the Year, 14-time All-Star, 8-time Gold Glove winner and 2 time National League Beatdown Champion.
In addition to powerful hitting and excellent fielding, Bonds also has something else going for him: speed. Bonds is the only member of the 500-500 club, which means he has hit at least 500 home runs (758 and counting) and stolen 500 bases (514 and counting). He is also only 1 of 4 players all-time to be on the 40-40 club, meaning he has hit 40 home runs (42) and stolen 40 bases (40) in the same season.
Many baseball fans and pundits feel that Bonds’ record is tainted due to possible steroid use, but the vast majority of San Francisco Giant fans love Barry Bonds. Steroid use or not, he still had to hit the ball, field the ball and run the bases. Make no mistake about it, Barry Bonds is an incredible player; some would say that he is the greatest baseball player of all time.
At the top of this article I said that Glavine’s achievement was better than Bonds’ home run record. I said this because Alex Rodriguez at 32 already has 500 home runs, and unless he has extraordinary injury problems like Ken Griffey Jr., he’ll likely break Bonds’ record. Despite his injuries in recent years, Ken Griffey Jr. has hit 590 home runs and counting. Griffey is 37 years old, but a strong finish to his career (now that he’s healthy again) could mean he could break the all-time home run record before A-Rod.
Projections say A-Rod could top 800 home runs before he retires. Frank Thomas (known as “The Big Hurt”) hit his 500th home run earlier this season and, at 39, is much older than A-Rod. A-Rod hit his 500th home run 8 days after his 32nd birthday, surpassing Jimmy Foxx (32 years, 338 days) as the youngest player in history and the 22nd player in history to reach 500.
After A-Rod eliminated No. 500, New York Yankees manager Joe Torre said, “His best years are ahead of him…this is a stop for him…not a destination.” A-Rod may not be the last word in baseball, but he will be heard. Consider this: From 1996 (his first full season) to 2006 (11 seasons), Alex Rodriguez leads the major leagues in home runs, runs scored, RBIs, total bases and extra-base hits.
Of all players in baseball history at age 30, he is first all-time in both home runs and runs scored, second in total bases and extra-base hits, third in RBIs, and fourth in hits. The former Seattle Mariner is on fire and smoking. And he looks at this:
In his first 11 years, A-Rod has more home runs, RBIs, runs and base hits than all-time leaders Barry Bonds (home runs), Hank Aaron (RBIs), Rickey Henderson (runs scored) and Pete Rose (hits). ) before. to his 30th birthday. A-Rod is also known for signing the richest contract in sports history, a 10-year, $252 million deal.
It’s true that soccer wonder David Beckham recently signed a 5-year, $250 million deal with the LA Galaxy team; however, only $27.5 million of Beckham’s deal is salary, the rest coming from endorsements. And Beckham can’t even win on the endorsement front, as once-in-a-lifetime golfer Tiger Woods earns $112 million annually from endorsements alone.
(Editor’s note: This is part 2 of a 3-part series.)
Copyright © 2007 Ed Bagley