ARTICLE: T.O.'s call got Barry back to 'Bad Boy' self

[burmafrd]

Doctoring the ball is as old as baseball. ANOTHER reason that Ruth was great was that doctoring the ball, spit balls, were pretty much the NORM back then.

 

[Hoov]

Barry Bonds deserves a title, but it's the modern day title.

In Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron's days, they only saw one pitcher per game. Today with all the specialist roles of short and long relief, they'd be lucky to have 500 home runs each.

People need to grow up and get over this.

yeah, tired of all the steroids talk.

todays pitchers are better than the pitchers in those days, so to me it kind of evens out.

 

[burmafrd]

There were some GREAT pitchers back then- and the talent was not diluted anywhere near as much as it is today. Less then half as many teams.

 

[JackMagist]

I liked Barry Bonds......IMHO....i think he is one of the greatest ball players to ever play the game.....steroids or no steroids

That being said.....I dont think he deserves to be up there with the great home run hitters.

Steroids make u stronger, faster....heal quicker.....but to Barry's credit....u still have to hit the ball.....it doesn't make u see the ball better....just quicker reflexes......u still have to hit it.

Plus...i could be wrong....but he never did anything illegal....at the time...if we assume Barry did take steroids....it wasn't a ban substance in baseball.....at the time he could be also facing pitchers...or other players who were on the juice that we have no idea about.

The media can make u a goat or a hero......i mean look at Ray Lewis......The NFL praised him and swept his little murder case under the rug.....you dont pay the victims family a undisclosed amount of cash if u are innocent.

Steroids may not have been a substance banned by baseball but they WERE Illegal as in against the law.

 

[superpunk]

Steroids may not have been a substance banned by baseball but they WERE Illegal as in against the law.

That distinction drives me nuts. As though baseball law trumps national law?

 

[jay cee]

I agree and will add that Ruth set the record with 2,000 less at bats than Aaron had.

I will add that Aaron faced the best that baseball had to offer, while I would estimate that at least 10 percent of the players that Ruth faced would not even have been in the majors, if not for the ban on black players.

 

[burmafrd]

That old argument about not facing black players does not hold a lot of water with me. For one- back then white kids dreamed of playing in the majors and fought like crazy to get there. Many of those same kids today go to other sports. Add to the FACT that there were a lot fewer teams and the competition was fierce to make them. By the way, Aaron played quite a few years before there were a lot of black players in the game- so his comparison does not hold much water either. He started in the late 50's, there were not that many black players in the game.

 

[tyke1doe]

I liked Barry Bonds......IMHO....i think he is one of the greatest ball players to ever play the game.....steroids or no steroids

That being said.....I dont think he deserves to be up there with the great home run hitters.

Steroids make u stronger, faster....heal quicker.....but to Barry's credit....u still have to hit the ball.....it doesn't make u see the ball better....just quicker reflexes......u still have to hit it.

Plus...i could be wrong....but he never did anything illegal....at the time...if we assume Barry did take steroids....it wasn't a ban substance in baseball.....at the time he could be also facing pitchers...or other players who were on the juice that we have no idea about.

The media can make u a goat or a hero......i mean look at Ray Lewis......The NFL praised him and swept his little murder case under the rug.....you dont pay the victims family a undisclosed amount of cash if u are innocent.

I'm sorry, but your post doesn't appear to make good sense.

If he's one of the greatest baseball players ever, steriods or no steriods, then why would you he doesn't deserve to be among the great home-run hitters.

The reason why we're talking about him is BECAUSE of his home-run hitting prowess.

Please explain the apparent contradiction.

Second, steriods make you stronger, hence your ability to hit longer balls.

Barry Bonds is a baseball player. I would assume he would know how to hit a ball with or without steriods.

But he wouldn't be able to launch the ball in the outfield on a consistent bases if he hadn't used steriods because the steriods are what contributes to his strength.

And let's not kid ourselves about Bonds taking steriods. The man can't even lie about it with a straight face.

And please let's stop this "well others might have done it without our knowing it." If we don't know it, we can't introduce it into the equation.

He may pass Ruth, but there will always be questions surrounding his accomplishment.

 

[marchetta]

Barry Bonds deserves a title, but it's the modern day title.

In Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron's days, they only saw one pitcher per game. Today with all the specialist roles of short and long relief, they'd be lucky to have 500 home runs each.

People need to grow up and get over this.

Couldn't have said it better Cowchips! Not to mention the fact that BB played against the best-of-the-best (including some pitchers that used steriods), while Babe Ruth didn't even face the best of his era since they (black players) weren't allowed to play in the majors. JMHO.

 

[Doomsday101]

I will add that Aaron faced the best that baseball had to offer, while I would estimate that at least 10 percent of the players that Ruth faced would not even have been in the majors, if not for the ban on black players.

Vaild point.

 

[PAISAN247]

"And whether it was a made-for-reality show anecdote or not, the San Francisco Giants slugger maintained it was none other than T.O., everyone's favorite controversial wide receiver, who provided the magic words that lifted him out of his funk following a Friday phone call. "

Breaking news out of valley ranch .....parcells was not behind t.o.'s decision to call bonds .....more reason to believe hes gonna ruin the season
: : : : : : (SARCASM) : : : : : :

 

[superpunk]

Seriously...and I can't believe this thread has gone this long without someone pointing out that TO should really be at Valley Ranch working out - instead of calling jerk sluggers.

I'll be expecting a column, jenny.

 

[skinsscalper]

I don't like the fact that Barry Bonds is/was juiced during a stretch of his career. But, the fact tof the matter is, that a good portion of the league was also juiced. Yet none of those other players put up the numbers tha Bonds did. The race against history is tough to judge, given the difference in today's and yesterday's game.

The real loser in this whole charade is Major League Baseball. Their lack of interest in nipping this thing in the bud a long time ago is what led this whole thing to where it's at. Would Bonds have as many HRs as he does without the roids? Probably not, but many of the HRs I've seen this guy hit were WAY out of the park, not just dribblers over the fence. You could cut 100 feet off of a lot of those HRs and they still leave the park. It's unfortunate for Barry and the fans that he compromised the legitimacy of his skills by juicing up, because he would have been one of the greats of his era without it. Chasing history? Yes, I beleive he would be. Maybe the race woudn't be as close, but the man still would have been chasing history. It's too bad that a majority of his acomplishments will followed by an asterisk due to poor decisions on his part and a lack of giving a s**t by baseball.

SS

 

[Tobal]

Barry Bonds pre steroids was the greatest player in his time, Griffey started getting hurt and I put A-Rod a little later time period.

Barry Bonds was never considered a great home run hitter until the steroids.

 

[TheHustler]

I hate TO and I wouldn't even classify him as a "Bad boy". I wouldn't consider Bonds a "Bad boy" either.


They're both ***holes and complete jerks (and you can add cheater to bonds resume), but they aren't "Bad boys".

Ricky Manning is more of a bad boy then TO (he actually assaults people).

Latrell Spreewell assaulted his own head coach.

 

[Cowchips]

There were some GREAT pitchers back then- and the talent was not diluted anywhere near as much as it is today. Less then half as many teams.

Well, today you have double the teams but you also have 10 times the eligible players including much better athletes from the black, hispanic and even oriental populations. The Babe would not even get the bat around with a pitcher like Clemens or Martinez, it is so much faster and more accurate today.

 

[Nav22]

Artest isn't the most hated player in the NBA. Kobe Bryant is.

 

[Chief]

The Babe would not even get the bat around with a pitcher like Clemens or Martinez, it is so much faster and more accurate today.

Totally disagree.

Some players would have been great in any era, and he was one of them.

Bob Feller threw 100 mph in the 1950s. I realize this was long after Babe retired, but the point is, there were flame-throwers a long time ago.

 

[Doomsday101]

Well, today you have double the teams but you also have 10 times the eligible players including much better athletes from the black, hispanic and even oriental populations. The Babe would not even get the bat around with a pitcher like Clemens or Martinez, it is so much faster and more accurate today.

Athlete back then did not have the same training facilities either. There were also pitchers back then who could bring the heat.

 

[TonyTone]

Did everyone forget about Dennis the Menace Rodman?