Posted by The Taint on 7/8/2013 12:47:00 AM (view original):
Posted by italyprof on 7/7/2013 7:36:00 PM (view original):
1) I agree joshkvt
2) the juice Bonds took is underrated, since as bottomlee points out his juice out-juiced McGwire, Sosa's and the rest of the juicers' juice.
3) the Incredible Hulk is under-rated. Did you see that scene in the Avengers where he stops that big flying snake ship all by himself?
4) Bonds really was very great without the steroids and didn't need them.
5) His being African American is a part of why he gets more flak than others for having taken steroids, though part of it is that McGwire, Sosa and some others were mostly or entirely done with their careers when the public started to pay attention and when it became undeniable. If A-Rod had hit 80 homers on steroids after Bonds retired, he would be the player most identified with the scandal, and indeed, being more recent and even making a "comeback" now (sigh) he is increasingly the "face" of steroids.
I think that most of the reason Bonds got the flak that he did(besides being an a1 ***** in the media) is that he broke Aaron's record. If he hits 754, I don't think he gets the intense hate he got. Maybe there was some racial bias in the media, but I don't think that was the main reason. Numbers in baseball are hallowed.
2) I agree.
4) I disagree, to an extent. Without the late-career steroids, Bonds is still a HoFer, but I doubt he cracks that very elite Ruth-Williams-Cobb-Mays-Musial-Speaker-Aaron OF septet. Bonds had 59 career WAR after his age 34 (1999) season. If he didn't juice a normal career path would get him ~13 more WAR to total ~116 for his career. He is still an inner-circle HoF but he is more along the lines of Mickey Mantle or Frank Robinson than Aaron or Mays.
5) I disagree. I think he got so much attention for being (reportedly*) such an a$$ and being such an obvious cheat (i.e. PED user). I don't think there was as much attention paid to him for breaking Aaron's record as there otherwise would be precisely because he was an a$$ and obvious cheat. Basically, by 2006, if not earlier, it was a foregone conclusion he'd break the record and people didn't really want to celebrate it.
If, however, he had broken records ~6-8 years earlier when no one cared about steroids, I think he'd be viewed as a hero, much the way McGwire, Sosa or even Pete Rose was (the latter for break Cobb's hits record in the 1980's.)
*I never spoke to Bonds myself, but I have known a few fans that met him and everyone said he was a nice guy. However, everything I have ever read or heard (only one guy with close to direct contact) indicate that on a professional level, the guy was a complete a$$.