| Barry Bonds: The Next Ted Williams? The Ultimate Hitter? The "Neo" of the Sport? |
 |
 |
| If you think about it, you can see where Barry Bonds and late Hall-of-Fame left fielderTed Williams have begun to resemble each other very much of late. It has been said that man is not to know the nature of God, for therein lies presumption and blasphemy. But is it allowable for a baseball player to figure out the meaning of his sport? Is it possible that, out of the thousands of professional, and millions, dare I say, billions, of amateurs who've ever set foot upon a diamond, there is finally one guy who has figured out even one aspect of the game? Not completely, not perfectly- but could someone get such a grasp on one part of the game, that being hitting, that he becomes so hard to get out that he will henceforth keep breaking home run records and single-season walk records, on an almost annual basis? Some consider Williams the greatest hitter who ever lived. Is it possible for another to reincarnate that moniker, in a different era, in a different league? Presented for your perusal, gentle reader, I give you Mr. Barry Bonds, left fielder for the San Francisco Giants. Has he somehow begun to channel Williams when at the plate? His increasing patience and power are testimony to that very possibility. Last year, he drew an all-time record 177 walks- 15 more than Williams did in 1947. His amazing 73 homers (and at one point he went nearly a month without one!) which gave him another record- a slugging of .863 (beating Ruth's .847 from 1920). Truly, 2001 was the Year of Barry Bonds. I personally have followed his career closely since 1990, when he won his first MVP award with the Pirates- even though he hit an atrocious .167 in 18 at-bats, with just one RBI, in the playoffs against a Reds squad that would sweep Oakland in the World Series.. He won another in 1992, and had another horrible postseason with Pittsburgh. In 1993, he was named Most Valuable Player of the National League a third time- but this time, he was a member of the Giants, who didn't make it to the playoffs. It seems he gets better with age- a lot like Williams, again. I have heard rumours that he's a jerk, that his fellow players don't like him. But whenever he's being interviewed, he's humble, honest and friendly- he never says a cross word about another person and speaks with great respect for the sport with which he is now eternally intertwined. But I think what he says and does outweighs what sportswriters say about him. You know- kind of like how they were towards Williams. Who else won a Triple Crown three times but, of those three years, only one MVP award? Time will tell. And to test my prognosticating ability, I will predict several things- 1) Barry Bonds will surpass Hank Aaron in 2005. 2) Bonds will end with a career average of .300 or better. 3) He will end with a career on-base percentage of .460 or better. 4) He will not only make the Hall of Fame on the first ballot, but he will be i the top ten vote-getters of all time. 5) Finally, I predict the press will never truly love him. I doubt they will hold the animosity towards him they held for Williams, but he'll always get bad press. Oh, well. I'll still enjoy watching him play. In the 1999 movie The Matrix, a character named Neo, played by Keanu Reeves, reaches a point in his fight against the computer-ruled world when it all makes sense to him, when things finally "click" for him. From that point on, he is in total control, and he in unstoppable. Does anyone else notice how pitchers suddenly seem to fear Barry Bonds? I have heard some of the top sportswriters in the country state that they would walk him intentionally EVERY TIME HE CAME TO THE PLATE. I for one haven't even heard that said of Babe Ruth. Henry Aaron never received such lofty praise. We could be on to something here. Today, baseball. Tomorrow, the world. Copyright 2002 David Insley |
| Bonds- Has he finally "gotten it" when batting? |
|
| Back to the Alter Ego Page |
| The Templeton's Haven Homepage |
| PLEASE NOTE: I no longer stand by ANY of these statements, which I made more than two years ago. Because he's a CHEATER. Thanks to the BALCO-steroids scandal, in which Bonds admitted to having used steroids, but, thinking he was fooling people, claimed he was ignorant - "I thought it was flaxseed oil." WHAT A CROCK OF SHIT. Period. Barry Bonds' performance has been artificially altered due to his, as of December 2003, admitted use of performance-enhancing drugs. THUS, EVERY RECORD HE SET SHOULD HAVE A BIG, FAT, NEEDLE, INSTEAD OF AN ASTERISK, NEXT TO EVERY MARK HE HAS SET. PERIOD. Thanks for cheating, Bonds. You were my favorite outfielder. Now, you're just another coward who doubted his own capabilities. Randy Wolf, pitcher for the Phillies, spoke of "McCarthyism" in his discussion of steroids. The problem is that McCarthy was RIGHT. And so am I. As I read what I wrote, I see now just how much it dripped with love for the player who now serves as the poster boy for cheating the world over. Though I hope that something will be done about it, I don't know if anyone, the MLB Commissioner's Office, Congress or anyone else, will do what needs to be done to solve the problem that is steroid abuse. But for now, I think that every record Bonds has set needs to have an asterisk - no, a syringe - next to it, with the words, "Steroid Era" appended to it. |