Please explain how Barry Bonds isn't the best baseball player of all time?

Question

Ignore or include steroids (even though there's no proof), just be sure to look at his whole career.

Answer 1

He is the best player of MY lifetime. I haven't SEEN anyone better. Now there are other players in the past that could arguably be better but since I haven't seen them with my own eyes I can't honestly say one way or the other. So he is the best I have ever seen. Steroids/Enhancers aside, I could include them but I won't because I don't take Greenies and Red Juice into account when I look at past players. I don't discredit their numbers because they took stuff in their day.

And for people saying his homers are tainted, it's not the homers that alone gets him in the HOF. In his prime he was 5-Tool and that's what gets him in the Hall. He did a lot more than just hit home runs. People seem to think that's all he has done in his career. They weren't even old enough to see this guy in his prime.

Answer 2

He had a good career, but the best player of all time means he was better than Ruth or Ted Williams and don't be silly...Bonds career avg is like 50 points below Ruth and Williams.

Williams was in the WWII during what could have been his best years.

Ruth spent 5 years as a pitcher, and not a has-been pitcher, he was a true ace. This is the only reason Bonds has more HR, otherwise we wouldn;t be talking about Bonds chasing Aaron's record.

Answer 3

There is no doubt in my mind that Barry Bonds has used performance enhancement drugs throughout his career. With this said, he should be barred from Baseball forever, along with any other players that have do the same thing. If you would like to compare Bonds with Aaron, then Aaron would have need to take steroids during his career also. Think of those possibilities. Let's look at Jeff Bagwell, he played the majority of his career in the Astrodome, which was probably the most pitcher friendly park ever in the Major Leagues. If he has been in a more hitter friendly park, and had take steroids, his number would more than likely far surpass those of Barry Bonds.

Answer 4

I'll choose to avoid the steroid issue because that just has too many 'ifs' in it.

Barry Bonds is one of the best players of all time in terms of offensive production, there is no doubt about that. However if you're asking how could he reasonably not be considered the best of all time I think you'd have to look at Babe Ruth. Ruth is one of only two players (the other was Ted Williams) to have a higher OPS+ that Bonds. OPS+ measures a players OPS relative to the league, so it to a large degree it account for different eras; I think this is key. On top of that, in raw numbers, Ruth's career batting average is .44 higher than Bonds; his OBP is .30 higher and his slugging percentage is .83 higher.

The best case for Ruth being the best player ever is how much better he ones than everyone else in his time: He during one season at least, outhomered every other TEAM in the major leagues. Now of course there is a counter arguement for that - players in the 20s and 30s did not have to play against Hispanics or African-Americans (of course they didnt have a thirty team league argueably diluting the talent pool either).

In the end it's pretty much impossible to say who the best player ever was, but there's little doubt Ruth was by far the best of his day and age and the fact that he was so dominant compared to other players makes a pretty effective arguement against Bonds being the best of all time, in my opinion.

Answer 5

Gotta love the no proof comment, Yeah, I guess him saying he took this cream that was later identified as steroids doesn't count.

Listen, if you want to try to rank Bonds, start with #2.
Bonds never changed the face of the game, Babe Ruth did.
Bonds never out homered entire teams, Ruth did.
Bonds hasn't hit .342 for his career, Ruth Did
When Bonds beats Aaron's record, he will retire with perhaps a 20 home run lead, when Ruth retired, his lead was 320 home runs (or more than the #2 and #3 player)

Bonds is simply a somewhat better than guys like Manny Ramirez and Frank Thomas and probably isn't as good as Alex Rodriguez, so he can't be #1, unless they are all in the top 10
Oh, and he took steroids, whether you are blind enough not to see it or not.

Oh, one more thing. Adjusting for the home run ratio between now and then, Ruth's current day home run total would be 1912. (Aaron's would be 918 and Bonds is where it's at now.)

Answer 6

He can't be the best player because his position is not multidimensional. Babe Ruth would have to be, due to playing the outfield, infield as well as pitching. Records, and stats aside, it would have to be Babe Ruth right now.

Barry's career is still not finished, so the jury is still out right now. This question should be asked after all of his stats and records are recorded into the history books, but if his career ended after hitting 756, I'd give it another look for consideration.

Answer 7

there is no "ignoring steroids." the past 10ish years before this season are now commonly referred to as "the steroid era" by many baseball experts and analysists.

that said, the reason that barry won't make the hall of fame and will never be considered one of the greatest is because a portion of what he achieved can be credited to steroids. look at what he was when he was a lead off hitter for the pirates early in his career. to transform into what he is now is clearly unnatural, and the whole world knows it. barry bonds cannot be considered great if he has an asterick next to his name.

not to mention, alex rodriguez is going to pass his HR record in too short of a period for barry bonds to be elected into the hall of fame based on that alone.

Answer 8

It's simple. To be considered great you have to be a champion. And to be considered "the best" you have to win a lot of championships. I've looked at Barry's entire career and he has never won the World Series. Not even once.

In fact, he has a long, pathetic reputation for choking in the post season. For example -- his career post-season batting average is .245.

Answer 9

Barry Bonds was the best player during the steroids era. Tons of players were on roids, some were on andro, most were on creatine, many were taking amphetimines. Bonds was better than all of them. Bonds is one of the top players of all time...unless MVPs, gold glove awards, and statistics are completely meaningless.

Answer 10

You can't prove that I ever took drugs before because I was never tested, but that does not I have never smoked a joint before. He is the best player I have seen, but honestly I could not tell you if he was better then the other greats because I did not get to watch them on an everyday basis.