Quote:
Originally posted by sixto
i mean, i'm definitely a believer that stats tell stories. and i also believe that stats can mislead. i guess i just mean that, babe ruth was great and has great stats, and barry bonds is great and has great stats, and that, watching bonds play and come through this postseason, i simply can't believe that anyone has ever been more dangerous.
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But if you had been able to watch Ruth, Williams or some of the others play would you feel the same way? Its easy to judge the players that we have seen, relative to each other, but having to relate these players to players who you haven't seen before becomes difficult. Not to mention how difficult it is to relate players from different eras.
I mean who knows how many homers Ruth would have hit using the harder bats in todays game, against these pitchers, in these fields, or even if he had access to todays supliments and training regiments.
Or if Bonds played in an earlier era, without the "advantages" of this era, would he still be the same player? Personally, I'd guess he'd still be the skinny guy that broke in with the Pirates, not the bulked up slugger we see today.
I haven't seen the others play, but it just doesn't seem quite right to base a judgement on the best player ever on the fact that you saw one of the guys play and can't imagine anyone better... but to each their own.
For the record, I think Bonds is a good player, one of the best in history, but I don't think that he is the best, at least not at this time. IMO, people will need to take a step back, gain some prespective (based on accomplishments from others in this era), after Bonds retires before they can really judge where he fits in among the all time greats. First ballot Hall of Famer absolutely... best of this generation, perhaps, but the best ever?, personally I'd want some more information before making that call.