2025 Around The League Thread

It’s hard to judge Barry. He was an all star before roids, but he obviously was roided out of his mind.

His career is likely 3+ years shorter without the juice
 
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I've softened on Bonds. And really, I should. Living in Norcal I saw him play many times and he was always good. Honestly I wonder how San Francisco Giants baseball does in the 90's if Barry doesn't go there and become a legend.
 
mossy said:
I've softened on Bonds. And really, I should. Living in Norcal I saw him play many times and he was always good. Honestly I wonder how San Francisco Giants baseball does in the 90's if Barry doesn't go there and become a legend.
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I imagine the Giants would eventually have relocated somewhere. They wanted to go to Tampta in 92.
 
Tapate50 said:
Maybe so, but when did he start roids?
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After 98 is what most people suspected. Basically he was jealous of the attention Sosa and Big Mac got while being lesser players. Bonds should have been the face of baseball in the 90s but he wasn't. Some of that is his fault for how he dealt with the media because of he believed the media and league treated his dad. But it shouldn't have mattered with his performance on the field. Dude won 3 MVPS (should have been 4) by the age of 29 and spent the next 4 years still being the best player in baseball while getting no higher than 4th in the MVP voting.

What happened to him is what happens to a lot of great players. His excellence got taken for granted and what he was doing wasn't special anymore. He, like all the players at the time, knew what Sosa and Big Mac were doing. The media, which he he didnt care for because of perceived and legit reasons, fawned over the cheaters like it was nothing. So he took it personal and decided to join them at their game and became the greatest player anybody will ever see.

I've always been a Bonds fan. The baseball purist in my would have loved to have seen him just play clean and properly celebrated as one of the best ever by the world at large. But the world isn't a disney movie and people have all sorts of reasons for doing what they do. We got to witness a top 5 player of all time crank it to 11 with steroids. It was a great time to watch baseball.
 
thewupk said:
After 98 is what most people suspected. Basically he was jealous of the attention Sosa and Big Mac got while being lesser players. Bonds should have been the face of baseball in the 90s but he wasn't. Some of that is his fault for how he dealt with the media because of he believed the media and league treated his dad. But it shouldn't have mattered with his performance on the field. Dude won 3 MVPS (should have been 4) by the age of 29 and spent the next 4 years still being the best player in baseball while getting no higher than 4th in the MVP voting.

What happened to him is what happens to a lot of great players. His excellence got taken for granted and what he was doing wasn't special anymore. He, like all the players at the time, knew what Sosa and Big Mac were doing. The media, which he he didnt care for because of perceived and legit reasons, fawned over the cheaters like it was nothing. So he took it personal and decided to join them at their game and became the greatest player anybody will ever see.

I've always been a Bonds fan. The baseball purist in my would have loved to have seen him just play clean and properly celebrated as one of the best ever by the world at large. But the world isn't a disney movie and people have all sorts of reasons for doing what they do. We got to witness a top 5 player of all time crank it to 11 with steroids. It was a great time to watch baseball.
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Well said. Also, I believe around that time he suffered his knee injury, so recovering faster probably contributed to the decision.
 
Pre-juiced Bonds was still a beast. He was on track to still be one of the best all around players in his generation. In reality, he still is, but now the perception of him, just like it is with Mark McGwire and Roger Clemens among others is completely different because of the steroid accusations. Fair or not, that’s the reality.

Still remember when, I think 1992, when it appeared the Braves and Pirates had a deal for a Barry Bonds trade, but fell apart at the last minute.
 
CrimsonCowboy said:
Pre-juiced Bonds was still a beast. He was on track to still be one of the best all around players in his generation. In reality, he still is, but now the perception of him, just like it is with Mark McGwire and Roger Clemens among others is completely different because of the steroid accusations. Fair or not, that’s the reality.

Still remember when, I think 1992, when it appeared the Braves and Pirates had a deal for a Barry Bonds trade, but fell apart at the last minute.
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Feels like a no brainer to want to target Bonds and Maddux in their primes. But having argubablly the best hitter and best pitcher of the past 50 years at that point would have been something.

There is a universe where Bonds does go to the Braves. Wins titles and gets celebrated and doesn't feel the need to cheat. Still passes Aaron as the homerun champ with a true passing of the torch celebration.
 
With the Aaron legacy in Atlanta, Bonds would have flourished in the Atlanta community. Much more so than the steel workers of Pittsburgh and the hippies in San Francisco. And before our resident hater of the South chimes in, I lived in San Francisco for 6 years and Atlanta for five before settling in back in North Carolina. While I loved both San Francisco and Atlanta, their is a stark social difference
 
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