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Old 06-02-2002, 08:46 PM
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Default Just How Good Do Us Vintage Fans Think Barry Bonds Is???

Posted By: Brian H

As I suggested in my opening post -- I would (at present) put Bonds at 4 or 5. Conceivably if he keeps up what he is up to now and addresses his one meaningful weakness in terms of greatness I could see him getting as high as #2 (#1 is Babe Ruth who I think is unassailable).
To me what holds Barry back is NOT the relative merits of either his current home ballpark or the current callibre of Major Leaguers. I think that he has been at least equally effective on the road and that today's talent pool is far wider than ever. Today the major leagues has players for all over the earth -- we have the latin american stars as well as a few from the far east and no segment of the human population is (at least formally) denied entry into the majors as Blacks and even part Black Latinos (Dihigo et al) were prior to about 1950.*
No, all Barry's resume is lacking is any post-season greatness./2
Accordingly, I rate Barry behind, in order (not including Negro League players as a result of my ignorance): Ruth, Wagner and Johnson and about even with Mays, Cobb and Williams (who also lacks any major post-season achievements).
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* I use that date because at least until tht time the select Blacks permitted to play in the "majors" were exceptions not based purely on their abilities but also their preceived ability to withstand racism.
2 Whether or not Barry was/is a jerk is immaterial in evaluating his greatness as a ballplayer. Otherwise I think Cobb probably gets downgraded more than Barry and (at least according to some) so does Ted Williams and maybe even Willie Mays too for his post-career conduct.

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