Barry Bonds and the Art of the Homerun
By Aaron Goldstein (08/05/07)
Ty Cobb, the first player inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, had a strong disdain for the homerun. The Georgia Peach believed the homerun removed all the science from baseball. For Cobb this science consisted of hit and run, stealing bases, bunting and trying to place the ball where the fielders weren't. Or put more succinctly, Cobb detested the homerun because he was overshadowed by Babe Ruth when he started hitting prodigious numbers of them in the early 1920's. The envious Detroit Tiger believed Ruth to be a ruffian and that anyone could hit homeruns. "Given the proper physical equipment - which consists solely in the strength to knock a ball 40 feet farther than the average man can do it- anybody can play big league baseball today," Cobb once told an interviewer.(1)
Over two games in May 1925, Cobb set out to prove this theory but stating that he would attempt to hit nothing but homeruns in two games against the St. Louis Browns (known today as the Baltimore Orioles.) On May 5th, Cobb went 6 for 6 and hit three homeruns off three different pitchers as the Tigers pound the Browns 14-8. The following day, Cobb hit two more homeruns in a 3 for 5 performance with six runs batted in en route to an 11-4 victory for the Tigers. Then Cobb went back to his old approach. It marked the first time a player had hit five homeruns over a two day period since Cap Anson had done it in 1884. This was something even the Babe couldn’t equal. It was an astonishing achievement for Cobb. Hitting 5 homeruns in 11 at bats is remarkable. But even Cobb couldn’t hit a homerun at will.
This story resonates eighty-two years later as Barry Bonds closes in on Hank Aaron’s all time homerun record of 755. As of this writing, Bonds has 754. He hit 754 off Florida Marlins pitcher Rick Vanden Hurk in the first inning of a game between the Marlins and the San Francisco Giants on July 27th. In the five games Bonds has played since hitting 754, he has gone 2 for 18 with ten walks. I have watched and kept score of four of these five games. And believe me when you stay up until 1:30 a.m. to watch these games (losing a great deal of sleep in the process) one can only arrive at the conclusion that, steroids or no steroids, even Barry Bonds cannot hit a homerun at will.
Let us accept for a moment the proposition that Bonds has and continues to ingest steroids. What evidence is there to support the notion that it can make him hit homeruns he would not otherwise hit? Steroids will not enable you to hit a 95 mph fastball into McCovey Cove. Steroids will not prevent a baseball player from failing to get a base hit seven out of every ten times he comes to the plate. I am not sure if hitting a baseball could be construed as an exact science. If there was a formula for hitting homeruns that was the equivalent of E=MC2 then anybody could hit a homerun. From where I stand in the batter’s box, hitting a homerun is an art rather than a science and Barry Bonds is a master of this art.
One can bemoan Barry Bonds physical attributes but his success is not derived from physical attributes alone. Barry Bonds is also successful because he possesses an enormous knowledge of the game. Much of this knowledge was imparted by his father, the late Bobby Bonds, who was successful major league baseball player in his own right. Bobby Bonds became the first major league player to hit 30 homeruns and steal 30 bases in the same season more than once. In fact, he did it five times. The only player to match Bobby Bonds’ feat was none other than Barry Bonds. As if having Bobby Bonds as a father wasn’t enough imagine that your godfather is Willie Mays? Yes, the Sey Hey Kid. Arguably the greatest centerfielder ever. Twelve gold gloves plus The Catch in the 1954 World Series off the bat of Vic Wertz. There was also ten 100 RBI seasons, 3,283 base hits including 660 homeruns. With those two men as central figures in Barry Bonds life how could he not possess such knowledge? Not only does Barry Bonds possess such knowledge he knows how to use it.
Danny Ozark, who managed the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1970s, once said, “Half of this game is 90% mental.” Bonds, unlike many power hitters, does not strike out frequently. In fact, Bonds only struck out 100 times in a season once in his career. That was his rookie season in 1986 when he struck out 102 times. What this means is Bonds seldom swings at bad pitches. Bonds knows what pitch he wants to hit. So do pitchers and their managers. Sometimes Bonds might only get to swing once or twice in a game. Yet many of these swings result in homeruns. So it is no surprise that Bonds has walked 2,536 times in his career. Only three other players have walked more than 2,000 times in their career. They are Rickey Henderson, Ted Williams and Babe Ruth. Amongst active players, Frank Thomas of the Toronto Blue Jays ranks second to Bonds and has 900 fewer walks than Bonds. Of Bonds 2,536 walks, more than a quarter of those (679 of them and counting) have been of the intentional variety.
In May 1998, when Buck Showalter managed the Arizona Diamondbacks, he ordered one of his pitchers to walk Bonds intentionally with the bases loaded. Leading the Giants 8-6, Showalter so feared that Bonds would knock in four runs with a grand slam homerun he decided that allowing one run to score was a more prudent course of action rather than to risk pitching to him. In this instance, it worked as the next hitter lined out and the Diamondbacks beat the Giants 8-7. Nonetheless, this gives Bonds an enormous psychological edge. While managers might not routinely intentionally walk Bonds with the bases loaded they do it often enough that they are effectively telling their pitchers that they are not good enough to get Bonds out. Some managers such as Tony La Russa of the St. Louis Cardinals are aware of the effect an excessive amount of intentional walks to Bonds has on the psyche of his pitchers. So La Russa does not do it nearly as often. But if first base is open and your lead is three runs or less La Russa gives Bonds a 90 foot free pass. No player, not even Babe Ruth, ever received this sort of treatment from major league pitchers and their managers.
But no player, even with the combination of skill and knowledge possessed by Bonds is going to bat 1.000. Bonds is 43 years old. His bat speed has slowed. He does not possess the swiftness in his legs that he did a decade ago. He is understandably eager to pass this record and as a result he has been trying to hit homeruns as opposed to picking his pitch. Let’s also not forget there are pitchers out there who do not want to be known for surrendering his 755th and 756th homeruns and are not prepared to give Bonds any ground nor should they. Over the past week, Bonds has faced the likes of Dontrelle Willis, Mark Hendrickson and Greg Maddux and they consistently bested him. It should be noted that Bonds has had enormous success against Maddux in his career blasting 8 homeruns off of the four time National League Cy Young Award winner.
There is no doubt that the scrutiny Bonds has faced is taking its toll especially with a federal grand jury looking into perjury charges into his 2003 federal grand jury testimony in the investigation of his one time trainer, Greg Anderson, who is accused of supplying athletes with steroids. Even though the use of steroids in baseball was not prohibited until 2005 and Bonds has not failed any drug test since the new policy was implemented; in the minds of many people Bonds is guilty as sin and there is nothing he can do to persuade them otherwise. There have been hints that if the grand jury doesn’t come back with perjury charges that he might instead be charged with tax evasion though I’m not sure how not paying Uncle Sam equates to ingesting steroids. Despite the scrutiny, Bonds’ wife, Liz and daughter, Aisha, sit in the stands day after day encouraging him. Aisha, in fact, waves her arms in a chicken like motion whenever her father is issued an intentional walk. His son, Nikolai, who is now 17, sits with his father in the Giants’ dugout discussing his at bats. No doubt this scrutiny has taken its toll on them as well. Their feelings no doubt weigh on Bonds’ mind and sometimes make him press when he is at bat. Though I’m sure at the same time they help put his mind at ease.
Simply put, Barry Bonds is not a superman. Barry Bonds is merely human.
1) http://www.xroads.virginia.edu/UG02/yeung/Baberuth/change.html
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