Bonds wins sixth NL MVP Award

Major League Baseball ^ | November 18th, 2003 | Chris Shuttlesworth

[My2Cents]

Berry doesn't care about the hitting percentage...he does care about the HR records. In his pursuit of the latter, he's a fraud.

[Sabertooth]

He claims his power surge late in his career is the result of an exercise regime which amounts to running around the track at Stanford.

That ain't close to true. He's said that he's taken andro and creatine, and his five and six hour workouts in the off-season are notorious. Ask Gary Sheffield.

Has he taken any banned steroids? Dunno, bring on the tests. But it's false to insinuate that Bonds sat on his butt and turned into the Hulk.

[My2Cents]

Sorry, but I read the quote directly from Barry back in 2001. Unless the newspaper made it up...

[LaGrone]

Hard to believe Bonds, Sosa, and McGuire bulked up that quickly with weights. My gut instincts tell me performance enhanced drugs, just like most NFL players. The testing systems are getting better and are able to catch more players now.

[Tallguy]

We'll see. Bonds' attorney has said that he's willing to take any test MLB wants to administer.

Yeah, but Bonds didn't say it. Lawyers often make broad PR statements like this to grab a headline -- only to haggle over the details later.

Bonds had better be clean. There's a bunch of sportswriters around MLB who would just love to carve him up.

[L.N. Smithee]

Sammy Sosa once said the same thing at a press conference. Then a sportswriter challenged him to take it that day - the lap setup was available. Sammy stormed off and ended the press conference then and there.

This incident (which didn't happen as you remember it) was the work of Sports Illustrated's Dick...oops, I mean Rick Reilly, sportsmedia's premiere Bonds-basher. Up until then, Reilly kissed up to Sosa because he is genial, charismatic, and never met a microphone he didn't like.

The fact of the matter is this: Sosa would have been sanctioned by the MLB Players Association -- a legendarily strong union -- if he had voluntarily submitted to a test that hadn't been approved beforehand. In fact, he not only would have been in hot water with the union, he would be in trouble with other players as well, because it would pressure on them to volunteer just as he had.

[Alberta's Child]

I hope the six MVP awards helps Mr. Bonds deal with the realization that he's an absolute loser.

[Petronski]

[Sabertooth]

Everything I get my hands on says he is a full fledged turd in the clubhouse.....Sprots Illustrated did a piece on him, Kent has spoken about him...some guy flew out to SF to interview him, gave him three days and he blew the guy off. He speaks very little to the press and when in Milwaukee for the All Star game was a perfect dick, left after he played, which was one of the reasons they were not able to finish the game...many guys simply left early....but then again, he could be a good guy.

I'm not going to nominate Bonds for sainthood, he pissed me off when he didn't shake his teammates' hands before game six of the Series last year. It's important, though, to get some facts straight.

Bonds could definitely handle the press better, but his beef with them goes back to the way they treated his father back in the 70s. Jeff Kent doesn't win any Mr. Congeniality contests either. Also, Bonds was already removed from the All-Star Game when it was called. He was ineligible to go back into the game. His departure had nothing to do with the outcome. The problem was that Torre and Brenly ran out of pitchers, not position players.

[Tallguy]

People tend to forget that McGwire was a pretty big dude as a rookie. Bonds & Sosa were skinny. It's possible for a big body to get a lot out of weight training without resorting to 'enhancers'. OTOH, skinny guys can't train to the same level without some help.

None of this proves anything, of course. But it is suggestive.

[PISANO]

He is a GREAT ballplayer but NO ONE deserves 6 MVP's without ONE World Series Title.

[L.N. Smithee]

Sorry, but I read the quote directly from Barry back in 2001. Unless the newspaper made it up...

Click here.

[Sabertooth]

Sorry, but I read the quote directly from Barry back in 2001. Unless the newspaper made it up...

Dunno, here are the results of a Google search...

OnlineAthens: Sports: Pendleton to Furcal: Stand and deliver 05/ ...
... He hit 21 home runs and had 71 RBIs in 1997. It took Bonds five years to convince
Sheffield to give weights and a winter workout program another try. ...
www.onlineathens.com/stories/ 052602/spo_20020526108.shtml - 16k - Cached - Similar pages

USATODAY.com - Once again, Bonds is our man
... When Sheffield's cell phone rang, it was Bonds who answered. Bonds told Boras that
the news would have to ... Players used to think that lifting weights knotted up ...
www.usatoday.com/sports/bbw/ 2003-01-02-bonds-playeroftheyear_x.htm - 46k - Cached - Similar pages

The San Francisco Examiner
... 9:30-10 am -- Arrive at a gym to lift weights for about two hours. ... Going only by
statistics, it looks like Sheffield didn't benefit from Bonds' regimen. ...
www.examiner.com/sfx/templates/ printer.jsp?story=sp.giantsnote.0515w0 - 6k - Cached - Similar pages

Old friends Bonds, Sheffield meet in playoffs: 10/2/02
... Sheffield stayed at Bonds' home during the offseason, following ... o'clock in the morning
-- Bonds made breakfast ... run steps at Stanford Stadium and lift weights. ...
www.s-t.com/daily/10-02/10-02-02/c03sp120.htm - 22k - Supplemental Result - Cached - Similar pages

TSN.ca - MLB Giants - Canada's Sports Leader
... Sheffield stayed at Bonds' home during the offseason, following ... 6 o'clock in the morning
- Bonds made breakfast ... run steps at Stanford Stadium and lift weights. ...
www.tsn.ca/mlb/teams/ news_story.asp?ID=6757&hubName=mlb-giants - 48k - Supplemental Result - Cached - Similar pages

JS Online: A work in progress
... unprecedented fourth National League MVP, Sheffield accepted. ... last winter, he moved
into Bonds' home in ... regimen of stairs, sprints, hills, weights and hitting ...
www.jsonline.com/sports/brew/ may02/40233.asp?format=print - 18k - Supplemental Result - Cached - Similar pages

McCarthy at the Bat - Baseball Primer
... would argue that Bonds doesn't lift weights to a ... characterize his status with the
media; Gary Sheffield, for one ... about this, when I saw photos of Bonds prior to ...
www.baseballprimer.com/articles/ dszymborski_2002-06-13_0.shtml - 35k - Cached - Similar pages

Healthcare - Prescriptions Vitamins Nutrition Weight loss
... alt hut bay max courtneys margarite sheffield pompadour concentrate ... paige weigh thigh
origin weights length kings ... hood gandhi binder bind bonds cordial curd ...
www.dot411.com/select?healthcare - Similar pages

Geometry.Net - Athletes_Baseball: Giambi Jeremy
... and chest which offers optional light weights (20 minutes). ... GUERRERO, VLADIMIR MON
SOSA, SAMMY CHC BONDS, BARRY SF ... JIM STL FLOYD, CLIFF NYM SHEFFIELD, GARY ATL ...
www.geometry.net/athletes_baseball/ giambi_jeremy_page_no_4.html - 31k - Cached - Similar pages

Yahoo! Groups : scoresheet-talk Messages : Message 11249 of 35228
... I haven't lifted weights in eight ... to Venezuela 3-2. Los Angeles: LF Gary Sheffield
could remain ... San Francisco: Barry Bonds' agent, Scott Boras, met with Giants ...
groups.yahoo.com/group/scoresheet-talk/ message/11249?source=1 - 24k - Supplemental Result - Cached - Similar pages
LINK

[PISANO]

Mark McGuire........he was a steroid-enhanced monster

Mark was ALMOST as BIG on the day he entered baseball as he was when he retired. He hit 49 homers as a ROOKIE. Barry Bonds has yet to hit over 50 in his entire career EXCEPT for that miracle year. Something is very, very odd about that. I have thought of a million reasons but NONE make logical sense that would explain that ONE magic year!

[discostu]

Injuries. Bonds has been on pace to set the record multiple times but always had his season interupted by injuries. The big "mystery" of Bonds record year was how he managed to not get hurt.

[Grando Calrissian]

First of all, Mark McGwire was skinny as a rail his first few years with the Athletics. He hit 49 HRs which showed that any alleged steroid use had little factor.

Second, Bonds hit 37 HRs in the strike shortened 1994 season and was on pace to hit in the mid-50's while he was also a skinny rail.

The dillution of pitching due to expansion has as much to do with increased home run totals as anything. The same thing happened in the early 1960's when baseball expanded.

[PISANO]

Injuries

While what you say has some merit, it doesn't explain it to me. He was NOT hurt every OTHER year. Also ONCE we go down the road of INJURIES preventing STATS/RECORDS you end up in the never, never land of SHOULDA - COULDA - WOULDA - OUTTA - MIGHTA and the infamous "IF ONLY." Of course this is my opinion I coulda be wronga.

[xp38]

Delgado thinks he got jobbed. Do you think he should have won it? I think you could flip a coin and the vote was close.

A Rodriguez Avg .298 HR 47 RBI 118 R 124 SLG .600 OBP .396

C...Delgado Avg .302 HR 42 RBI 145 R 117 SLG .593 OBP .426

[Sabertooth]

Injuries. Bonds has been on pace to set the record multiple times but always had his season interupted by injuries. The big "mystery" of Bonds record year was how he managed to not get hurt.

The only year Bonds missed significant time to injury was 1999. That was also when he stopped stealing so many bases, changed his swing, bulked up, and his AB/HR ratio started to drop below 10, where it's been since 2000.

Even before that, though, Bonds was one of the most consistent home run hitters in baseball history. He's now on a ML record tying (with Jimmie Foxx) streak of 12 consecutive seasons with 30 or more homers, going back to 1992.

Several things happened in 2001 to enable Bonds to break the record, including having the then-reigning MVP, Jeff Kent, hitting behind him, and Rich Aurillia having a career year (37 hrs) ahead of him. Bonds and Aurillia combined for 110 homers, more than Ruth and Gehrig's 107 in 1927, and second only to Maris and Mantle's 115 in 1961.

[mewzilla]

Better baseball through science.