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Bonds takes blasphemous swing at Babe
Knight Ridder ^ | 07/16/03 | GREG COTE

Posted on 07/15/2003 9:03:15 PM PDT by Pokey78

Miami -- Anything in the way of modesty coming from Barry Bonds would, by this time, seem startlingly false, be too much to expect. Barry and humility have not met. He doesn't do humble. He leads the majors in homers and arrogance, and there are people who think one forgives the other, as if great talent mandates preening ego.

But dissing The Babe?

Our prince of petulance has discovered his latest new low.

Bonds bashing Babe Ruth during the All-Star break is sort of like a cardinal (not Albert Pujols, the other kind) choosing Easter at the Vatican to knock the Pope.

You don't disrespect The Bambino; deference to him is baseball law. If America's Pastime has a deity, it's Babe Ruth.

Oh, sure, you are officially permitted to poke gentle fun at his girth, or at the mincing gait seen in black and white newsreels, or at the idea his off-the-field nickname might well have been the Sultan of Swig.

But you do not -- ever -- suggest that any conversation about home run hitters should start with any name other than Babe Ruth. Let alone your own name!

Unless you are Barry Bonds.

"As a left-handed hitter, I wiped him out. That's it," Bonds brayed Monday. "And in the baseball world, Babe Ruth's everything, right? I got his slugging percentage, and I'll take his home runs and that's it. Don't talk about him no more."

It's a marvel how Bonds can be so impressively athletic yet have so little grace.

What he has accomplished speaks for itself. (If only!) The season record of 73 homers. The five MVP awards. The reservation in Cooperstown . . .

But how unbecoming that Bonds would trumpet himself by knocking American sports' all-time icon, a slugger dead nearly 55 years now but vitally alive as the rarest of legitimate legends.

Did Michael Jordan boast how he "wiped out" Magic Johnson? Did Dan Marino denigrate Johnny U? Did Hank Aaron, in eventually surpassing Ruth in career homers if not historical esteem, display anything but class in earning the record?

Perhaps Bonds' comments were part of a grand scheme, an orchestration by baseball to divert attention from the fact Tuesday's All-Star Game in Chicago was dominated by semi-stars, with so many first-time selections and a matchup of starting pitchers (Jason Schmidt-Esteban Loaiza) meriting not a marquee but a sandwich board.

Yeah, that's it. A master plan.

First you leave Sammy Sosa off the team so the soundtrack of the game won't be Chisox fans riding Sosa like a found mule while bombing the field with wine corks.

Then you create a media diversion by originally snubbing Marlins wunderkind Dontrelle Lewis (knowing full well he will eventually get on) while including a Pirates reliever with an ERA that looks like a professional bowler's three-game series.

Then you create more controversy by sacrificing Oakland pitcher Barry Veto, oops, Zito, to make a last-minute roster spot for retiring star Roger Clemens.

Then you top it off by having Barry Bonds rip The Babe.

(Oh, one more thing. Almost forgot Tuesday night's seventh-inning stretch, when fans still angry over last year's All-Star Game tie were given bats and invited to sprint after commissioner Bud Selig, who was dressed as a gigantic sausage.)

The thing that's so self-damning about Bonds' comments, beside the gall, is that he's wrong. His career numbers do not surpass Ruth's.

Babe's 714 homers amounted to one every 11.76 at-bats, while Barry's 643 equate to one in 13.36 at-bats. Ruth led the league in homers 12 times. Bonds? Two.

Ruth invented long ball, and you must judge his numbers against his era. When he hit 54 homers in 1920, the NL leader had 15. When Babe hit 60 in 1927, 30 led the NL.

It's more than home runs.

Ruth's career batting average (.342) was 57 points higher than the sport-wide average in his era, while Bonds' .295 is 34 points higher.

Ruth's career on-base average (.474) was 121 points above average; Bonds' .428 is plus-98.

Ruth's career slugging percentage (.690) was 290 points better; Bonds' .595 is plus-191.

There are legitimate yeah-buts on either side that fairly neutralize themselves.

Yeah, but: Ruth played before integration, against only white players.

Yeah, but: Bonds played in the era of inflated home run numbers, always dogged by suspicions of steroids.

Hey, Bonds is the greatest slugger of his generation. Give him credit.

But Babe Ruth invented the genre, and remains the standard.

Give him respect.

-- Greg Cote writes for the Miami Herald


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: barrybonds
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1 posted on 07/15/2003 9:03:15 PM PDT by Pokey78
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To: Pokey78
As one sportswriter said, "Barry Bonds is the best player in baseball. If you don't believe it, just ask him - he'll tell you."
2 posted on 07/15/2003 9:09:13 PM PDT by Joe Bonforte
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3 posted on 07/15/2003 9:09:26 PM PDT by Support Free Republic (Your support keeps Free Republic going strong!)
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To: Pokey78
PETA alert: Bonds takes blasphemous swing at Babe
5 posted on 07/15/2003 9:14:05 PM PDT by Oztrich Boy (hoist by his own petard. always funny.)
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To: Pokey78
Bonds is NOT the most arrogant player in baseball!

...now that Rickey Henderson is back.

6 posted on 07/15/2003 9:15:52 PM PDT by Tall_Texan (Half the people you encounter are below average.)
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To: Pokey78; FBD; cherry_bomb88; unspun; yankhater; Reagan79; AGreatPer
Don't knock the Sultan ping!
7 posted on 07/15/2003 9:16:39 PM PDT by sultan88 (Athletics Supporter)
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To: Pokey78
Babe did beeroids...Bonds does steroids.
8 posted on 07/15/2003 9:19:11 PM PDT by Archie Bunker on steroids
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To: Pokey78
How's your pitching Barry? You ever take the mound?
9 posted on 07/15/2003 9:31:29 PM PDT by Tribune7
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To: bootless
Barry needs brain steroids.
10 posted on 07/15/2003 9:35:37 PM PDT by PRND21
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To: Archie Bunker on steroids
Bonds boxscore for tonight's All-Star game.......

AB 3
Runs 0
Hits 0
BB 0
LOB 2

11 posted on 07/15/2003 9:52:06 PM PDT by hole_n_one
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To: hole_n_one
RBI 0
12 posted on 07/15/2003 9:53:17 PM PDT by hole_n_one
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To: Pokey78
Bonda has something in common with the Babe, he is trying to reach Babe's mark before the steroids do him him. And the Babe did his on alcohol, food and cigs.
13 posted on 07/15/2003 9:55:26 PM PDT by breakem
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To: Tribune7
How's your pitching, Barry? You ever take the mound?

You allude to the fact that Ruth could have made the Hall as a pitcher, if he had stayed with it. He was one of the top pitchers in the game for his first few seasons, before his hitting became too valuable to keep him out of the everyday lineup.

There is no question that the Bambino is the greatest baseball player ever. The author of the article rightly shows how much Ruth was ahead of the pack, by the statistical standards of his own era. No one before or since has ever come close to duplicating that dominance.

14 posted on 07/15/2003 9:56:10 PM PDT by Charles Henrickson (Don't get me wrong, Bonds is a great player. A jerk, but a great player, too.)
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To: hole_n_one
I forgot the game was tonight until I started FREEPIN. Geesh I'm gettin old.
15 posted on 07/15/2003 9:56:22 PM PDT by Archie Bunker on steroids
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To: Pokey78
"As a left-handed hitter, I wiped him out. That's it," Bonds brayed Monday. "And in the baseball world, Babe Ruth's everything, right? I got his slugging percentage, and I'll take his home runs and that's it. Don't talk about him no more."

Okay, big-mouth - - let's talk about how many home runs Ruth would have hit if he was blown up on steroids like you. More than you could ever dream of, big-mouth. That's it.

16 posted on 07/15/2003 9:57:48 PM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: Pokey78
It's trash punks like Bonds that are RUINING sports. I used to follow sports far more. Now I am sick of the bs.
17 posted on 07/15/2003 10:08:16 PM PDT by boycott
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To: Pokey78
Plus Bonds can't play the field. That and his rotten personality should deny him a first ballot vote into the Hall. Screw him.
18 posted on 07/15/2003 10:18:10 PM PDT by Az Joe
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To: sultan88
"As a left-handed hitter, I wiped him out. That's it," Bonds brayed Monday. "And in the baseball world, Babe Ruth's everything, right? I got his slugging percentage, and I'll take his home runs and that's it. Don't talk about him no more."

And, Barry, you certainly have surpassed "The Babe" as an uneducated sloth.

19 posted on 07/16/2003 12:19:08 PM PDT by cherry_bomb88 (The mind is its own place, and in itself can make heaven of hell, a hell of heaven~Milton)
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To: cherry_bomb88
"And, Barry, you certainly have surpassed "The Babe" as an uneducated sloth"

Beautiful retort!!

20 posted on 07/16/2003 3:33:41 PM PDT by sultan88 ("I keep a close watch on this heart of mine, I keep my eyes wide open all the time...")
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