[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.

[mrbillxx]

Sorry. Pujols deserves it. His team wouldn't have even been close in September given the Cards pitching injuries. Pujols almost single handedly kept the Cards in the hunt in the last few months.

He was a legitimate shot for a Triple Crown (Bonds will never have the average) and has many claiming that he is one of the best all-around hitters they have ever seen.

He was much more valuable to his team than Bonds was to the Giants. But then again it's all about what sells. And Bonds sells, Pujols doesn't.

[discostu]

When you're getting close to the record (as he did a few times) just missing 10 or 15 games could make the difference. You're right though that we have to look at the bigger picture, batters don't bat in a vacuum and having a solid slugger behind him and guys on base in front of him makes him harder to walk.

There's a lot of stuff that goes into making these records: consistency, luck, "juiced balls", maybe some steroids.