Bonds hits 73!

Major League Baseball ^ | October 7, 2001 | Unknown

[Charles H. (The_r0nin)]

October means just one thing... IT'S BAKETBALL SEASON!

Baketball? Never heard of it. Is that like a bake-off with a ball or something? :P

[markfiveFF]

October is feetball season. Though the coaches/writers are way off base to rank Miami and Florida 1 and 2. The winner of Oklahoma/Nebraka oughta go to the Rose Bowl. Now *I'd* like 'em to play Fresno State, but because BCS ruled points don't matter, Fresno State beating Colorado (Sagarin 10, coaches 26), Oregon State (Sagarin 41) and Wisconsin (Sagarin 58) can't be in, because Louisian Tech (1-3, Sagarin 63) and Tulsa (1-3, Sagarin 138) make Fresno State have a "weak" schedule.

Meanwhile, Miami (coaches No 1) has beaten Penn State (0-4, Sagarin 103), Rutgers (1-4, Sagarin 147), Pittsburgh (1-3, Sagarin 130) and Troy State (1-3, Sagarin 105).

Florida (coaches No 2) has beaten perennial powerhouse Marshall (3-1, Sagarin 24), Louisiana-Monroe (1-4, Sagarin 151), Kentucky (1-4, Sagarin 117), Mississippi St. (1-3, Sagarin 48) and Louisiana State (2-2, Sagarin 51).

Coaches think Ohio St. should be ranked 25, although they have lost only to UCLA (Sagarin 2). Florida St. drops to 5 if you throw away point spread, behind Ohio St., and Miami (coaches No 1) drops to *45th* if point spread is ignored (Sagarin ELO rating).

And don't forget SOuth Carolina ought to be in the FLorida zone. Check the records.

[oleus]

having a week off towards the end of the season definitely would NOT have given an advantage to Barry. that's a whole week where you're not seeing major league pitching, and a lot of guys came back sorely lacking in timing. but Barry's not your average player obviously. if there is a "*" next to it, he should get MORE credit for being able to SHATTER the record under strange circumstances. and even though the Giants didn't make it, most of his homeruns in the last few weeks have been BIG ones that put his team ahead/back into games.

[Sabertooth]

Rickey Henderson just got his 3000th hit. Lead-off double in the first.

[The Raven]

Good graphics!

[Sabertooth]

Bonds flied out his last at bat. Didn't take the field in the bottom of the 9th. Game over, Giants win. 2-1.

His final Slugging Pct. is .863. New Major League record.

73 home runs. New Major League record.

177 walks. New Major League record.

.514 on base pct. New National League record.

1.3370 OPS. New National League record.

Dang.

[shield]

No one will catch up with Barry for a very long time, except maybe Barry.

[Sabertooth]

"No one will catch up with Barry for a very long time, except maybe Barry."

Sammy might.

But you know, with the parallels between 2001 and 1941, with the WTC/Pentagon attacks and Peal Harbor, I'm wondering if you might be right.

In some ways, Bonds' season this year remeinds me of Ted Williams in '41. Both came at the crest of the two most prolific offensive eras in baseball history: 1920 to 1941, and 1987 to present.

Almost like we've had our moments to enjoy the calms before the storms.

Hope I'm wrong.

[Sabertooth]

Thanks.

After laying turds in the HTML sandbox, I finally got the hang of it!

[John R. (Bob) Locke]

I don't recall McGwire getting an asterisk next to his 70 even though the Cardinals played 163 games instead of 162.

[Archie Bunker on steroids]

I'm so impressed. How many double digit games did we see this afternoon? Yes, there was a 1-0 game, but those are about as rare as 8-5 games of 15 years ago.

The current world crisis is not why the world is yawning, its the predictable MLB hyper-offense of the last few years..

[John R. (Bob) Locke]

This will go down as one of the greatest offensive seasons in the history of the game. He'd have had 160 RBI's if Aurilia hadn't hit 37 or 38 HR's batting in front of him! That's why Barry had so many solo homers this year.

There are so many things about those numbers that just boggle the mind. I'm a big-time baseball guy (used to write a column twice a week for a buddy's on-line sports page) and am a statistics freak. The things Bonds has done at the plate this season are almost beyond comprehension, especially when you consider breaking the single season records for walks AND homeruns in the same season. Think about that for a minute. Here's a guy who really didn't get that many good pitches to hit, but when he did get one he made the most of it.

This whole season has been just phenomenal.

[Sabertooth]

Edith holding out again?

[Nate505]

Long as it ain't soccer season.

It's always soccer season.

That's bin Laden's sport.

Huh? It's also England's sport, and they are our #1 ally...

[True Capitalist]

can I be post 73?

[Sabertooth]

Hey, Perfessor!

"The things Bonds has done at the plate this season are almost beyond comprehension, especially when you consider breaking the single season records for walks AND homeruns in the same season. Think about that for a minute. Here's a guy who really didn't get that many good pitches to hit, but when he did get one he made the most of it.

Not unprecedented, though. When Ruth hit a then-record 54 homers in 1920, he also had a then-record 150 walks. And when McGwire hit his 70 in '98, he set an NL record of 162 walks.

"This whole season has been just phenomenal."

As a fellow student of the game, I heartily concur.

Bonds (73) and Aurillia (37) combined to hit 110 homers this year. That puts them ahead of Ruth (60) and Gehrig (47) at 107 in 1927, and behind Maris (61) and Mantle (54) at 115 in 1961.

Whoa.

BTW, Jeff Kent became only the second 2nd baseman in history to knock in 100 RBIs in 5 straight seasons, after Detroit's Charlie Gheringer (5 times from 1932 to 1936).

[Citizen of the Savage Nation]

BTW, the Giants didn't trade Will the Thrill. They let him go to free agency and devoted their resigning money to Robby Thompson, aching back and all, after a career year in'93.

What a blunder.

Not a bad thing, IMO. I couldn't stand him and still can't stand the Giants. Now that I live in the Bay Area, I'll take the A's any day.

That being said, what Bonds is doing now at his age, and playing at a sea level park, is nothing short of amazing. Yep, the balls are juiced and the strike zones are miniscule, but we should be seeing somebody in Colorado breaking these records, not Big Mac, and now Bonds. Both of these players did it playing half their games in parks tough for hr's.

[Sabertooth]

They're either with us or against us.

No more soccer.

[Archie Bunker on steroids]

You were post 73! A million bucks for you.

BTW Edith is away this weekend, not that she would've dished it out anyway.

[Sabertooth]

Awww, Clark was a funny guy, and OWNED the media.

Famous quote from a Will the Thrill press conference early in his career, when the reporters were starting to wander away:

"Hey, are you guys all out of questions? 'Cause I've still got answers!"

I saw him sing at half-time once at a 49er game with Eddie Money. Too cool.