350 Wins

by Matt Mckinney

Created on: April 11, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

Let me start by saying I have always been a big Barry Bonds fan and I have not always been a huge fan of Roger Clemens. Both of them represent what is so wrong with the American sports world today although they both also represent amazing skills in the areas so coveted by the sport they play. As for the individual achievements they have reached, Bonds has come through in an era where the home run has become so common it is almost expected that someone will break a new home run record in just a few years time. There were so many years between George Foster hitting 50 home runs and Cecil Fielder hitting 50 that home runs were at a premium. Then the ball started jumping out of the park with such ferocity that such feared power hitters as Luis Gonzales found a 50 home run season. Clemens has won a ton of games in his career. He has done so in an era that does not cater to pitchers. If you throw inside you are ejected. Managers go to the pen at the first sign of fatigue or just to get a lefty-lefty match-up. That does not even address the fact that Clemens has accomplished this while living the fairy tale life of reporting to a team whenever he feels like it. Both players are amazing, both in talent and accomplishments, but, there is no comparison between pitching numbers and hitting numbers now in baseball. The success of a pitcher is much more impressive than any hitter in baseball today. Many of the numbers that Bonds has reached will be eclipsed in my lifetime. I was four years old when Henry Aaron broke Babe Ruth's home run record. I do not think another 30 years will pass before the likes of A-Rod or Albert Pujols pass Bonds. The numbers that Clemens has reached, however, will stand for a long, long time. With the careers of pitchers today how long do you think it will take for the next pitcher to hit 350 wins? I am not even sure that I will see it in my lifetime. Clemens wins this argument hands down. He will stand for years and years as head and shoulders above the crowd. I am not saying Bonds will be forgotten, but, he will not be held as the greatest to play. Both have been tainted by a certain extent by the steroids scandals, but, both deserve to be in Cooperstown and both came into the league great and maintained it, steroids or not. But, Clemens is a pitcher of mythical proportion and Bonds will be surpassed as the next Goliath swats home runs into the stratosphere.

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