by James Walters

Created on: August 18, 2007

Barry Bonds is an excellent baseball player. Steroid use or not, he would of had a great career. Most people probably would not argue this point. Furthermore, without the use of steroids, Barry Bonds would make it in the Hall of Fame (when his career was finished and the correct amount of time passed). However, Barry Bonds changed the kind of player he was.
Barry Bonds played for the Pittsburgh Pirates his first seven years of his career and looking at his statistics from baseball-reference.com, he was a much different player. Back then, he was very exciting watch. In 1990, when was voted the National League Most Valuable Player (according to .baseball-reference.com), he had 52 stolen bases, which is the most of any season in his career. He also scored 104 times, batted in 114 runs and hit 33 home runs. (The 114 runs batted in he had was sixth best in his career). He was very exciting to watch.

Barry Bonds was what baseball is about in the late 1980's and early 1990's. He worked hard and played baseball the way is meant to be played. He would get a hit, steal second, and then scored on a hit from another player. He was what he was, and seemed okay about it. In fact, one time he made the comment he would not be a 40/40 guy (40 stolen bases and 40 home runs) like his dad, Bobby Bonds, because he did not have the same type of body as his dad.
What did Barry Bonds do to change this? A great workout program as some say? Steroids? There are definitely a lot of opinions. But, did Barry Bonds change who he was as a player? Most people would agree he did, they just might not agree how he did it. He changed the kind of player he was going from a person who was an all around offensive player, to a player with a lot of power. The stolen base came less frequently and the home run was seen more often.
The home run is exciting to see, but it has its drawbacks. Marty Brennaman and Tracey Jones were on the radio doing a show (on 700WLW out of Cincinnati) and called the home run a rally killer. Their reasoning was that if a player hits a double and the next player singles him in, you still have a guy on base and pressure on the pitcher. But if the second guy hits a home run, you have 2 runs instead of one, with the bases empty. This is forthcoming in the success Barry Bond's teams have. Bonds was with the Pirates for seven seasons and the team made the playoffs 3 times (this was when only 2 National League teams made the playoffs, unlike the four today). Barry Bonds is in his fifteenth season with the Giants and they have made the playoffs 4 times.
One player does not make a team, but one player can change the make up of the team. Barry changed who he the kind of player he was. A home run is exciting to see, but not near as exciting as it was to watch Bonds when he was younger and played the games differently!

Learn more about this author, James Walters.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.