 | Ruth v. Bonds
Current mood:  annoyed Ok, ok, so I know I'm biased. I'm a Giants fan. I'm a Bonds fan. But more importantly, I'm of the opinion that sports, the athletes involved in them and the rules surrounding them only become more advanced as the years progress.
In the past few weeks, there's been much talk about Ruth, Bonds, and the homerun chase. Everyone points to the ALLEGED (please, show me a blood test, or at least something more conclusive than rumors, allegations and the "schedules of drugs" brought out in the Game of Shadows.) steriod use by Bonds and claims that it taints his numbers and his currently tied status with Ruth.
I say bullshit.
Ruth played in a period of time where the rules were less advanced than they are now (not that that has anything to do with home runs), and where he was the reigning stud. Sure, he crushed home runs, he had a great career, but how many of the pitchers facing him used sliders, curve balls and fast balls, most of which topped out at 89+mph? How many pitchers in Ruth's day could put out a 101mph fastball? If Bonds played in Ruth's day, I think he'd be over the 800 mark...which brings me to the second part of my rant here...
Oh that's right...he couldn't have played. Because they didn't allow hispanics, asians or blacks to play the game. So now we're supposed to believe that Ruth's accomplishment is as good or better than Bonds when he didn't play against anyone but other white baseball players? I don't think so.
See, in a sport like baseball, and a category like home run hitting, it is all about who you're up against. Not only did Ruth not have to face anyone outside his own race, but the training techniques, throwing techniques and other intangibles were nowhere near as advanced as they are now.
We could very well say that Pistol Pete was the best basketball player ever, which he might have been, had the league never opened up to black players...but he isn't. You can't just look at the records from a segregated time and equate the numbers to our current situation.
Ruth made his mark against inferior opponents, drawn out for him by the racial lines our culture and society had built at that point. Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that Bonds did use steroids between 1999 and 2003...how many pitchers did he go against that were juiced? How much more spin and more speed were these pitchers able to throw at him? If anything, I think the training, techniques and competition of modern baseball make Bonds' accomplishment more substantial, not less.
Finally, and this has almost nothing to do with baseball, but if you look at the way Ruth is revered, he's almost like a God. No one likes to mention that he was an alcoholic during the years of prohibition. He broke the law for years on end, living life hard and living it up, and we still look at him as the best in baseball history.
I say let Ruth's mythical status die in the monochromatic league he played in. This is a new day and a new age, providing more equality and competition than Ruth probably ever imagined. He was a great man for the game, but his league was limited, his competition weaker, and in my mind, if he played today, he'd be lucky to hit 600, let alone 700. |
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