[King Glorious]

Originally Posted by hi_im_god

in 1999 barry bonds turned 35, an age most athletes performance long ago started to decline. he was already a likely hof'er

he is unique (at least until the steroid era) in that he is that rare person who was able to ignore age and actually get better than he was when he was younger.

1986-1998 averaged 31.61 home runs/season
1999 (34 home runs)
2000 (36 home runs)
2001 (73 home runs)
2002 (46 home runs)
2003 (45 home runs in 130 games)
2004 (45 home runs)

hank aaron couldn't do it. babe ruth didn't do it. willie mays was a sad shadow of himself playing for the mets.

what bonds has done at an age every other human being is declining in physical abilities is remarkable.

i'm sure steroid use had nothing to do with this singular acheivement


















if i was his neck i'd be pissed off at having to carry around that head.

but that has nothing to do with steroid use.

sorry for wandering off topic.

When u say that Hank Aaron couldn't do it, u are wrong. Check out Aaron's numbers. Aaron, like Bonds, was a MUCH better home run hitter from age 35-39 than he was from 30-34. Consider these numbers:

From 30-34, Aaron hit 40 or more hr's one time. From 35-39, he did it three times, including hitting a career high of 47 at age 37. I looked at comparing Aaron to Bonds since they are the two top home run hitters of all-time. For the purposes of this study, I counted total at bats as the official ones PLUS walks since those aren't counted as official at bats.

By age
30
Aaron 24 hr in 632 at bats.....1 per 26.3 at bats
Bonds 33 hr in 626 at bats.....1 per 19.0 at bats

31
Aaron 32 in 630....19.7
Bonds 42 in 668....15.9

32
Aaron 44 in 679......15.4
Bonds 40 in 677......16.9

33
Aaron 39 in 663......17.0
Bonds 37 in 682......18.4

34
Aaron 29 in 670......23.1
Bonds 34 in 428......12.6

35
Aaron 44 in 634.....14.4
Bonds 49 in 653.......12.2

36
Aaron 38 in 590......15.5
Bonds 73 in 653......8.9

37
Aaron 47 in 566........12.0
Bonds 46 in 601........13.1

38
Aaron 34 in 541........15.9
Bonds 45 in 538.......12.0

39
Aaron 40 in 460.....11.5
Bonds 45 in 605.......13.4

Totals
30-34
Aaron 168 in 3274...19.5
Bonds 186 in 3081....16.6

35-39
Aaron 203 in 2791.....13.7
Bonds 258 in 2994.....11.6

What the numbers show was that Barry was a more prolific home run hitter than Aaron was from 30-34 and he also was from 35-59. But what is interesting is how much better Aaron was from 35-39 than he was over the previous five years. His increase in production is nearly identical to what Bonds' was. And that's including Bonds' miracle 73 hr season. Everyone is automatically assuming that Bonds' increased production is due to steroids but nobody ever would say that same thing about Aaron even though he improved during a comparative period by just as much as Bonds did. At ages 37 and 39, Aaron hit homers at a more prolific rate than Bonds did. I bet nobody knew that. The big problem people have is comprehending how Bonds is able to keep doing what he's doing after the age of 40. For me, it's not too hard to understand. The advances that have been made in training are incredible. During a lot of Aaron's career, guys had to get off-season jobs in order to pay their bills. Nowdays, they train and condition year round. Even taking away the illegal stuff, the legal stuff they can use is so much better than when Aaron and especially when Ruth played. Plus, it should not be forgotten that Bonds was probably a better athlete than Aaron to start with. People want to automatically say that because he's doing things that haven't ever been done before that he HAS to be doing something illegal. I just don't buy that. When Babe Ruth was doing things that had never been seen before, nobody thought it was illegal. When Hank was getting better with age, nobody thought it was illegal. When Nolan Ryan was striking out 300 batters and pitching no-hitters after the age of 40, nobody thought it was illegal. When Roger Clemens is winning 18 games at 41 and finishing with sub 2.00 era's at 42, nobody is saying it's illegal. The point is that players that are among the greatest in the history of the game are considered as such because they can do things that not everyone can do. If everyone could do the special things that these superstars could do, everyone would.