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WHY?

Because he's competing against the very best players in the world. Babe Ruth didn't.


I'll concede that you can't make a case that Bonds is a better player (because of Ruth's pitching prowess), but you can make a case that Bonds is a better hitter.

I think that is a bunch of crap. Ruth was playing against people of the same caliber for the generation he played in. Pitching is much more watered down now as well. Ruth probably never denied that he didn't know what was in that cheesburger he ate either

I think Stan was an all around better man & player than Bonds! At least he is respected more & Ruth is respected more as well. Who knows, in 50 years after Bonds is out of jail, maybe he will be respected by a few people

tscards wrote:I think that is a bunch of crap. Ruth was playing against people of the same caliber for the generation he played in. Pitching is much more watered down now as well. Ruth probably never denied that he didn't know what was in that cheesburger he ate either

I think Stan was an all around better man & player than Bonds! At least he is respected more & Ruth is respected more as well. Who knows, in 50 years after Bonds is out of jail, maybe he will be respected by a few people

Pitching isn't more watered down today.

I didn't know this thread was about respect. I thought it was about the best player.

Bonds is better.

I don't know how Ruth can hit more home runs than most teams, and not be considered the best ever. Barry was better than everyone in his time, but Ruth was way better than others in his time.

Socnorb11 wrote:

tscards wrote:I think that is a bunch of crap. Ruth was playing against people of the same caliber for the generation he played in. Pitching is much more watered down now as well. Ruth probably never denied that he didn't know what was in that cheesburger he ate either

I think Stan was an all around better man & player than Bonds! At least he is respected more & Ruth is respected more as well. Who knows, in 50 years after Bonds is out of jail, maybe he will be respected by a few people

Pitching isn't more watered down today.

I didn't know this thread was about respect. I thought it was about the best player.

And there are more relief specialists nowadays.

Leroy wrote:I don't know how Ruth can hit more home runs than most teams, and not be considered the best ever. Barry was better than everyone in his time, but Ruth was way better than others in his time.

My answer to you first question would be - Teams weren't very good then, offensively.

Ruth was clearly head and shoulders better than anybody that played during his era. That doesn't mean he was better than Bonds is.

tscards wrote:I think that is a bunch of crap. Ruth was playing against people of the same caliber for the generation he played in. Pitching is much more watered down now as well. Ruth probably never denied that he didn't know what was in that cheesburger he ate either

I think Stan was an all around better man & player than Bonds! At least he is respected more & Ruth is respected more as well. Who knows, in 50 years after Bonds is out of jail, maybe he will be respected by a few people

The argument is that in Ruth's day you had to be white and live east of the Mississippi. The talent pool was much smaller. I read a very good chapter on the Bonds vs Ruth debate in Baseball Between the Numbers. It attempted to water down Ruth's stats based on the larger talent pool, but also inflate it based on better conditioning/equipment etc... Depending on the slant you took, you could pretty easily make an argument for either player.

My hunch is that if Bonds and Ruth played in the same era, Bonds would have been the better player.

I don't care if he never used performance enhancing drugs. I'd still dislike him.