It’s the Body Armor, Duh!
Uncategorized August 6th. 2007, 7:01pm
You see that massive contraption on the elbow of Barry Bonds? It looks like something out of the Transformers, right? Anyway, now some guy is claiming that’s the real reason Bonds broke the home run record. Forget performance enhancing drugs – it’s the apparatus, silly!
Anyway, the argument is somewhat interesting.
39 Responses to “It’s the Body Armor, Duh!”
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August 6th, 2007 at 7:06 PM
The argument is interesting, but the photo of Bonds glaring at a pitcher who just rung him up doesn’t do the story any justice.
August 6th, 2007 at 7:17 PM
@ SVPS: Agreed.
The elbow “pad” is redonkulous. The article made a lot of sense, but where is all his photographic proof? Where are the youtubes of Bonds in batting practice and HR Derbies? This is the kind of thing Al Gore created the internets for! It’s like if I write a post about soccer and don’t include a loosely associated picture of Scarlett Johansson – I wouldn’t be doing my job. This would be a perfect time for me throw in a link of Scarlett, but I don’t know HTML. Damn you liberal education!
August 6th, 2007 at 7:22 PM
Flat.
Out.
Absurd.
August 6th, 2007 at 7:35 PM
Allow me:
http://www.eog.com/uploadedImages/images/ENTERTAINMENT/scarjoeog33.jpg
August 6th, 2007 at 7:39 PM
I believe that’s what’s referred to as “messy code.”
August 6th, 2007 at 7:39 PM
No stand alone post, not even a mention of Glavine reaching 300 wins? Lame.
August 6th, 2007 at 7:43 PM
I think I know the reason Bonds tied the HR record. Its because he is, hands down, the most talented hitter of his generation. Look at his OPS numbers from 2001-2004. They are Ruthian relative to the rest of the league. Yes, without ‘roids he may have ended up closer to 700 HRs rather than 800, but the guy is BY FAR the best hitter of his generation….. Give him some due. A lot of guys are on ‘roids, and none of them came close (in OPS terms) to what Barry did….
August 6th, 2007 at 7:53 PM
Bryan- your an idiot first off.
Anyone who gaurantees, anything hands down like you just did has no credibility.
I.E. If I say hands down Ichiro Suzuki is the best singles hitter of all time does that make it fact now? NO, it makes it a debatable opinion.
Bonds was a borderline HOF player before 1998, not a shoe in, not a lock, but a borderline player. Than he admittedly took illegal drugs, and began launching balls into the statosphere at an allarming rate.
He also, began wearing body armor which effectively took 1/2 of the plate away from pitchers. how many would Hammerin Hank have if he was allowed to wear that? The point is Balco Bonds cheated in more ways than any other major league player in HISTORY, and yet it still toook him 21 years to become a HOF player.
Also, why is Bonds even considered for the HOF? He wasnt a HOF’er before 1998, and since than he has cheated. Isnt cheating/breaking baseball by-laws the same reason Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe arent in the hall? I think so. You have to take a players entire career into account when considering them for enshirement and since balco bonds decided to cheat, he has forfeited his right to HOF consideration. Now thats FACT Bryan(thought is was spelled Brian?)
August 6th, 2007 at 7:56 PM
Touche’, CRM.
Touche’ indeed…
August 6th, 2007 at 8:00 PM
I’m still going with steroids, it’s an easier argument to win
August 6th, 2007 at 8:03 PM
TSM – I don’t like the guy and I think he’s a cheater….that being said, he was on the way to the HOF before ‘98. He had already won 3 MVP Awards, 7 Gold Gloves, 7 Silver Slugger Awards, 7 time All-Star, he was top 5 in the NL in home runs 7 times before ‘97…..etc. He was going in, he really didn’t need to ‘pump up’ to make the HOF
August 6th, 2007 at 4:09 PM
Though both arguments have their points, the idea that Barry Bonds wasn’t deserving of the Hall of Fame before 98? That’s ridiculous.
August 6th, 2007 at 4:13 PM
Another Bond’s post…awesome…any way I would like to congratulate Tom Glavine on 300 wins…we know he never did Steroids…he only had umpires giving him 4 inches off the outside of the plate for 15 years to get most of those wins. ( I am a Mets fan but I had to watch Glavine and Maddox beat us like rented mules for years because umps wanted to give them that outside corner. And then he signs with the Mets and they have Quest Tech at Shea…awesome…great…thanks MLB..no really awesome bravo.)
August 6th, 2007 at 4:13 PM
Cobra Kai, good call on the stats. At least you backed up your statement with FACT.
However, like I said before 98 he was a borderline HOF’er. Not a lock, but he was on his way. However, if he began to seriously decline after that season, as 99% of all players do(before roids, ALA Clemens), and retired in 00 would he have been a first ballot HOF’er. No way, in my opinion.
August 6th, 2007 at 4:16 PM
I would argue that Bonds was clearly a HOFer before the ‘roids. And I think that is a widely held view amongst fans and media. Up until ‘99 he had over 400 HRs and 400 steals and 9 gold gloves. Without ‘roids he still likely would have been the only 500/500 guy ever. So I think it is hard to argue he would not have been a HOFer without roids.
And, again, DURING the ‘roids era it is hard to argue Bonds wasn’t the best hitter in the majors. A lot of players were on ‘roids and none of them came close to achieving what Bonds achieved.
I do concede that 755 may not have been reached without ‘roids. But my main point is that Bonds is a great player and I think we should celebrate his skills rather than villianize him for using ‘roids (something that was quite common during his era).
August 6th, 2007 at 4:49 PM
He’s a spoiled and petulant super-athlete of the modern day. He’s the product of and a symbol for the American Dream that is continually tainted by over-indulgence and self-righteousness. Barry Bonds as owner of the biggest record in sports-turned-hyper-entertainment – all-time homerun king – is just what America ordered and just what we deserve.
August 6th, 2007 at 4:50 PM
Lets just give the HR record back to Ruth and the hits record back to Cobb since Bonds, Aaron and Rose wore batting helmets, while Ruth and Cobb didn’t.
August 6th, 2007 at 4:52 PM
Bonds is a spoiled and petulant super-athlete of the modern day. He’s the result of and a symbol for the American Dream that is continually tainted by over-indulgence and self-righteousness. Barry Bonds as owner of the biggest record in sports-turned-hyper-entertainment – all-time homerun king – is just what America ordered and just what we deserve.
August 6th, 2007 at 4:54 PM
Bonds is a spoiled and petulant super-athlete of the modern day. He’s the result of and a symbol for the American Dream that is continually tainted by over-indulgence and self-righteousness. Barry Bonds as owner of the biggest record in sports-turned-hyper-entertainment – all-time homerun king – is just what America ordered and just what we deserve.
August 6th, 2007 at 5:00 PM
That article may be the dumbest thing that I have read as it deals with Barry Bonds…
Why are we supposed to simply take that Lance Armstrong never once cheated in a sport dominated by cheaters, yet with Bonds he is automatically guilty?
Armstrong was accused by everyone on the planet of cheating his ass off, yet he denied it, and the media just took it as fact.
There is no proof that Bonds knowingly cheated (if there was, he would have been indicted on federal perjury charges by now) and the media reports that he is “obviously: on steroids. I don’t think that it is a race thing, I think that it is an asshole thing. Armstrong got the love because of the cancer thing, as well as the fact that he seemed like a decent guy, whereas Bonds is just a total dick.
My point has always been that baseball had no problem with steroids when McGuire and Sosa were bringing people back into the park, so they need to simply accept that he is going to break the record and embrace it.
You can’t create Godzilla, and then get mad when he destroys half of Tokyo…
August 6th, 2007 at 5:09 PM
Digging up more Barry controversy? Where you been? Barry’s been wearing that body armor the year before his 73* home run year. He kept his “clear cream” inside. Wanna know more?
August 6th, 2007 at 5:10 PM
Wow TBL, you must REALLY hate this guy to put yet another post about him up, and this bullshit one at that.
Dumbest. Fucking. Article. Ever.
No props for Tom Glavine, just more of your incessent bitching about Barry Bonds. yawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwn
August 6th, 2007 at 5:13 PM
Combine the roids, body armor, and the bat and you get the cliched “perfect storm” that allowed this to happen. In 1998 MLB approved use of maple bats, and we all know that Barry was one of the first and only client’s to take full advantage of this with his “SamBat” made from the finest Canadian maple. Even today the top quality maple that Sam Holman uses in his bats are reserved for Bonds, Pujols, Soriano, and Howard. Not a bad clientle list for your top of the line product.
August 6th, 2007 at 5:21 PM
Glavine? 300 wins? Perhaps last pitcher to do it? At least last pitcher for the foreseeable future? Anyone at TBL want to mention it? Is this thing on?
August 6th, 2007 at 6:18 PM
We are clearly missing the big picture. Bonds is actually hitting more home runs because his son is in the dugout controlling that bionic arm with a joystick. The evidence is clear he is with him everywhere. Damn you Nikolai! Hii like to play….
August 6th, 2007 at 6:46 PM
i think we all learned in the hit movie “Eraser” that you can’t run from your problems.
August 6th, 2007 at 7:03 PM
Seriously what a disgrace by TBL. One sentence on Glavine (in the roundup) who is the total antithesis of Bonds, yet we get another post of this clown. Doesnt use power of brute force and quietly went about his job including a clutch performance in game 6 of the 95 world series. And lets not forget he was stellar in last year’s playoffs also. Unreal. Just unreal. I’m sure if the mets lose to the Braves tomorrow there will be a post in yardwork about how the Mets pitching staff is awful and they wont hold on..
August 6th, 2007 at 7:32 PM
So I trust we will be putting an asterisk next to Craig Biggio and his 3,000+ hits then?
This article is retarded.
August 6th, 2007 at 8:31 PM
It does allow him to crowd the plate with a greater level of confidence (which is what I’m assuming the article argued), but I don’t see how that makes pitchers any less likely to brush him off of the plate, just like they would to anyone else they deemed too close. As someone said above, there is plenty of controversy swirling around Barry Bonds, and I don’t think this deserves to be added to the mix.
August 6th, 2007 at 8:36 PM
Give me a break. Dumbest article ever, only further proof that TBL absolutley despises BB to post crap like this. How about some love for Tommy Glavine instead of this bullshit?
August 6th, 2007 at 8:37 PM
Gave plenty of love to Glavine in the roundup. This Bonds link was billed as an EXCLUSIVE!! and I actually thought it was satire the first time i read it.
August 6th, 2007 at 8:45 PM
Allonthefield – Read the article. A different twist.
TBL – I read that article and thought it was just a tongue in cheek fun fun article to mock all the Bonds coverage. Then I realized the article was from Editor and Publisher. While interesting (and sort of funny the first time I read it), it obviously has zero proof that his arm contraption benefited him the way ol boy wrote about. Lots of postulizn and hypothesisn. The article had a very TMQ air of absoluteness to it. “I’m right because I’m intelligent and everyone else is stupid.” I’m going with the author was serious about what he wrote.
August 6th, 2007 at 8:49 PM
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/unfiltered/?p=482
this isn’t news. this isn’t interesting. this doesn’t have merit. this is the big lead in a nutshell.
August 6th, 2007 at 9:23 PM
Exactly, KC. I seriously had to double check twice to see if it was the Onion i was reading.
That’s like a running back wearing a knee brace and it giving him a speed boost.
I guess my humor doesn’t always go over well here.
August 6th, 2007 at 10:23 PM
If this is plenty of love ” Tom Glavine hits the 300-win mark, and it could be a long, long time before anyone else gets there. (Mets are better than Sex)”..you could have fooled me, it was a whopping 20 words…Hey this just in guys- Barry Bonds used Steroids- He Stinks!
August 6th, 2007 at 11:04 PM
Yeah, TBL, don’t hurt yourself going so out of your way to all that love to Glavine! I hope Bonds get his homer tonight so everyone can just go back to resentfully ignoring him.
August 7th, 2007 at 8:38 AM
I actually enjoyed the article, not because I think it’s 10 percent truth, but because I hate that fucking thing he wears on his arm. If you wear armor to the plate, you should have to wear it in the field. Pussies.
August 7th, 2007 at 10:41 AM
Who is Tom Glavine? THIS JUST IN….Tom Glavine post don’t get 40+ comments just after being posted…..but Bonds does.
August 7th, 2007 at 10:57 AM
He should give his body armor to the soldiers.