Posted on 08/06/2007 10:19:31 AM PDT by my_pointy_head_is_sharp
NEW YORK Beyond his alleged steroid use, Barry Bonds is unquestionably guilty of the use of something that confers extraordinarily unfair mechanical advantage: the “armor” that he wears on his right elbow. Amid the press frenzy over Bonds’ unnatural bulk, the true role of the object on his right arm has simply gone unnoticed.
This is unfortunate, because by my estimate, Bonds’ front arm “armor” has contributed no fewer than 75 to 100 home runs to his already steroid-questionable total.
Bonds tied Henry Aaron’s home run record of 755 on Saturday night and will go for the new standard this week back at home in San Francisco. As a student of baseball – and currently a mechanics consultant to a major league baseball team -- I believe I have insight into the Bonds "achievement." I have studied his swing countless times on video and examined the mechanical gear closely through photographs.
For years, sportswriters remarked that his massive "protective" gear – unequaled in all of baseball -- permits Bonds to lean over the plate without fear of being hit by a pitch. Thus situated, Bonds can handle the outside pitch (where most pitchers live) unusually well. This is unfair advantage enough but no longer controversial. However, it is only one of at least seven unfair advantages conferred by the apparatus.
The other six:
1) The apparatus is hinged at the elbow. It is a literal "hitting machine" that allows Bonds to release his front arm on the same plane during every swing. It largely accounts for the seemingly magical consistency of every Bonds stroke.
(Excerpt) Read more at editorandpublisher.com ...
How anyone can take baseball seriously is beyond my understanding.
And I can still name the starting eight for each year of the Big Red Machine of the 70’s.
I stopped going to games when they went on strike back in the early 1980’s, and haven’t attended a baseball game since.
This is just another example of why.
Way to go Selig, you destroyed your own customer base and the GAME itself.
All Bush’s fault.
Mo Vaughn used to wear one of Cam Neely’s elbow pads. It looked huge for the time. Compared to Bonds, it was nothing.
I thought MLB had put standards about the size of elbow pads.
Bob Gibson / Nolan Ryan / Don Drysdale would have put his butt in the dirt.
One can only hope that an “*” will always reside next to the name “Bonds” in the record books
Well, all I can say is congratulations to Henry Aaron for hitting 755 home runs!
Oh please. Players have been trying to enhance their performance since the game was invented. Spikes in shoes, braces for knees and elbows, weightlifting straps for back support, vitamins, steaks, protein diets, aspirin and ibuprofin.... something new every year. Point is, you can have all that stuff, but if you haven’t got the talent, you’re gonna strike out.
Smaller ball parks. Less talent in the Majors. Thats all.
A Rod seems to have made it to 500 with no need for such things as drugs and elbow hinges. Hopefully he will eclipse Bonds' record and then it will be "Barry who?"
Now that was a magical event. Barry Bonds....so what?
I think the point is that it used to be both — it was entertainment AND a legitimate sport.
Now it will have to be a double “**”
Bush lied. Hank’s been tied.
Not at this level. It is an industry.
Is there any reason that every hitter could not wear the same thing???
If it made that much difference ever big league hitter would have one of their very own.
For this to be true Bonds would have had to have been a poor hitter before he started wearing it. Bonds has been a great hitter for a long time.
Just another BS post.
Interesting read and it makes a lot of sense to me........
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