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 ...
And pitchers don't cheat? Other players don't add that little bit of tar to the bat? As fat as Babe Ruth was he jogged on singles later in his career. And Babe Ruth would have been kicked out years earlier simply because of his lifestyle.
Don't give me this baseball is holier than all before Bonds. Other players used whatever it took to get the job done. And for years the drugs Bonds is accused of using were of legal use
” Well, all I can say is congratulations to Henry Aaron for hitting 755 home runs!”
Well stated, he did the “old way” along with Babe Ruth, etc.
Barry, Mark etc will never compare to the originals.
I mean our 7 and 8 batters had averages close to .300! No one to pitch around. No one.
‘nuff said!
Carbo was a BOSOX not a Cincy guy, right?
He was a Cincy guy until he was traded.
Perhaps it doesn't. Yes, if the device is legal for Bonds to use, it can be used by anyone else who chooses to do the same.
For us non-baseball fans, I wish it had a picture of the thing.
thanks for the post..
Amen.
OMG! That’s funny! Give that poor stick boy some steroids!
Check out post #72 for a picture of the thing.
For those very reasons you stated about the distinctions between today’s game and that of the Ruth era, Ruth was a far more accomplished player and record-setter than any of the moderns.
Even if admitting of the poor pitching you claim from his era, Ruth’s contemporaries had all those same advantages you mentioned, yet none came close to his feats. In the modern era, Bonds is no where near the exponentially better player that Ruth was in his day.
Uh, yeah; there is a reason not everyone wears one. Because they are banned unless the hitter can prove the need due to injury but Bonds is “grandfathered-in”.
The author concedes that Bonds was a great hitter but get real. Up until age 37, he averaged a home run every 15 at-bats. After age 37, he miraculously exploded his HR production to 1 every 9.1 at-bats.
These Bonds apologists are complete jokes and need to grow up and stop idolizing these athletes who have cheated baseball history. Barry Bonds went from one of the best players of the 20th century (which he was up until the age of 37) to a fraud who used unnatural means to surpass Hank Aaaron, one of the great and honorable men in the history of baseball.
“A Padres fan! I’m honored......let me thank all of you San Diego fans for the CLASS you showed! It was much appreciated in San Francisco!”
We shouldn’t take too much credit for class. San Diego is even more laid back than San Francisco! Intense booing of anybody just isn’t cool down here!
“FYI - baseball is enjoying a resurgence in popularity. Park attendance is at an all-time high and TV ratings are climbing up steadily this season. Citing games with low attendance means little - there are a few bad teams every year and out of 81 home games people will not go out of their way every night to see them play.”
Yep baseball has broken new attendance records every year for the last four and it will break another one this year.
Yes, go watch a Little League game where the sport is pure: there, the coaches have absolutely no egos and there are no political shenanigans either on the field or in the boardroom.
Read the article. Bonds is grandfathered in. Other players would need to get special permission to wear the same thing.
By the same token, I don't recall any other player who started playing in the same time-frame using anything like this device. That leaves me still wondering if it's all that this guy's making it out to be,
Well, as long as you’re satisfied.
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