Barry Bonds was Carlos Beltran

Congratulations to Barry Bonds. He is the all time homerun king in MLB with 756 HRs and now counting. I am so happy and relieved it is all over because now I can hope that ESPN and Sports Talk Radio shows can go back to being normal. I personally don't have a whole lot against Barry Bonds and could care less who owns the record, but on my drive in this morning I couldn't help but question the number of radio hosts and callers that said it did not matter if Bonds took any enhancements because he would have been the greatest baseball player of all time even without performance enhancing drugs....REALLY?

I did hear one host question this statement by stating that Bonds numbers were good but not the best of all time prior to the 1998/1999 time frame of when steroid use supposedly started with Barry. So I started thinking....who exactly would Barry have been compared to today during his first several years. It had to be someone with power and speed. The first name that popped into my mind was Carlos Beltran. I was still in my car and had no idea what the numbers looked like, but I thought they might be similar. So I asked myself...do I consider Carlos Beltran on pace to be the greatest player of all time. My answer was a resounding NO.

So lets look at the facts. I took Carlos Beltran's first full 8 seasons (1999-2006). And then I took a similar 8 year stretch from Barry Bonds (1989-1996). I even did not count Bonds first few years of 1986-1988, of which he had smaller numbers. So, you could say I helped skew the comparison in Bonds' favor. Here is what I found.

Total Games played: Beltran (1162) Bonds (1176) - A Wash
Total ABs: Beltran (4501) Bonds (4035) - Due to Bonds' extra walks and Beltran leading off in KC
Total Hits: Beltran (1264) Bonds (1207) - Advantage Beltran (slight)
Total Runs: Beltran (814) Bonds (853) - Advantage Bonds (slight)
Total Doubles: Beltran (240) Bonds (243) - A Wash
Total Triples: Beltran (52) Bonds (34) - Advantage Beltran
Total Homeruns: Beltran (203) Bonds (269) - Advantage Bonds
Total RBI: Beltran (756) Bonds (828) - Advantage Bonds (slight)
Total SBs: Beltran (224) Bonds (295) - Advantage Bonds
Total Walks: Beltran (519) Bonds (891) - Advantage Bonds (huge)
Total Ks: Beltran (824) Bonds (599) - Advantage Bonds (huge)
8-year BA: Beltran (.281) Bonds (.299) - Advantage Bonds

So you can see after Bonds' first 3 seasons but before the alleged steroid use, I would argue that he was better than Carlos Beltran over Beltran's first 8 seasons thus far. But, I would also argue that the numbers are fairly similar. Sure Bonds' edges him, but does he edge him enough to warrant saying he is greater than Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Willie Mays, or Joe DiMaggio? I don't think so.

My whole argument is to refute those that say Bonds was already going to be the best player even before the alleged steroid use. I think that is crazy. That is like us now saying that Carlos Beltran is on pace to be the greatest player ever. It's a joke. It just so happens that Barry Bonds became an absolute animal from 2000 - 2004. He also has played an incredibly long career (which is worth saluting) and has been pretty steady year in and year out. Perhaps his consistent longevity is more remarkable than anything else. But, if Beltran has another 12 seasons on his current pace would that make him perhaps as good as Ruth, DiMaggio, Williams, or Mays?

As a child growing up in the 80's and 90's, I don't even remember thinking that Bonds was the best player in baseball at the time. Sure I was biased towards Ryne Sandberg, Andre Dawson, and Mark Grace...but I honestly remember thinking Ken Griffey Jr. was probably the best player. Just look at his 8 year stretch from the link...YIKES! Bonds was listed in my mind with guys like Dawson, Puckett, Gwynn, Ozzie Smith, Cal Ripken Jr, and others. He was definitely an All-Star, and a top player of his time, and worthy of All-Century status...but I really have to question greatest player of all time. Maybe he's the best I've ever seen....but would he have been the best I've ever seen if his 4 monster years were more similar to his other solid years? I'm not so sure.

Barry Bonds is a remarkable player, definitely First Ballot HOF Worthy. But I have a really hard time ranking him in the top 3 of all time. Maybe he is the best of my lifetime and maybe we just have so few people that actually can testify personally to Babe Ruth's skill with us anymore. Williams, DiMaggio, and Mays were not on TV like Bonds is every night....but I would still put all 4 of them ahead of Bonds purely on word of mouth testimonies. Maybe I'm the idiot.