Who Ya Got? Baseballs Best. Bonds & Rodriguez

Photo Via: Los Angeles Times

By Alex Horton

So me and the boys of Take Your Base have been having this conversation a lot these past couple weeks. Who is the greatest baseball player ever? Some people may come up with the answer of Babe Ruth, or Ted Williams. There’s Joe DiMaggio and “The Say Hey Kid” Willie Mays. Some might even tell you that it’s Ken Griffey Jr. or even go as far to say Mike Trout. But none of those guys came up in the conversation. We kept coming up with two names, Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez. So today I’m going to throw it back and give you a “Who Ya Got”.

As Danny Glover said, “You want to hear a story? All right. Let me tell you a story about 25.” Son of Bobby and God Son to “The Say Hey Kid” Barry Bonds is greatest power hitter of all time. Forget the steroids because frankly Barry Bonds, Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa saved baseball with them. Bonds has the most home runs (762), most walks (2558) and the most intentional walks (688) all time. 8 time Gold Gloves, 14 All Star appearances, 12 Silver Slugger awards and 2 batting titles. For those of you who want to hate on Bonds and say that Bonds only hit home runs, well the man had 514 stolen bases, 3 shy of Jose Reyes and 5 more than legendary speedster Ichiro Suzuki. I don’t quite remember the last time a guy got 8 Gold Gloves by hitting just home runs either. Bonds finished with a Career Average of .298 and an On Base Percentage of .444. So Bonds didn’t always hit for average but a .298 average to end your career is nothing to scoff at. So besides the numbers, why is Bonds the greatest player of all time? He was one the most electric and intimidating players to ever step foot in the batters box. So let me take you back to 1998, the Diamondbacks are up 8-6 in the bottom of the 9th inning with 2 outs and the bases loaded, Barry Bonds strolling to the plate. The Diamondbacks respected and feared Bonds so much they walked in a run and put the tying run 90 feet away just to AVOID pitching to Bonds. The ultimate respect any batter could face. OH I almost forgot Bonds is also a 7 time MVP. 4 of which were consecutive from 2001-2004. Oh and he was 36, 37, 38, and 39 years old when he won those. The fact that a ball player could be at the top of their game at that age, you would never see it in today’s game. Did he take steroids during those years? Yeah most likely did it help extend his career? Most likely. But you’re going to crucify Bonds as the scapegoat when there was an overwhelming percentage of players’ using steroids during that Era as well? The old heads in baseball would try to convince you otherwise and tell you that its unbecoming a Hall of Famer. Ty Cobb was said to frequently brag about beating a man to death and how many players took Methamphetamines in the form of greenies so that they could recover from a night of cocaine and alcohol abuse?

Alex Rodriguez might not have been the most social person, and definitely got himself into trouble with the media frequently but man was he a hell of a ballplayer. Rodriguez ended his career with a .295 Batting Average, 3115 hits and 696 home runs. He was the youngest player to ever reach 600 home runs and sits at 4th all time. He owns 10 Silver Sluggers and 3 MVPs. He was also an All Star 14 times. Just looking at A Rod’s career and thinking back on it feels like something was just missing from it. He is also an accused steroid user and that just may be the downfall as to why A Rod had troubles later in his career with injuries. But besides his numbers A Rod had the eye test checkbox marked. Just watching him play baseball you could tell he was the most talented player on the field, no matter who else was on the field with him. As a Red Sox fan I hated A Rod, but as I got older I saw just how special a player the guy was and actually ended up liking him more and more as his career became shrouded in the PED allegations and his tenure with the Yankees became strained. Unfortunately for Rodriguez I don’t think he ever needed the steroids to make him the best, he had the talent to be the greatest player to ever live and he makes the argument hard. The use of steroids took its toll on A Rod and it definitely contributed to way his body broke down towards the end of his career. It was unfortunate the way it happened and to be honest if they hadn’t I’m sure that this article would be different where I’d be calling Rodriguez the greatest player all time. I got Barry Bonds on top however. But that’s just my opinion, tweet at us or comment and tell us. Who Ya Got?