I-70 Baseball Exclusives Cooperstown Choices 2013

Cooperstown Choices: Barry Bonds

Bill Ivie

With the Hall Of Fame election announcement coming on January 9, 2013, it is time to review the ballot, go over the names, and decide who belongs in the Hall Of Fame.

There are twenty four men on the ballot for the first time this year and we will take a look at each one individually prior to official announcements. You can find all of the profiles in the I-70 Baseball Exclusives: Cooperstown Choices 2013 menu at the top of the page.

In this article, we take a look at Barry Bonds

 

Barry Bonds
Barry’s historic career spanned 22 seasons that would see him play for two teams.  His list of accomplishments include: seven Most Valuable Player Awards (1990 and 1992 with Pittsburgh, 1993 and 2001-2004 with the Giants), 14 All Star selections (2 with Pittsburgh, 12 with San Francisco), eight Gold Glove Awards (3 with Pittsburgh, 5 with the Giants), and 12 Silver Slugger Awards (3 with the Pirates, 9 with the Giants).

Year Tm G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+
1986 PIT 113 413 72 92 26 3 16 48 36 65 102 .223 .330 .416 .746 103
1987 PIT 150 551 99 144 34 9 25 59 32 54 88 .261 .329 .492 .821 114
1988 PIT 144 538 97 152 30 5 24 58 17 72 82 .283 .368 .491 .859 148
1989 PIT 159 580 96 144 34 6 19 58 32 93 93 .248 .351 .426 .777 126
1990 PIT 151 519 104 156 32 3 33 114 52 93 83 .301 .406 .565 .970 170
1991 PIT 153 510 95 149 28 5 25 116 43 107 73 .292 .410 .514 .924 160
1992 PIT 140 473 109 147 36 5 34 103 39 127 69 .311 .456 .624 1.080 204
1993 SFG 159 539 129 181 38 4 46 123 29 126 79 .336 .458 .677 1.136 206
1994 SFG 112 391 89 122 18 1 37 81 29 74 43 .312 .426 .647 1.073 183
1995 SFG 144 506 109 149 30 7 33 104 31 120 83 .294 .431 .577 1.009 170
1996 SFG 158 517 122 159 27 3 42 129 40 151 76 .308 .461 .615 1.076 188
1997 SFG 159 532 123 155 26 5 40 101 37 145 87 .291 .446 .585 1.031 170
1998 SFG 156 552 120 167 44 7 37 122 28 130 92 .303 .438 .609 1.047 178
1999 SFG 102 355 91 93 20 2 34 83 15 73 62 .262 .389 .617 1.006 156
2000 SFG 143 480 129 147 28 4 49 106 11 117 77 .306 .440 .688 1.127 188
2001 SFG 153 476 129 156 32 2 73 137 13 177 93 .328 .515 .863 1.379 259
2002 SFG 143 403 117 149 31 2 46 110 9 198 47 .370 .582 .799 1.381 268
2003 SFG 130 390 111 133 22 1 45 90 7 148 58 .341 .529 .749 1.278 231
2004 SFG 147 373 129 135 27 3 45 101 6 232 41 .362 .609 .812 1.422 263
2005 SFG 14 42 8 12 1 0 5 10 0 9 6 .286 .404 .667 1.071 174
2006 SFG 130 367 74 99 23 0 26 77 3 115 51 .270 .454 .545 .999 156
2007 SFG 126 340 75 94 14 0 28 66 5 132 54 .276 .480 .565 1.045 169
22 Yrs 2986 9847 2227 2935 601 77 762 1996 514 2558 1539 .298 .444 .607 1.051 182
162 Game Avg. 162 534 121 159 33 4 41 108 28 139 83 .298 .444 .607 1.051 182
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+
SFG (15 yrs) 1976 6263 1555 1951 381 41 586 1440 263 1947 949 .312 .477 .666 1.143 199
PIT (7 yrs) 1010 3584 672 984 220 36 176 556 251 611 590 .275 .380 .503 .883 147
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 12/12/2012.

Why He Should Get In
The list here is simply astonishing.  He had 2,935 hits.  He led the league in home runs twice, including the single season record of 73 in 2001.  He won two batting titles.  He finished his career with 762 home runs, 2,558 walks, and 688 intentional walks, all of those are all time records.  He led the league 10 times in on base percentage, seven times in slugging percentage, and nine times in OPS (on base plus slugging percentage).  His career is unparalleled and unrivaled by the best to ever play the game.

Why He Should Not Get In
There are two things keeping Barry out of the Hall: his connection to steroids and he is generally disliked.  He was one of the most brash and disrespectful players in the game when it came with interactions with the media, the fans, or his teammates.  His connection to steroids will keep him out for a good long time, but I would wager to say that he will eventually find his rightful place in Cooperstown.

Bill Ivie is the editor here at I-70 Baseball
Follow him on Twitter here.

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