Barry Bonds = New MLB HR King

And, please, shelve any mention of "perspective" or the "grand scheme" for the indefinite future. (And feel free to mention another certain someone and their achievements of the past week regarding career marks in runs scored and walks.) (And feel free to discuss said person as if you were said person.)

I for one think this is very good. A baseball player who is actually pretty damn good (one of the best ever even) should have that record even though it actually means nothing anymore.

You mean Rickie " big butt " henderson? I hear Bonds is an asshole.

I think Bonds and Henderson are both treated pretty unfairly. I mean, the only player other player around from when I first got into baseball is Ripken, who gets treated like a saint for being durable, whereas with Henderson people are like "you're still around? How tiresome." As for Bonds, they had a big ESPN biog thing on TV here before Wednsday's game, and the Barry-haters came across a lot worse than the man himself. So he likes his own space? I can get with that. So someone of his teammates hate him - that's OK, I've known people at work who have almost come to blows with each other and I never thought "Boy, if people hate you real bad that automatically makes you an asshole". And finally, a lot of baseball's greats - Cobb, Mantle - were unspeakable bastards anyone, and no-one begrudges them their places in the record books.

Too true Mark. I'll take wildly talented, private and a bit misunderstood > one-dimensional and full of andro.

And that runs record isn't cheap. That thing has been around since the 1920s! Longevity is part of it, but, hell, you obviously have to get on base to score and you don't do that by just showing up every day. I wonder how many runs came after stolen bases? Sure, Henderson is part a product of the coked- up, stolen base-happy 1980s but he has been manufacturing lots of these runs for himself and his teams.

Saint Sammy still should be the MVP, though. heh.

Sosa For MVP = NONSENSE. Bonds is having possible the 3rd best season of ALL TIME (behind Ruth and Ruth, circa '20 & '21). He has reached base 51% of the time (people with 40% clips, a la Rickey Henderson, are rare & valuable commodities). He has an .820ish slugging percentage (meaning the number of hits he's collected - singles, doubles, triples, HRs - expressed as the # of total bases collected equals 82% of his total at-bats for the season; players with .600 slugging percentages are Golden Gods, given lots of money, and are allowed to have the most destructive extra-cirricular activities imaginable).

I could go on, but, you know, it's no contest, except for the media feeling slighted because Bonds won't capitulate and be all luvy- duvy. Horsepuckey.

PS - The Cubbies giving their pitching coach the heave-ho is going to seriously funk their shat up.

Oh, David, I was just being a hometown fan. Sosa absolutely carries that team from the plate -- they managed to lose three times when he had three-HR games -- but crapping out in August and Sept. and missing the playoffs effectively eliminates any legit Sosa for MVP clatter.

And, yes, the future of the Cubs rests on Wood, Lieber, and Cruz. Their shat is truly funked up.

I Till dont understand the idea of sluggin percentage. How abotu those red sox? WHat the hell happened! They shoudl have been great. Nomar, Pedro, Manny,Everet... talk about mismanagement . It IS a cursed team

Slugging average (it's not a percentage) = total bases / at bats. Bonds slugging right now is .860(!) which would beat Babe Ruth's single season record; it means he averages .86 bases per at bat. 4 for 4 with four singles or 1 for 4 with a home run both equal 1.000. The best you can do is 4.000; that means you've homered every time at bat (4 bases per at bat). Bonds and Rickey are two of my favorite players (Rickey Henderson is my favorite player of all time; my first tee-ball glove was a Rickey signature model and that's why I became an A's fan in 1981).