Honestly when you are talking all time greats, you have to separate pitchers from position players (that’s why Ruth is still the GOAT bc he was dominant in both).

That being said on your list of position players, the only ones that are better than Bonds pre-PEDs are Ruth, Gehrig, Williams. He would be peers with a lot of the others.

Also Will Clark??

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Posted by Tornado Alley

Member since Mar 2012

28522 posts

Posted on 4/11/25 at 6:38 am to STEVED00

quote:
That being said on your list of position players, the only ones that are better than Bonds pre-PEDs are Ruth, Gehrig, Williams.

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Posted by STEVED00

Member since May 2007

23159 posts

Posted on 4/11/25 at 7:31 am to Tornado Alley

Here is a comparison of Bonds, Mays, and Aaron. Obviously it’s there complete career and we all know BB turned super human from 2000 to 2004 but BB is significantly better in most categories. Aaron played about 300 more games than BB and Mays. Aaron was a great player;however, his availability and consistency were big strengths for him.

Aaron only has 1 MVP and Mays has 2 while BB has 7. Barry Bonds won the National League Most Valuable Player (MVP) award seven times, in the years 1990, 1992, 1993, 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004 so he was a 3 time MVP well before his PED years. Honestly I think Bonds got aggravated seeing guys like Sosa, Bagwell, and Palmeiro becoming his peer and he wanted to prove a point.

Bonds/Aaron/Mays Stat Comparison

This post was edited on 4/11/25 at 7:55 am

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Posted by STEVED00

Member since May 2007

23159 posts

Posted on 4/11/25 at 7:57 am to VADawg

quote:
This is a pretty good career statline, right? .289/.412/.567, 494 HR, 1547 BB, 1189 K, 111.4 bWAR, 3 MVP, 8 Gold Gloves. That's Barry Bonds if he had retired after the 2000 season.

Throw in his stolen bases and it’s even more impressive.

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Posted by theunknownknight

Baton Rouge

Member since Sep 2005

60937 posts

Posted on 4/11/25 at 8:41 am to STEVED00

quote:
That being said on your list of position players, the only ones that are better than Bonds pre-PEDs are Ruth, Gehrig, Williams. He would be peers with a lot of the others.

Bruh. These stats from 1987-2000 (outside of stolen bases which I’ll credit him) just don't compare

Bonds Totals:
.288 batting average
445 home runs
1,299 RBIs
2010 hits
1455 runs
4016 total bases

Bonds 162 game average:
.288 average
163 hits
118 runs
36 home runs
105 RBIs
315 total bases
.409 OBP
.559 slugging

Average career totals of other 7 players I listed (out side of the true GOAT Will Clark)

.358 batting average
408 home runs
1,703 RBIs
2711 hits
1797 runs
5335 total bases

Average 162 games for these 7:
.358 batting average
229 hits
152 runs
34 home runs
144 RBIs
401 total based
.433 OBP
.576 slugging

It’s really not that close.

In favor of the seven (per season).
1. 70 points higher batting average.
2. 66 more hits
3. 10 more doubles
4. 8 more triples
5. 39 more RBI
6. 34 more runs
7. 86 more total bases
8. 24 points higher OBP
9. 17 points higher slugging

About equal in walks and home runs

The only stat Bonds beats them in is stolen bases and that is only 21 a year.

These two players are not on the same level:

.288 BA/36 HR/105 RBIs/118 RUNS/315 TBs

.358 BA/34 HR/144 RBIs/152 RUNS/401 TBs