Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
May 19, 2008
Still the King?

Henry Aaron still considers himself the home run king. People used to make arguments that Babe Ruth was still the home run king, because he hit his 714 long balls in a lot less at bats than Henry did. Some people just don't like to let go of old records. Twenty years after Aaron broke Ruth's record, no one tried to make that argument anymore. Twenty years from now, no one will think Aaron is the home run king, either.


Posted by David Pinto at 10:56 AM | Records | TrackBack (0)
Comments

...because A-Rod will have smacked 800 by then and nobody will be concerned about a possible 'roid addict being called the best ever ;-)

Posted by: Devon Young at May 19, 2008 11:45 AM

in my opinion, there's a huge difference here. The argument that Ruth was still the home run king was ridiculous and probably had a lot of racial overtones to it unfortunately. The argument against Bonds is that he cheated. That won't be forgotten in 20 years.

Posted by: Tom at May 19, 2008 11:53 AM

I don't think the argument about Ruth being home run king was ridiculous at all. People made that argument because Ruth was clearly a better home run hitter than Aaron. Aaron just stayed around longer. He had nearly 4000 more at bats and he only hit 41 more home runs.

Posted by: Matt at May 19, 2008 12:43 PM

Well, Hank, I'm with you. You're still the HR king in my book. I think you have to have gotten the record without blatant cheating for it to count.

Posted by: Derek at May 19, 2008 01:40 PM

Devon's right, Arod will be the next holder of the title. Barry merits a footnote, he not his record will be the asterisk.

Posted by: abe at May 19, 2008 01:46 PM

He isn't, get over it.

And, while I continue to love the "magic pill" theory of PED success, the fact remains that players today are better, fitter (i.e. training all the time), better trained, etc. than players from the 80s or the 70s or the 60s.

Here's one for ya: If Hank Aaron could hit all those home runs and only "cheat" with uppers, why is it that some player in the future couldn't hit more home runs than him? Right...that's what I thought.

Barry's it until A-Rod.

Posted by: Kent at May 19, 2008 01:52 PM

How does A-Rod's injury impact his chances? He's getting to the age where it could all go downhill in a hurry. Look at Ken Griffey Jr. after all...

Barry Bonds is one of the best -- if not the best -- hitter in baseball history. We can all wax nostalgic about the good ol' 'Greenie Days' but that won't change the fact that Barry is better.

An asshole? Most probably. A cheater? Probably. A poor baseball player? Never.

Posted by: Sal Paradise at May 19, 2008 08:46 PM

What's that make Roger Maris?

Posted by: Bandit at May 20, 2008 02:42 PM
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