Having lived in the San Francisco Bay area for a couple of years, I grew to appreciate Barry Bonds. For the past five or six years as I’ve more closely followed his career, what continuously amazes me is how he stands head and shoulders above the rest.   No one is as feared a hitter as Bonds, and no one earns more walks.

Despite the chorus of rolling eyes, sighs, and moans which I’m receiving right now, let me briefly explain my point of view, and point you to an excellent piece on Bonds and his greatness.

Bonds has never been proven guilty of steroid-use, albeit from the news you’d have thought they already have a jail cell waiting for him. But can steroids really improve your swing? Can steroids earn you the batting crown? Can steroids gain you such a fear among the league’s elite pitchers?

Tony Gwynn, a baseball great of unstained reputation, made a comment a few years back. He claimed Bonds had the purest swing in baseball. Coming from baseball’s best hope for a .400 season in the last twenty years, this compliment by Gwynn seems quite signficant. And Gwynn spent many years playing in Bonds’ division, so he saw Bonds more often than most.

Further, steroid use has historically been widespread throughout baseball. And if it isn’t steroids, its something else. Players from Ruth’s era and on have continually used anything they could to improve their abilities. Bonds is no exception. And again, nothing illegal has been proven.

Under intense scrutiny of late, and amid the fiercest pitching schemes with the ever common intentional walk, Bonds has nevertheless continued to be at the top of the game. And not just in home run numbers. His OPS (on base percentage + slugging percentage), has been miles ahead of the rest of the league for the last several years.

Perhaps because he makes the other sluggers look like underclassmen, and because he is a maverick who doesn’t appreciate nosy reporters, Bonds has gained a lot of ill will. And the steroid suspicion adds to all this. So no one likes Bonds.

Like him or not, you’ve got to admit he is one of the greatest hitters of all time.

Not convinced? Read a very good and fact-filled treatment of Bonds by Kent Brandenburg, here. This piece also speaks to the mistaken thoughts surrounding Bonds increasing in his hat size and body build over the years. If any of you novice writers out there are going to dis Bonds (hey, I’m novice too), you ought to at least read this piece by Brandenburg. Its quite convincing, although this assessment does come from someone already firmly planted in Bonds’ peanut gallery!