I am
not a fan of Barry Bonds. But I hate it when statements are presented as factual, when they are anything but.
While a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Bonds hit 176 home runs, and stole 251 bases. His last three years in Pittsburgh, Bonds was the National League MVP twice, and the MVP runner up once.
Here are two sets of numbers: first, his career numbers as a member of the Pirates, up to and including 1992, the year before you hypothesize that Bonds started using PEDs. The second set of numbers are the totals for Bonds last three years as a Pirate. Look at them. Bonds was a .301 hitter. His per 162 game averages those last three years: 113 runs scored, 165 hits, 36 doubles, 5 triples, 34 home runs, 122 RBI, 49 stolen bases, 120 walks. His slash line was .424/.566/.990.
He won three Gold Gloves those last three seasons. He won three Silver Slugger Awards, too.
My point? Barry Bonds was already a superstar before he ever put on a San Francisco Giants uniform. Had he never used a PED, Bonds, short of suffering a career-ending injury, was on his way to the Hall of Fame. He was the best player in the National League when the Giants got him. He played 140 games the season before, led the NL with 109 runs scored. Led the NL with 127 walks. Led the NL with a .456 OBP. Led the NL with a .624 SLG. Led the NL with a 1.080 OPS. Led the NL with a ridiculous 204 OPS +.
Let me repeat that. His last season in Pittsburgh, his OPS + was 204. That's higher than
any single season in Ken Griffey Jr's career. Hall of Famer Frank Thomas only had one season with a higher OPS + (212 in 1994). Hall of Famer Willie McCovey only had one season higher (209 in 1969). That's higher than
any season Hall of Famer Willie Mays ever had in a single season. That's higher than
any season Hall of Famer Hank Aaron ever had in one season. That's higher than
any season Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio ever had in any one season.
To say that the Barry Bonds who played for the Pirates is nothing like the Barry Bonds that played for the Giants is a completely inaccurate statement.
He was 28 years old his first season in San Francisco. I believe that regardless of PED use or not, Bonds was on his way to becoming a 40-40 player. If you look at his numbers, he was decreasing his strikeouts, and walking more...substantially more, his last three years as a Pirate. His annual walk totals raised from 93 to 107 to 127. His strikeout totals dropped from 83 to 73 and 69 his last year (though he did come to bat 37 fewer times in his last year). His 34 home runs in 1992 was a career high, and he still stole 39 bases. He'd go on to win 5 more Gold Gloves in San Francisco.
Even if Bonds hadn't used PEDs, and his home run totals remained in the mid 30s per season, he was still going to be a member of the 500 home run club. His RBI totals would have ended up about where they are. Even when he hit 73 home runs in 2001, he only drove in 137 runs. He's still driving in 110 + runs a year hitting 30-35 home runs.
Bonds didn't need to use PEDs to become a great player, nor did he need PEDs to become a Hall of Fame player. Perhaps he used them to prolong his career. Maybe he had physical issues that we do not know about. Whatever the case, and whatever his motivation may have been, Barry Bonds would still have been considered one of the greatest players to ever play the game without PEDs, and rightfully so.