Posted By:
GlennI'm with Chad here. If you just go by the numbers it's not even a contest.
Bonds 2000-2004 AVERAGED a markedly better OBP (.535)* than Hornsby had in his greatest season (.507 in 1924).
He also averaged a markedly better slugging percentage (.782)* than Hornsby had in his best season (.756 in 1925).
Either as a team statistic is a better predictor of run production than is team batting average, and the sum of the two (i.e., OPS) is better still. There are better possible measures of a hitter's prowess, but none as parsimonious as OPS. Bonds and his flaxseed oil had the best five year run.
Interestingly,
Bonds: 615 runs
Hornsby: 615 runs
Bonds also had more stolen bases.
(For the other statisticians, these are unweighted averages, but the weighted ones do not differ by more than .003)
[edited to add a necessary comma]