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nice since he took steriods
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Barry Bonds, Giants
Watching David Ortiz, Carlos Beltran, Albert Pujols and all the other heavy hitters of October makes one wonder just how many great sluggers there are in the majors.
It makes one wonder something else, too: If these guys are this good, how good is Barry Bonds? Don't forget, Bonds is considered better than each of those players. Way better in many respects. The numbers prove it, and his peers believe it.
Bonds, 40, was voted the Sporting News Player of the Year in balloting by major league players. It was not quite a runaway vote, though. Of 552 players who voted, 169 1/2 picked Bonds. Dodgers third baseman Adrian Beltre, who led the majors with 48 homers and hit .334 with 121 RBIs, had the second-most votes, 116.
Barry Bonds put up numbers in 2004 that were impressive even by his standards.
Cardinals third baseman Scott Rolen was third with 93. He carried the Cardinals' offense before the All-Star break and finished with a .314 average, 34 homers and 124 RBIs. Last year's winner, Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols, had 64 votes. He hit .331 with 46 homers, 123 RBIs and 133 runs scored. Hit-master Ichiro Suzuki, who broke George Sisler's 84-year-old record for hits in a season with 262, had 28 votes.
Not even a season of being in the middle of a steroid controversy hurt Bonds' performance on the field -- or swayed his colleagues in their voting.
It's hard to argue with his numbers:
Bonds' .609 on-base percentage broke his own major league record and was 140 points better than Todd Helton's second-best .469. This is the first season any player has crossed the .600 mark.
His .812 slugging percentage was 155 points better than the .657 posted by Pujols, who finished second. Bonds' on-base plus slugging percentage was an astronomical 1.422.
He won the National League batting crown with a .362 average.
He hit 45 homers, his fifth consecutive season with at least that many, and drove in 101 runs.
He broke his major league record for walks in a season, with 232; it was the first year any player walked more than 200 times. Bonds' record 120 intentional walks were more than the total walks issued to all but three other players this season.
He struck out only 41 times, or once every 15.05 plate appearances, and was the sixth-toughest player to strike out.
"I am extremely thrilled to be the recipient of the Sporting News Player of the Year award," Bonds says. "It is truly an honor to be recognized by my fellow players. I would like to thank the Giants' organization, my teammates, my family and especially the fans, who give me such great support."
nice since he took steriods
Barry Bonds is a tremendous athlete with incredible hand, eye coordination...He truly deserves to be name PLAYER OF THE YEAR....
I hope this puts an end to all this nonsense of Foreign substance abuse....
I have it on good authority that everything Barry takes is made right here in the old USA!
Funny, his 700th HR ball sold for only $800K. Seems a bit low, but then BB has never been very popular.
I am sure that Todd McFarlane will spend 5 million on the ball that breaks Hank's record 755 HRs though.
Last edited by Jimcs50; 10-27-2004 at 08:03 PM.
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