I've watched A LOT of baseball in my 43 years on this earth. The greatest player I have ever seen play this game is.....

Jan 21, 2025
11:45:29am

Mr. Belding Truly Addicted User

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Mr. Belding

Previous username: Bravescoug
Bio page: Mr. Belding
Joined: Oct 18, 2013
Last login: Mar 20, 2025
Total posts: 24,304 (3,582 FO)

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Messages

Author

Time

I've watched A LOT of baseball in my 43 years on this earth. The greatest player I have ever seen play this game is.....

Mr. Belding Truly Addicted User

Jan 21, 11:45am

Most enhanced, maybe.

LifeLongLakerFan

Jan 21, 11:47am

Sad thing is that he was great before he roided. He was a sure fire HOFer. On

ATX

Jan 21, 11:53am

Yep, no question.

LifeLongLakerFan

Jan 21, 11:58am

Largest dome

Parker Schnabel

Jan 21, 3:25pm

steroids or not, best hitter I have ever seen.

oryguncoug

Jan 21, 11:47am

Did you see the "not"?

daki

Jan 21, 11:48am

Yes. Was still a great hitter, albeit with less power. I am taking his resume

oryguncoug

Jan 21, 11:51am

He doesn't get the benefit of the doubt. He took steroids because he believed it

SoCalCoug

Jan 21, 11:56am

I don't disagree it is tainted. If original post was "non steroid" aided

oryguncoug

Jan 21, 12:03pm

I don't consider someone the "greatest" if they achieved their numbers

SoCalCoug

Jan 21, 12:09pm

I would agree...it's too bad he was juiced to the gills and also was

Wally Murph

Jan 21, 11:47am

It’s not even close.

TCuz

Jan 21, 11:49am

Prime Trout was kinda close. But still not Bonds.

Scratch

Jan 21, 11:55am

Trout's even on a lot of things--fielding, throwing, pre-steroid speed, & beats

Zooropa

Jan 21, 2:23pm

Incredible natural talent has a hitter. Incredible doubling of his head size.

oxcoug

Jan 21, 11:49am

RE: I've watched A LOT of baseball in my 43 years on this earth. The greatest player I have ever seen play this game

Pollster

Jan 21, 11:50am

Ohtani is the greatest player. Bonds is the greatest hitter.

Cougs4Lfe

Jan 21, 11:52am

Ohtani might get there one day. Bonds was awesome for so long. Ohtani needs

LakeshowCougs

Jan 21, 11:57am

He needs longevity and peak. He has neither over Bonds, only potential. It’s not currently even a debate.

TCuz

Jan 21, 12:01pm

This exactly

RoaroftheCougartails

Jan 21, 12:05pm

I would agree. Ohtani is a unicorn. He just isnt on Bonds level.

LakeshowCougs

Jan 21, 12:12pm

I mean. He did help the Dodgers World Series almost immediately after signing.

Cougs4Lfe

Jan 21, 1:26pm

Ohtani is awesome and it’s great he’s a Dodger. Just needs to be dominant longer

LakeshowCougs

Jan 21, 2:18pm

fair

Incentivize

Jan 21, 1:18pm

Even with my hatred for the Dodgers I have to begrudgingly agree.

Pollster

Jan 21, 11:58am

As a die-hard Giants fan, I can relate.

Cougs4Lfe

Jan 21, 11:58am

Player is all encompassing. Ohtani is not close. From a value perspective, he’s never even put up a 10 bWAR season

TCuz

Jan 21, 12:00pm

Agreed!

Boomcannon

Jan 21, 11:53am

I wish Bo had been able to finish. Bo Jackson

PhilPete

Jan 21, 11:54am

Bo was a very good baseball player. He was not a great baseball player. Look at

Jdoc

Jan 21, 12:03pm

Really wasn’t a great outfielder. He missed a fair number of

lightmann

Jan 21, 12:36pm

I don't think he had a single season batting over .300

HouseDeeking

Jan 21, 12:35pm

Career MLB batting average = .250.

lightmann

Jan 21, 12:39pm

have you heard of this "Ohtani" guy? Pretty special if you can be the best hitter and pitcher in the league.

dryflyelk

Jan 21, 11:55am

He is not the best hitter or the best pitcher. There is no argument for Ohtani over Bonds

TCuz

Jan 21, 12:02pm

And let's not forget he's coming off of Tommy Johns. You just never know with guys after that. Could be great. Could be

RoaroftheCougartails

Jan 21, 12:08pm

It's funny when people try to separate Bonds' hitting results from the steroids

LifeLongLakerFan

Jan 21, 12:06pm

The pitchers were juiced too

StapleGun

Jan 21, 12:08pm

It's funny when people make this claim. Pitchers today throw much harder than

Methusaleh22

Jan 21, 2:51pm

I know a few kids that could use confidence roids. Do you have any sources?

RoaroftheCougartails

Jan 21, 12:13pm

If you don't know how improved performance by artificial means would impact

LifeLongLakerFan

Jan 21, 1:55pm

I understand the confidence boost of PEDs very well. But why don't all the dopers have careers like Bonds?

RoaroftheCougartails

Jan 21, 2:07pm

Many of them did have great HOF-level careers. As for Bonds, nobody

LifeLongLakerFan

Jan 21, 2:16pm

I lived in the Bay Area when Bonds was doing his thing and went to quite a few games. He is definitely the most fun

Pollster

Jan 21, 12:13pm

i agree, bonds is most dominant player to ever play

LO Cougar

Jan 21, 12:21pm

Second most dominant behind Ruth.

Mr. Belding

Jan 21, 12:32pm

this is just an opinion, i think Ruth

LO Cougar

Jan 21, 2:21pm

That's a big claim if you're talking about ever to play. I don't come close

Bumpus Hound

Jan 21, 1:13pm

Besides Mays, who would you rank above Bonds?

Jdoc

Jan 21, 1:15pm

There are a lot of lists out there, but this is the one that I agree with most

Bumpus Hound

Jan 21, 1:19pm

My main quibbles with the list are I don't think Pedro Martinez (#11)

Bumpus Hound

Jan 21, 1:28pm

that escalated quickly

Incentivize

Jan 21, 1:19pm

Griffey Jr is a close second and Pete Rose is 3rd

Jersey hunter

Jan 21, 12:41pm

The best thing about baseball is that we have such good data and numbers

TCuz

Jan 21, 12:45pm

The only good thing about Pete Rose is he makes it easy to identify people who

Scratch

Jan 21, 12:50pm

Honestly, I don't think Pete Rose would make my top 30

Bumpus Hound

Jan 21, 1:03pm

Definitely not.

TheLoanArranger

Jan 21, 1:05pm

When you play forever to amass counting stats but your career WAR is still not

Scratch

Jan 21, 1:10pm

Pete rose is the 1st or second worst 3000+ hit player

ATX

Jan 21, 1:15pm

That’s a ridiculous statement imo.

jimmything

Jan 21, 2:33pm

He's not close to top 30 all-time by any reasonable metric.

Scratch

Jan 21, 2:39pm

I went to a Willie Mays game when I was three. So I'll claim that

Bumpus Hound

Jan 21, 12:56pm

Pre steroid use (1998) he is about a .300 hitter who hit 31 home runs a year.

Nagurski

Jan 21, 2:02pm

I believe it is well documents that Bonds did not start using steroids until

Jdoc

Jan 21, 2:10pm

Lol, he was certainly juicing before 1999

daki

Jan 21, 2:15pm

Most sources say he didn't juice until 1999 and he did it because he was pissed

Jdoc

Jan 21, 2:41pm

From 1990 - 1999, he averaged .301 BA and 33 HRs per season. Starting in 2000,

LifeLongLakerFan

Jan 21, 2:30pm

Yes. The 73 home run year skews the power numbers, but you are right that he

Jdoc

Jan 21, 2:50pm

Except the 73 did in fact happen. And even if you do take it out he averaged

Methusaleh22

Jan 21, 2:58pm

Not sure why you excluded his first four years of his career. I took home runs

Nagurski

Jan 21, 2:40pm

The only reason I excluded the first four years is because he was a much

Jdoc

Jan 21, 2:45pm

In the 90's he averaged upper 30's of home runs WITH steroids.

Nagurski

Jan 21, 3:02pm

Agree completely

BryantReeves

Jan 21, 2:14pm

He is the best hitter, even without roids.

indocoug

Jan 21, 2:28pm

Of all time? Williams and Ruth considerably above him. Maybe Gehrig too.

Zooropa

Jan 21, 2:51pm

It's tough to compare across eras. In fact, I don't think it is really possible.

Jdoc

Jan 21, 2:56pm

Maybe possibly they can play in the afterlife all together. Field of Dreams.

Robert Baratheon

Jan 21, 3:00pm

What Hank Aaron did in the "Dead Ball" era of baseball is hard to beat

slatecoug

Jan 21, 3:02pm

There are a lot of factors that make it hard to compare across eras, but Hank

Zooropa

Jan 27, 11:01am

We need new hof voters. He deserves to be in

Sandy Lyle

Jan 21, 8:51pm

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