The last response to the Manny Ramirez vs. Ken Griffey Jr. was interesting, and got me to thinking of another comparable player in the same era. Eras are difficult to cross and compare although people love doing that with numbers. So lets take a look at a couple of the best players of the last 20 or so years.
Case for Bonds:
The guy was a beast of a player prior to 1999. He was not only a power threat, but hit for a a high average and was still stealing bases with some regularity. Later in his career Bonds had a power surge which is questioned by many who watched him. Some people forget that Barry Bonds was a pretty good defensive outfielder winning 8 GG in LF. Many remember Bonds as older and one of the wrost defensive outfielders, or in his prime many remember him NOT throwing the guy out at the plate in the NLCS in 1991 (maybe 1992). Bonds was named MVP of the NL 7 times, which is more than two times more MVPs than anyone in the history of the game Mantle, DiMaggio and several others are tied for second with 3 MVP. Lou Gehrig only has 2 MVPs.
The numbers for Bonds are just ridiculious, but some of the questions about how he achieved some of those numbers hurt Bonds case slightly.
Case for Griffey:
Griffey was probably the best player of the 1990's and some of his career numbers are right up there in the top in the history of the game. Griffey has missed a lot of time due to injuries, but doesn't take away from the great career of Griffey. Griffey was without a doubt the better player in the field. Griffey played the much mroe demanding position of CF rather than LF. Griffey had the sweet swing, but hit for a lower average than Bonds. Griffey had more HR than Bonds when looking at career totals until Bonds took off in 2001 and Griffey began his string of injuries.
Career Numbers:
Barry Bonds: 2986 G, 9847 AB, 2227 R, 2935 H, 601 2B, 77 3B, 762 HR, 1996 RBI, 514 SB, 2558 BB, 1539 SO, .298 BA, .444 OBP, .607 SLG, 182 OPS+, 7 MVPs, .984 Fielding %, 14 Time All-Star, 8 Gold Gloves
Bonds 162 Game Avg: 534 AB, 121 R, 159 H, 33 2B, 41 HR, 108 RBI, 28 SB, .298 BA, .444 OBP, .607 SLG
Ken Griffey Jr: 2441 G, 9051 AB, 1575 R, 2616 H, 487 2B, 37 3B, 600 HR, 1730 RBI, 184 SB, 1200 BB, 1629 SO, .289 BA, .373 OBP, .550 SLG, 139 OPS+, 1 MVP, .985 Fielding %, 13 Time All-Star, 10 Gold Gloves
Griffey 162 Game Avg: 601 AB, 105 R, 174 H, 32 2B, 40 HR, 115 RBI, 12 SB, .289 BA, .373 OBP, .550 SLG
So with all that....who ya got?
