OK. Here are the numbers. It's commonly accepted that Bonds began taking PEDs at some point in 1998. If you include Bonds' 10 seasons from 1989-1998 with Mays' 10 best seasons, Bonds' numbers were as follows:
Those are all fair questions, and ones that would require analysis from folks much smarter than I. I do think the statistics demonstrate that Bonds was absolutely producing at a level equal or greater to Mays prior to taking steroids. That, to me, addresses your first point that Bonds was not Mays' equal pre-steroids. Bonds was already, as you said, on track to be a sure-fire Hall of Famer pre-PED.
Good observations. Throughout most of their careers, they were considered the best two players, if you eliminate Williams and Musial, who were older. it was a big debate among baseball fans, especially in NY, who was better. (Duke Snider in Brooklyn was conceded to be the third best CFer, except among Dodger fans).
Statistically, as a hitter, Bonds is behind only Ruth. Bonds was fast and a great base stealer (514 career, even though it fell off when he began hitting his HRs.). None of the three were very good in the field. Ruth was a very good to great pitcher before switching to the outfield.
Mario Mendoza. I don't care what Reggie Jackson felt about him during his illustrious American League career.
Fair enough, but we usually just measure athletes against their contemporaries, otherwise judgments are impossible. Today, we also have a larger population, including blacks, Latinos and more whites and superior nutrition, medical care and training methods, as well as better drugs.
Wait till he gets another 2500+ hits and plays defense like Roberto prior to asking this question...
No disrespect to the current players, but I am old enough to have seen all of those guys from the other era and the kids today. The young guys are great, but still early in their careers. Nevertheless, Aaron, Mays and Clemente were not merely among the top five during their era, they are three of the best players in the history of the game. IMHO this was the golden era of baseball--after the color line was broken and before expansion. I also think Aaron is underappreciated and is the best player I ever saw. He has better numbers offensively than Mays (except steals in an era where bases were not as emphasized; I also don't want to hear about the launching pad boosting his homer totals since he has almost an identical amount of homers at home and on the road for his career) and was every bit as good a defensive player, only less flashy. Aaron also played in obscurity in Milwaukee and Atlanta while Mays played in New York and San Francisco. In any event, God only knows what kind of salaries these guys could command today if you could put them in a time capsule.
