@MathMan5072 said in Best player you seen play live and or best game you seen live at the stadium.:

@vox_pestis said in Best player you seen play live and or best game you seen live at the stadium.:

@MathMan5072 said in Best player you seen play live and or best game you seen live at the stadium.:

@nflman2033 said in Best player you seen play live and or best game you seen live at the stadium.:

As much as I hate his guys, statistically speaking, the answer is Barry Bonds, both as a Pirate and a Giant.

Ignoring Bonds, I would say Ken Griffey Jr., but by the time he got to Cincinnati, he was a shell of his former self. I may have to go with Tony Gwynn, at least in the early 90s he was still great. Saw Glavine and Smoltz, but never got to see Maddux or the big unit live.

Best game I went to, well most memorable, I was at the brawl between the Reds and Cardinals, where Molina and Phillips had words at the plate right in the bottom of the first, Cueto kicked LaRue I believe. Quite a nasty site as bad as anything I have ever seen at a hockey game.

Shoot. I forgot about Barry. I sat in the right field seats on opening day at dodger stadium one year and the guy must have hit the ball a good 20 rows behind me. It was unbelievable.

Such a shame. As much as I dislike him, Barry was great before ever touching a needle. The talent was unquestionable. But the jealousy bug got him, he just couldn’t stand seeing players he considered inferior surpassing him (McGwire). That season where he hit .370 and a ton of home runs was amazing, not for the counting stats but because he walked almost every at bat, rarely swung, but when he did it was “perfect/perfect”. That isn’t just roids.

.370 46 hr 110 rbi. 47 strikeouts. 198 BB!!!

He just made the perfect villain though, especially if you’re a dodger fan. He was incredibly good, he didn’t hesitate to tell you how good he was, he was a cheater, he broke several sacred records, and did I mention that he was really good. The crazy thing is I believe he could’ve have done all of it without the steroids. Unfortunately we’ll never know. But it was still amazing to see what the guy could do on a baseball field.

The thing with Barry though is that he’s just as much a victim as he is a villain. Barry Bonds was Mike Trout before anyone even looked at WAR. He was a victim of being under appreciated and his talent was evaluated differently in the era he played. Counting stats were what got the attention. If Bonds had been evaluated then in the way we view Trout now, the narrative around him would be different and perhaps he never would’ve sought the attention he craved because his greatness would’ve been appreciated and recognized at the time.

He may not have been the most likeable personality, but his prickly relationship with the media also stemmed from his frustrations in his lack of recognition as the best player in the game. In 1996, Barry put up a 40/40 season worth 9.7 WAR and finished 5th in the NL MVP vote. Two years later, Sammy Sosa won the NL MVP with 66hrs and a 6.5 WAR. That same season, Mark McGwire hit 70hrs and posted a 7.5 WAR, finishing 2nd in NL MVP voting. Barry Bonds that season? His 37hrs were barely half as many as McGwire’s. Barry finished 8th in NL MVP voting despite posting an NL best 8.1 WAR for position players. They were different times and different metrics were used to measure these guys.

I’m not a live or die by WAR kind of guy, but it’s so easy to see how under appreciated he was in his time, and easy to see how it could motivate him to do what he thought was necessary to receive the recognition he thought he deserved.

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