As we look back on the tremendous offensive season of San Francisco Giants left fielder Barry Bonds, many members of the media are questioning whether Bonds' achievement was "good" for baseball. Much of their concern focuses on how Bonds has, at times in his career, been a surly, arrogant player, in stark contrast to the former record holder, the loveable Mark McGwire. I think the media is on to something, but they are missing the more general--and important--point:
The home run is bad for baseball.
No sport is tied to its statistics more than baseball. Even a casual fan can remember that Joe DiMaggio hit in 56 straight games in 1941, that Ted Williams was the last player to hit .400 and that Roger Maris hit 61 home runs in 1961. The problem is, baseball did something stupid: It allowed labor woes to interrupt the 1994 season. Shockingly, the public didn't feel empathy with either the millionaires (the players) or the billionaires (the owners) and baseball had to find a way to win back jaded fans. Instead of relying on the solution that had worked for the previous 100 or so seasons--the game itself--baseball allowed the competitive formula to be shifted toward power hitting.
Although this short-term solution brought fans back to the gate, it attacked the essence of the sport--the timeless nature of its numbers.
The presence of statistics allows us to compare players throughout the eras. However, every major development in the game since the 1960s--the designated hitter, the construction of smaller ballparks, league expansion and the ever-shrinking strike zone--favors the hitters, particularly power hitters.
Records consistent from the end of the dead-ball era are losing their relevance. Poor Sammy Sosa has hit more than 60 home runs in three consecutive seasons (a feat that had been twice in history before 1998) yet he did not lead baseball in home runs any of those years. How can Chicago White Sox shortstop Jose Valentin, who has hit 53 home runs the past two years be mentioned in the same breath as Hall-of-Fame shortstop Pee Wee Reese, who never hit more than 16 in one season? How is it possible that journeyman outfielder Luis Gonzlaez hit 57 home runs, while the all-time home run king, Hank Aaron, never hit 50 in a season?
On the flip side, modern pitchers have no realistic chance to reach many of their forefathers' statistical accomplishments. Winning 300 games used to be a reasonable accomplishment for a hall-of-fame pitcher. Now, it is practically impossible except for the greatest of the great. Only three active pitchers are among the 100-best career ERA leaders (starters Pedro Martinez and Greg Maddux and reliever John Franco)
This explosion of home runs has promoted one-dimensional players like Mark McGwire. These chemical-laden freaks of nature can't play defense, get hurt at alarming rates, strike out way too much, fail to execute the fundamentals and can't hit for average.
One of the great fallacies of baseball is that you need a middle-of-the-order slugger to achieve success. Just over a decade ago, the Cincinnati Reds won the World Series with the immortal Chris Sabo leading them in home runs, with a whopping 25. In fact, it has been over 20 years since a league home run king has played on a team that has won the World Series. Let's look at this year's statistics to demonstrate this point. The Texas Rangers led Major League Baseball with 246 home runs this season, yet they finished last in their league. Seventeen teams hit more home runs than the Seattle Mariners, yet the Mariners won a record number of baseball games and led baseball in runs scored. More than any team in recent memory, the Mariners embody the traditional values of baseball--they win with pitching, defense and "small-ball" offense.
The two most consistent franchises the last few years have been the Atlanta Braves and the New York Yankees--two teams built through a focus on starting pitching. Teams that splurge on hitting tend to disappoint (such as Manny Ramirez and the Red Sox, Alex Rodriguez and the Rangers and Juan Gonzalez and the Tigers) while the teams that acquire the Greg Madduxes, Roger Clemenses and Randy Johnsons are the teams that are still playing in October.
It's clear that the home-run isn't going away. Players will continue to pump up their bodies to hit them, fans will still pay money to watch them and owners will still pay exorbitant sums to keep them. But as Bonds goes on the free agent market this winter, hopefully some general managers will keep the Mariners' blueprint for success in mind and invest in the players that bring championships, not dingers.
Give me Chris Sabo any day.
Norm Bradley, Pratt '01, is former editorial page editor of The Chronicle and Duke Student Government Head Line Monitor.
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