"Bonds hits one to left center field. He hits it well. Klesko back, it is out of here! Number 700 for Barry Bonds," said the announcer for the San Francisco Giants on Sept. 17 when Bonds hit his 700th home run that went 392 feet and landed in the left field bleachers. "Aaron, Ruth and now Bonds [belong to] the 700 Home Run club as Bonds steps on home plate," said the announcer.

Bonds has managed once again to make history, despite many pitchers refusing to pitch to him. At this point, it is probably safe to assume that most pitchers sweat a little when Bonds steps up to the plate. However, wouldn’t it challenge the pitchers more if they pitched to him? According to Buck O’Neil, a 93 year old legendary Negro League star who played against Babe Ruth in the Satchel Paige All-Stars during the off season in the 1930s, "In my day pitchers wanted to get the Babe out and tell their grandchildren, ‘I got the great Babe Ruth out.’ There was no pitching around him." The Contra Costa Times reported in an online article on Sept. 20 that O’Neil believes the Babe was great, but Bonds is better all-around.

As of Sept. 21, Bonds has had 347 at bats and 208 walks for a total of 555 plate appearances. Bonds leads both the National and American leagues with a batting percentage of .372. He also leads both leagues in walks. In fact, the second highest number of walks has been given to the Houston Astro outfielder, Lance Berkman with 124 walks. Another amazing fact considering all of the walks that Bonds has been faced with is that Bonds has the second most runs this season with 120. St. Louis Cardinals All-Star, Albert Pujols, leads both leagues in runs with 124. Still not convinced that Bonds is deserving of all the

hype? This season he has 43 homeruns (again as of Sept. 21.) The only two players that have more is the Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman, Adrian Beltre with 45 home runs and Pujols with 44 homers.

What do all of these statistics mean? Bonds is one heck of hitter. The man knows how to swing the bat and doesn’t mess around when he gets a decent pitch thrown his way. He has overcome leading the league in walks by leading the league in batting percentage and showing up in homeruns and runs. Bonds comes to play and play he does.

According to the online article in the Contra Costa Times, O'Neil agreed that even if Bonds were to retire now, "He'd have to be considered one of the greatest players who ever lived." Does being one of the greatest players to ever live give pitchers a reason to shy away from Bonds? Shouldn’t pitchers look at Bonds as a challenge? If a pitcher can strike Bonds out, or even if the team gets him out, wouldn’t that be an accomplishment and improve the pitcher’s and the team’s confidence along with their credibility?

"That was the era of the great pitchers," said O’Neil as he remembered when pitchers pitched to Babe Ruth, Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio. "They said, `I want to get Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio out. I'm not going to walk them.' How could you learn how to pitch if you don't have a chance to get these guys out?"

If our pitchers today only thought as "the era of the great pitchers" did, maybe Bonds would have reached the Babe’s record of 714 home runs or Aaron’s record of 755 homers already. It is even conceivable, but not very likely due to the end of the regular season coming, that Bonds reaches Babe Ruth’s record this season. As of Sept. 21, Bonds was only eleven home runs away from tying Ruth’s 714 home runs. As long as San Francisco stays in the Wild Card race, Bonds could continue adding to his home runs during 2004.