Barry Bonds quest for HR record

[Dan Gould]

Don't know if it's been commented on, but I vaguely recall seeing somewhere that HGH improves visual acuity.

You need to provide a source for that, for it makes no sense. As the article I linked says, HGH simply makes everything grow. Can visual acuity improve because the eyes are bigger? I kinda doubt it.

[Noj]

FWIW, eyes are full-grown at birth.

[ghost of miles]

Bonds: Owner of No. 756 ball is 'idiot'

Wed Sep 19, 3:53 PM ET

SAN FRANCISCO - Barry Bonds said the man who bought his 756th home run ball and announced plans to let the public decide its fate is an "idiot."

Fashion designer Marc Ecko had the winning bid Saturday in the online auction for the ball that Bonds hit last month to break Hank Aaron's record of 755 home runs. The final selling price was $752,467, well above most predictions.

Ecko, 35, has set up a Web site that lets visitors vote on three options for the ball: give it to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, brand it with an asterisk before sending it to Cooperstown or blast it into space on a rocket ship.

The asterisk would suggest that Bonds' record is tainted by alleged steroid use. The Giants slugger has denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs.

"All of those options don't weigh anything," Bonds told the San Francisco Chronicle on Tuesday night in Phoenix. "In baseball, that number (756) stands."

Bonds said Ecko could have found a better way to spend three-quarters of a million dollars.

"He's stupid. He's an idiot," Bonds said. "He spent $750,000 on the ball and that's what he's doing with it? What he's doing is stupid."

Ecko did not directly respond to Bonds' comments Wednesday, but said in a statement he would make Bonds a custom T-shirt that says, "Marc Ecko paid $752,467 for my ball, and all I got was this 'stupid' T-shirt.'"

Ecko plans to announce what he will do with No. 756 after voting ends Sept. 25.

Ben Padnos, the California entrepreneur who submitted the $186,750 winning bid on Bonds' record-tying 755th home run ball, said Tuesday he also plans to have the public vote on what to do with it.

[Brownian Motion]

The New York Times

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September 20, 2007

Physicist Shows How Steroids Can Fuel Home Runs

By REUTERS

Filed at 3:12 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Steroids can help batters hit 50 percent more home runs by boosting their muscle mass by just 10 percent, a U.S. physicist said on Thursday.

Calculations show that, by putting on 10 percent more muscle mass, a batter can swing about 5 percent faster, increasing the ball's speed by 4 percent as it leaves the bat.

Depending on the ball's trajectory, this added speed could take it into home run territory 50 percent more often, said Roger Tobin of Tufts University in Boston.

"A 4 percent increase in ball speed, which can reasonably be expected from steroid use, can increase home run production by anywhere from 50 percent to 100 percent," said Tobin, whose study will be published in an upcoming issue of the American Journal of Physics.

Tobin, who normally studies condensed matter and physics, wondered if professional baseball players who have recently been accused of boosting their performance with steroids really would benefit from using the drugs.

"If you look at other sports, you don't see radical changes in performance. No one is running a 6-second 100-meter dash, no matter what they are taking," Tobin said in a telephone interview.

BONDS NOT FOCUS OF STUDY

Tobin read reports about steroids that said they could add about 10 percent to an athlete's total muscle mass. Could this be enough to help San Francisco Giants player Barry Bonds, dogged by allegations of past steroid use, hit his record-breaking 756th career home run last month?

"I haven't tried to look at Barry Bonds specifically so I haven't looked at his weight numbers," Tobin said.

What he did look at was the power of a batter's swing, and how it might affect a baseball.

An extra 10 pounds (4.5 kg) of muscle, he said, could add just enough extra to a batter's swing to send the ball out of the park, or at least into the stands.

It works for pitchers, too, but not as well.

He calculated that a 10 percent increase in muscle mass should increase the speed of a thrown ball by about 5 percent, or 4 to 5 mph (6.4 to 8 kph) for a pitcher who throws a 90-mph (144-kph) fastball.

That could translate into one fewer earned run every other game.

"That is enough to have a meaningful effect on the success of a pitcher, but it is not nearly as dramatic as the effects on home run production," Tobin said.

"The unusual sensitivity of home run production to bat speed results in much more dramatic effects, and focuses attention disproportionately on the hitters."

Tobin said it is possible that baseball players could gain the muscle mass by lifting weights.

"This doesn't prove anything. This is not an indictment of Barry Bonds or anybody else," he said.

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[Dan Gould]

The New York Times

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September 20, 2007

Physicist Shows How Steroids Can Fuel Home Runs

By REUTERS

BONDS NOT FOCUS OF STUDY

Tobin read reports about steroids that said they could add about 10 percent to an athlete's total muscle mass. Could this be enough to help San Francisco Giants player Barry Bonds, dogged by allegations of past steroid use, hit his record-breaking 756th career home run last month?

"I haven't tried to look at Barry Bonds specifically so I haven't looked at his weight numbers," Tobin said.

What he did look at was the power of a batter's swing, and how it might affect a baseball.

An extra 10 pounds (4.5 kg) of muscle, he said, could add just enough extra to a batter's swing to send the ball out of the park, or at least into the stands.

It works for pitchers, too, but not as well.

He calculated that a 10 percent increase in muscle mass should increase the speed of a thrown ball by about 5 percent, or 4 to 5 mph (6.4 to 8 kph) for a pitcher who throws a 90-mph (144-kph) fastball.

That could translate into one fewer earned run every other game.

"That is enough to have a meaningful effect on the success of a pitcher, but it is not nearly as dramatic as the effects on home run production," Tobin said.

"The unusual sensitivity of home run production to bat speed results in much more dramatic effects, and focuses attention disproportionately on the hitters."

Tobin said it is possible that baseball players could gain the muscle mass by lifting weights.

"This doesn't prove anything. This is not an indictment of Barry Bonds or anybody else," he said.

No, it doesn't prove anything, but it maybe it will make Goodie re-think his "steroids can't help you hit home runs" stance?

Nah. What could I be thinking? The only thing he will take out of that article is "Not an indictment of Bonds" and "doesn't prove anything".

[Chalupa]

Bonds won't return with Giants for '08, team confirms Edited September 22, 2007 by J.H. Deeley

[Dan Gould]

Bonds won't return with Giants for '08, team confirms

I guess the $64,000 question will be whether Goodie, having lost his home team blinders, will suddenly realize that all of the allegations really are true.

I'm guessing only if he signs with the Dodgers.

[Tim McG]

As I had predicted....Barry Bonds will not be back in a Giants uniform in 2008.

Giants tell Bonds they are moving in different direction, letting slugger go

By JOSH DUBOW, AP Sports Writer

September 21, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Barry Bonds is finished in San Francisco.

The Giants told Bonds they will not bring him back next season, ending a 15-year run in which he set the single-season and all-time home run records and became a lightning rod for the steroids debate in baseball.

"It's always difficult to say goodbye," Giants owner Peter Magowan said Friday. "It's an emotional time for me. We've been through a lot together these 15 years. A lot of good things have happened. Unfortunately a lot of bad things have happened. But there comes a time when you have to go in a different direction."

On his Web site, Bonds said he wasn't done.

"There is more baseball in me and I plan on continuing my career. My quest for a World Series ring continues," he said.

The 43-year-old Bonds did not join Magowan and general manager Brian Sabean at the news conference. Asked whether he had anything to add, Bonds said, "I already made my statement."

Bonds had always said he wanted to finish his career in the comfort of his hometown, where his father, Bobby, played alongside his godfather, Willie Mays. Bonds talked with Giants Hall of Famer Willie McCovey and took batting practice in the cage before Friday night's game against Cincinnati.

Bonds hasn't played since Sept. 15 because of a sprained right big toe and was out of the lineup again. Manager Bruce Bochy said he thought Bonds could play this weekend. The Giants' final homestand ends Wednesday night.

Magowan said he and Sabean recently decided about Bonds' future. Magowan personally told Bonds in a 90-minute meeting during Thursday night's game against Cincinnati.

"I think he knew the decision was coming," Magowan said. "I don't think it was surprising to him. I think, naturally, he was disappointed, maybe somewhat saddened," Magowan said. "But he was really very respectful."

Bonds broke Hank Aaron's record with his 756th home run on Aug. 7. Bonds helped revitalize a struggling franchise that nearly moved to Florida before he signed with the Giants as a free agent in December 1992.

Bonds has spent the past 15 seasons of his 22-year big league career with the Giants. Re-signed as a free agent in the offseason, he made $19.3 million in a one-year contract, including $3.5 million in bonuses.

Shadowed by steroid speculation for the past few years, Bonds has hit 28 homers this season, raising his career total to 762. The seven-time NL MVP is batting .279 with 66 RBIs and a major league-leading 132 walks.

"He can still play," Sabean said. "He's still one of the biggest threats of any No. 4 hitter in the National League."

Prior to the toe injury, he had been mostly healthy, playing 125 games. The left fielder has 2,935 career hits and has said that reaching 3,000 is a goal of his.

"This is a guy who plays every day and is still leading the National League in some league categories, which is amazing," teammate Barry Zito said. "He's really done special things this year being at the age that he is. If Barry has the opportunity to go be a DH somewhere I'm sure that's only going to prolong his career."

Despite Bonds' personal achievements, the season has been a disappointing one for the Giants, who are mired deep in last place in the NL West.

"We've heard for a long time that the Giants are an old team and want to get younger, so we're not surprised," said Bonds' agent, Jeff Borris. "Barry is their oldest player, but qualitatively, he's their best player."

"He's still planning on playing next year, irrespective of whether it's an AL or NL team," he said.

Bonds has long denied using performance-enhancing drugs, but fans across the country have greeted him with placards inscribed with asterisks -- baseball-fan shorthand for the belief that his record is hopelessly tainted by allegations of steroid abuse.

Even the person who paid $752,467 for Bonds' historic 756th home run has threatened to stamp it with an asterisk.

Fashion designer Marc Ecko revealed himself this week as the winning bidder for the ball and has posted a Web site giving visitors a chance to vote on what he should do with the ball: donate it to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.; brand the ball with an asterisk in reference to the steroid allegations against Bonds; or blast the ball into space.

After parting ways with Bonds, San Francisco will be free to scrap a win-now philosophy in which Sabean surrounded the slugger with aging veterans every year to maximize Bonds' chances to win his first championship. San Francisco came within five outs of winning the World Series in 2002, but hasn't been back to the postseason since 2003.

"It is certainly unprecedented for an organization, especially a general manager, to replace a player like this, which will be nearly impossible," Sabean said.

In his statement, Bonds said he believes the Giants made the decision long ago not to bring him back for next season.

"Although I am disappointed, I've always said baseball is a business, and I respect their decision," Bonds said. "However, I am saddened and upset that I was not given an earlier opportunity to properly say goodbye to you, my fans, and celebrate with the city throughout the season as I truly believe this was not a last-minute decision by the Giants, but one that was made some time ago."

"I would have loved nothing more than to retire as a Giant in the place where I call home and have shared so many momentous moments with all of you," he said.

Bonds' presence helped the Giants build their waterfront ballpark that is on pace to draw more than 3 million fans for the eighth straight season since opening. Bonds was the biggest draw but Magowan said he was not concerned about how his absence would affect attendance.

"I think we pride ourselves as an organization on knowing what our fans think. On this issue the fans are divided, Magowan said. "We listen to our fans carefully, but they don't make the decisions. They are made by the baseball people."

San Francisco is where Bonds became entangled with federal prosecutors and with the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, the lab at the center of the steroids scandal in professional sports.

The perjury investigation is focused on whether Bonds lied in 2003, when he told the federal grand jury investigating BALCO that he never knowingly took performance-enhancing drugs.

Bonds said his personal trainer told him he was taking flaxseed oil and arthritis balm.

His childhood friend and trainer, Greg Anderson, has spent nearly a year in prison for refusing to testify to the grand jury investigating Bonds' alleged perjury.

On the field, a championship is about the only thing missing on Bonds' resume.

He played in his 13th All-Star game this summer, an event held in his home ballpark.

Bonds has reached the postseason seven times, and a World Series title barely eluded him in 2002. The Giants were just five outs from the title in Game 6 against the Anaheim Angels, but they lost that lead and also got beaten in Game 7. Bonds hit .471 in those seven games with four home runs, and the Angels walked him 13 times.

A day after last season ended, Magowan said that Bonds would no longer be the centerpiece of the organization and that the team would change its formula for winning.

Bonds then checked out the free-agent market, and a couple of teams -- including St. Louis, Oakland and San Diego -- showed early interest. But there seemed to be a pervasive feeling around baseball that Bonds would ultimately rejoin the Giants and he did for one final season that was a disappointment for the team.

"The fact that we failed doesn't mean that Barry failed the Giants in some fashion," Magowan said. "He did all that we could have reasonably expected or anticipated he could do when we signed him."

AP Baseball Writer Ben Walker in New York contributed to this report.

[Tim McG]

The New York Times

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September 20, 2007

Physicist Shows How Steroids Can Fuel Home Runs

By REUTERS

BONDS NOT FOCUS OF STUDY

Tobin read reports about steroids that said they could add about 10 percent to an athlete's total muscle mass. Could this be enough to help San Francisco Giants player Barry Bonds, dogged by allegations of past steroid use, hit his record-breaking 756th career home run last month?

"I haven't tried to look at Barry Bonds specifically so I haven't looked at his weight numbers," Tobin said.

What he did look at was the power of a batter's swing, and how it might affect a baseball.

An extra 10 pounds (4.5 kg) of muscle, he said, could add just enough extra to a batter's swing to send the ball out of the park, or at least into the stands.

It works for pitchers, too, but not as well.

He calculated that a 10 percent increase in muscle mass should increase the speed of a thrown ball by about 5 percent, or 4 to 5 mph (6.4 to 8 kph) for a pitcher who throws a 90-mph (144-kph) fastball.

That could translate into one fewer earned run every other game.

"That is enough to have a meaningful effect on the success of a pitcher, but it is not nearly as dramatic as the effects on home run production," Tobin said.

"The unusual sensitivity of home run production to bat speed results in much more dramatic effects, and focuses attention disproportionately on the hitters."

Tobin said it is possible that baseball players could gain the muscle mass by lifting weights.

"This doesn't prove anything. This is not an indictment of Barry Bonds or anybody else," he said.

No, it doesn't prove anything, but it maybe it will make Goodie re-think his "steroids can't help you hit home runs" stance?

Nah. What could I be thinking? The only thing he will take out of that article is "Not an indictment of Bonds" and "doesn't prove anything".

OK so....one guy makes a study and it's valid?

How did that happen?

If this doesn't prove what I have been saying for a decade now, Dan....what else do you need? Tobin even stated as much.

And HGHs don't make you play better either.

Lets move on to reality.

[Dan Gould]

Lets move on to reality.

"Reality"?

You haven't been remotely conversant in reality since this conversation started. You don't have the slightest clue about any of it, you're entirely alone in your opinions, and you want to get back to "reality"???

[Chalupa]

FWIW, eyes are full-grown at birth.

According to this guy the eyes keep growing until somewhere around 8-13 years. Granted, we're only talking about 6mm of growth.

http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/feb20...62929.An.r.html

[Jazzmoose]

I'm guessing only if he signs with the Dodgers.

The chase is over, time to dump him. You know, I was really upset when the Braves pulled this shit on Aaron, but for some reason I can't get worked up over it with Bonds.

[Tim McG]

Lets move on to reality.

"Reality"?

You haven't been remotely conversant in reality since this conversation started. You don't have the slightest clue about any of it, you're entirely alone in your opinions, and you want to get back to "reality"???

Zzzzzz.....

[Tim McG]

I'm guessing only if he signs with the Dodgers.

The chase is over, time to dump him. You know, I was really upset when the Braves pulled this shit on Aaron, but for some reason I can't get worked up over it with Bonds.

He's 43, Jazzmoose.

He wants way too much to continue playing for an aging ballclub with little to show for any palatable offensive numbers.

The need is with hitting and pitching.

Bonds isn't an everyday player, and though I am sad to see the end come....it is time to move on.

Honestly? I wish he would just retire and at the top of his profession.

[Dan Gould]

Honestly? I wish he would just retire and at the top of his profession.

Which profession? Cheater? Asshole?

He's been a world class asshole far longer than he was a world-class baseball player.

He'll be officially recognized as a world-class cheater and perjurer before Spring Training 2008.

[Tim McG]

Give it a rest already, Dan. Huh?

Geez.

Don't you have something better to do like brow-beat some poor Liberal or espouse the glory of Ronnie Ray-Gun or the psuedo veracity of the George Bushes?

Go kick an innocent Liberal or something.

Edited September 23, 2007 by GoodSpeak

[Matthew]

I'm guessing only if he signs with the Dodgers.

The chase is over, time to dump him. You know, I was really upset when the Braves pulled this shit on Aaron, but for some reason I can't get worked up over it with Bonds.

He's 43, Jazzmoose.

He wants way too much to continue playing for an aging ballclub with little to show for any palatable offensive numbers.

The need is with hitting and pitching.

Bonds isn't an everyday player, and though I am sad to see the end come....it is time to move on.

Honestly? I wish he would just retire and at the top of his profession.

I'm still kind of surprised that Bonds is going. Sue Burns, the real majority owner of the Giants, is a huge fan/friend of Bonds, and the rumors I kept hearing was that she wanted him to come back. Guess not after all. I also don't see where Bonds will wind up, has to be the AL because is outfield play was so bad when I was able to watch the Giants in July, no movement or range at all. Plus, he could not fit in with any other team out there, he's too used to having his own way. Too bad it's ending this way, he was a monster talent.

[Free For All]

Looks like the asterisk option was the winner.

Bonds: Owner of No. 756 ball is 'idiot'

Wed Sep 19, 3:53 PM ET

SAN FRANCISCO - Barry Bonds said the man who bought his 756th home run ball and announced plans to let the public decide its fate is an "idiot."

Fashion designer Marc Ecko had the winning bid Saturday in the online auction for the ball that Bonds hit last month to break Hank Aaron's record of 755 home runs. The final selling price was $752,467, well above most predictions.

Ecko, 35, has set up a Web site that lets visitors vote on three options for the ball: give it to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, brand it with an asterisk before sending it to Cooperstown or blast it into space on a rocket ship.

The asterisk would suggest that Bonds' record is tainted by alleged steroid use. The Giants slugger has denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs.

"All of those options don't weigh anything," Bonds told the San Francisco Chronicle on Tuesday night in Phoenix. "In baseball, that number (756) stands."

Bonds said Ecko could have found a better way to spend three-quarters of a million dollars.

"He's stupid. He's an idiot," Bonds said. "He spent $750,000 on the ball and that's what he's doing with it? What he's doing is stupid."

Ecko did not directly respond to Bonds' comments Wednesday, but said in a statement he would make Bonds a custom T-shirt that says, "Marc Ecko paid $752,467 for my ball, and all I got was this 'stupid' T-shirt.'"

Ecko plans to announce what he will do with No. 756 after voting ends Sept. 25.

Ben Padnos, the California entrepreneur who submitted the $186,750 winning bid on Bonds' record-tying 755th home run ball, said Tuesday he also plans to have the public vote on what to do with it.

[Chalupa]

Here's a link to the article...

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3036756

[Dan Gould]

No doubt it is the perfect result.

After Bonds is indicted and convicted, the Hall can put together the perfect display to summarize this sad era:

Bonds going from scrawny rookie to monstrous hulk

His hat size swelling

syringes, etc.

Shots of his homers, culminating in 756

Pictures of his perp walk

Pictures of him in his orange jump suit

The ball, branded with an asterisk

[Jazzmoose]

Pictures of him in his orange jump suit

The ball, branded with an asterisk

Things like this make me wish I knew my way around photoshop...I'm picturing Bonds in a "Beagle Boys" type prison outfit with an asterisk instead of a number...

[trane_fanatic]

I'm going to the game tonight. He is the greatest IMO. This witchhunt has shades of racism in it, if you ask me.

[Dan Gould]

I'm going to the game tonight. He is the greatest IMO. This witchhunt has shades of racism in it, if you ask me.

Please explain, in light of the fact that Mark McGuire's is virtually unanimously derided for steroid use based on his Congressional testimony and his candidacy for the Hall of Fame is largely considered to be dead in the water based on his first year ballot results.

Please explain further how racism is involved since Rick Ankiel was widely derided for apparently receiving a shipment of HGH - no proof that he used it exists - while by Bonds very own testimony, he used "the cream" and "the clear" and his sole defense is that he wasn't told that they were designer steroids.

These charges of "racism" remind me of the reactions to OJ Simpson and Michael Vick. Two black men, guilty as sin of the crimes they are/were accused of, and yet some people somehow believe that charging "racism" washes away the truth.

[Aggie87]

I'm going to the game tonight. He is the greatest IMO. This witchhunt has shades of racism in it, if you ask me.

In addition to Dan's comments, it might help your stance if the person who's home run record was broken wasn't also black.

[trane_fanatic]

Um... I said "shades" of racism. Did he bring a lot of this on himself by being an arrogant asshole? Of course. But if you guys have read some of the comments about him that I've seen, the sheer venom towards him is just pure racial hate.

IMO, both O.J. and Vick are guilty as hell and the way O.J. constantly is able to dodge responsibility is sickening.

Just because a black man held the record before Bonds doesn't mean anything. In the eyes of a racist, the real HR king is Babe Ruth. It's just another black man breaking the record again that galls 'em so much.

Personally, I've never understood the investment of time and energy that Bonds-haters use to deride him. He gets it like no other athlete I've seen. If he's on the juice, more likely than not, he will pay for it when his body breaks down and turns against him as he ages. Meanwhile, Roger Clemens' head and shoulders continue to expand every year and his fastball gets better every half-season he plays. I haven't heard any outcry about that. Just my 2 cents.