Major League Baseball
Boone on Bonds — Something special

By Larry Stone
Seattle Times baseball reporter

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In the eyes of Bret Boone, Barry Bonds has done the near-impossible: At 40, he's topped himself.

This is one ballplayer in unabashed awe of another. Boone, who has been an All-Star-caliber second baseman and was a strong Most Valuable Player candidate in 2001, is fully cognizant that Bonds is in an entirely different league as he heads to his seventh MVP award.

"How about those numbers?" Boone marveled. "That's the greatest year in maybe the history of sports. With all due respect to Michael Jordan, and everybody who came before us — Babe Ruth — no one is doing stuff he is. I don't think it's even close. Can you imagine anything more unbelievable than what he's doing?

"He's got 130 hits, and he's got 45 jacks (home runs). He's got 100 ribbies (runs batted in), all in 370 at-bats, because no one will pitch to him. Oh, and he's hitting .370. And don't forget the 230 walks."

Entering yesterday, Bonds was hitting .364 (135 for 371), with 45 homers, 101 RBI and 228 walks. His on-base percentage is an astounding .609, a stunning complement to his .817 slugging percentage.

"You're a star if you're on base .400," Boone said. "How about .600? You have a great, tremendous eye if you walk 100 times. Let me double that, and add another 25. It's numbers we've never seen. If you start breaking Babe Ruth's numbers, you're doing something pretty special. No one's ever walked the earth that can hit like that man." Bonds will blow away his own major-league record for highest on-base percentage (.582 in 2002). In fact, Bonds will now possess four of the top 11 seasons for OBP — his last four seasons, almost inarguably the best four-year stretch in baseball history.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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