Barry Bonds Says Miguel Cabrera Isn’t As Good As He Was
By Josh Hill
Miguel Cabrera has quietly become the best player in baseball today — well quietly if you’re watching him from afar. For those watching the brilliance Cabrera is showing every night with the Detroit Tigers, you’ll know that he’s violently become the best in baseball thanks to his ability to hammer the ball all over the field and drive in runs for Detroit.
But while he’s the best in the game at the moment, one player has come out of the wood-work to tell everyone to calm down before rushing to shower Cabrera with acclaim so quickly. Barry Bonds has surfaced in Howard Hughes-like fashion to wave is curled fingernails at the notion that Cabrera is the best of all-time — because everyone was totally saying that.
“He’s definitely the best,” Bonds said of Cabrera, via USA TODAY Sports. “It’s not rocket science here. He’s the best. By far. Without a doubt. The absolute best.”
But….
Bonds gave Cabrera his props for what he’s done, as it would be wildly hypocritical of the guy who was out for constant pats on the back to withhold accolades for a guy clearly rising above the rest. But he extended his compliment and firmly reversed it into a back-handed one, by saying Cabrera isn’t comparable to him because Bonds was better.
“I don’t try to compare me to anybody,” Bonds said. “I was the best on the field. I did more things than he did. My game was different than his game. So comparing him, to me, there’s no comparison. He doesn’t have my MVPs. He doesn’t have my numbers. Well, not yet, anyways.”
What Bonds isn’t mentioning is that every time a player like Cabrera heats up, there is hope around baseball that he will indeed one day have Bonds’ numbers– but he’ll have done it the legit way.
When Barry Bonds is mentioned, a cloud suddenly forms in the sky and is cast over whatever is said about him. This has everything to do his is too close for comfort existence with steroids. He’s largely labeled as the poster child of that era, the worst of the worst. It’s truly a Shakespearean tragedy as Bonds was well on his way to being the best there ever was in the late 80s and early 90s but his constant need to be the biggest headline drove him allegedly into steroid use.
When Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire were racing towards Roger Mantle’s 61 home runs record in 1998, Bonds was breaking records as well but he was always bumped to the back page thanks to the thrill of the home run chase. So, he thought that if people wanted a show, he’d give them one and he ended up breaking McGwire’s record as well as Hank Aaron’s career record as well.
But the cloud of doubt around Bonds has taken all the juice out of his accomplishments because is widely believed he was injecting the stuff into his body. That means when a guy like Cabrera is becoming the best player in the game, Bonds has very little authority when it comes to judgment.