Barry Bonds holds the record for most career home runs in MLB history. Whether or not you believe he belongs in the Hall of Fame, his 762 long balls is a record that will likely never be broken. We are not here to have the classic debate about Bonds' fate regarding the HOF, but rather an interesting perspective he has shared with the baseball world.
Bonds played a long 22 year career that started in 1986 with the Pittsburgh Pirates and ended with the San Francisco Giants in 2007. Since Bonds retired nearly 20 years ago, the game has changed a lot and it sounds like he believes that has a lot to do with Shohei Ohtani's success.
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Barry Bonds throws shade at Shohei Ohtani
If you ask most avid MLB fans who they believe the best player in the league is today, they would most likely say Shohei Ohtani. Ohtani has been an all-star for four consecutive seasons now and has three MVP awards. His ability to hit, steal bases and pitch when healthy makes him one of the most unique talents we have seen in a long time.
While Bonds is impressed with Ohtani's success, he seems to think things would be a little bit different if Ohtani was in the league during his era. Bonds joined the 'All the Smoke' podcast where he shared his interesting perspective on Ohtani's career so far.
Bonds started off by recognizing Ohtani's greatness, saying, "There's no doubt about the type of player Ohtani is and what he's accomplished in his career, the game has just changed."
The conversation continued with Bonds saying, "Ohtani is not gonna hit two home runs without seeing one go right at his head in my generation, I don't care what he does. He's not gonna steal two bases without somebody decapitating his kneecap to slow him down because it was a different game back then," Bonds firmly stated.
It sure sounds like Bonds is taking pride in playing in an era where teams would throw at hitters and try to make them uncomfortable just because they were good. Bonds is right, this is a new era of baseball. So let's move on from the "back in my day" attitude and if teams don't like seeing other players be successful against them, get better. Like we said in 2018, let the kids play.