With the upcoming home run chase I thought it would be interesting to compare and contrast the careers of Barry Bonds and Hank Aaron.

Career Numbers Comparison:

Barry Bonds (21 seasons 1986 to 2006)
.299 Avg
.443 OBP
.608 SLG
1.051 OPS
182 OPS+
(OPS+ is OPS compared to league average. An average player would have a 100 for his career, a player who is twice as good as an average player would have a 200. I think this is a good stat for comparing players in different eras.)
734 Home Runs
2152 Runs
1930 RBI
509 SB

Hank Aaron (23 seasons 1954-1976)
.305 Avg
.374 OBP
.555 SLG
.929 OPS
155 OPS+
755 Home Runs
2174 Runs
2297 RBI
240 SB

To me it looks like Bonds pretty easily wins this matchup. While Bonds certainly has played in a more explosive offensive era overall, the late 80s and early 90s were not particularly explosive years league wide and when comparing the OPS+ it's clear that Bonds has dominated his competition more so than Aaron did his. Aaron does have a slightly higher batting average and slightly higher counting stats (well until this season anyway...) and to some old timers that may give him the edge. To you old timers I say get out your calculator and get with the times.

While Bonds easily wins the match up of career numbers he even more easily wins when you are talking about peak performance. Aaron started of his career strong and perhaps his greatest strength was his consistency throughout his career. Bonds on the other hand struggled his first few seasons and those early struggles hurt his career numbers.

Bonds at his peak has been among the very best players in baseball history and I do not think Aaron ever displayed that same level of dominance. Bonds has won 7 MVP awards in his career (unmatched by anyone) while Aaron won only one MVP award. While Aaron did lead the NL in OPS 3 times, Bonds lead it 9 times. While Aaron lead the league in slugging pct 4 times, Bonds lead it 7 times.

Probably the most telling thing is this: Of the top four all time greatest OPS seasons in history, three of them are by Barry Bonds (the other by Babe Ruth.) Aaron? not a single season even in the top 100.

Aaron amassed great numbers over his career through consistency and by being an all star season in and season out. But Bonds has been something more than an all star, he has been truly great. He has been on a level that I would argue only Ted Williams and Babe Ruth have ever shared. True complete domination of his competition.

So while Bonds will be chasing down Aaron this season for one of baseball's most historic marks, he passed him long ago when ranking the games greatest all time hitters.

-Josh-

Labels: Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron