Saturday, July 21, 2007

What's more impressive: Barry Bonds' 755 home runs or Roger Clemens' 350 Wins?

This is a topic that should not be argued. Both records show longevity, greatness, and a dominance at their respectful positions. However, 755 homeruns is in-fact a harder record to break than 350 wins. Why? Here is a couple distinct reasons:

1.) The amount of wins a pitcher has over his career can reflect the quality of the team he played for and against. Clemens has pitched for great teams throughout his career and has had great help from his offenses and bullpens to get wins. He played five seasons with the Yankees where his ERA was never below 3.51 and he had an offense and bullpen that gave him gift-wrapped wins. Not to mention his time spent in Houston during an era where the National League was a complete pitchers league. The hitters in the NL failed in comparison to the AL. Clemens's ERA in his time spent in Houston was below 3.00.

2.) If Clemens played for poor teams, he would not have reached 350, maybe not even 300 because he would have had more no-decisions.

3.) Barry hit 753 homeruns on both good and bad teams. The homerun is not a statistic that is based on the quality of a team's performance. It is an individual accomplishment like a strikeout is to a pitcher.

4.) Bonds will be number one for All-Time homeruns hit. Clemens is number eight and needs another 163 wins to beat Cy Young. Granted that its a record that may never be broken due to the evolution of the ball and the game.

If you want to compare these two players, talk about Clemens's strikeouts numbers. (number two all-time) He needs about 900 more to pass Ryan. Even though Bond's would win that debate too, remember the name "Clemens" has been thrown around in steroids talk as well.

You can vote for this article at http://www.helium.com/channels/709-Baseball-Players/debates/78278-whats-impressive-barry-bonds

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