Barry Bonds was a very good baseball player. Maybe one of the best ever. So good that I imagine if he was not such a dick during his playing days people might be willing to overlook his PED use and he would already be in the Hall of Fame. Looks at these numbers!
- A 22-year career that resulted in 762 HR–a record that will not be broken anytime soon.
- He retired with a line of .298/.444/.607, good for a 182 OPS+.
- He led the league in OBP ten times and retired with the 6th highest (.444) in history.
- He led the league 13 times in walks and retired with 2,588–the most of any player in history.
- He led the league in intentional walks 13 times and in 2004 got 120. He is far and away the all-time leader.
- Seven MVP awards!
- Eight Gold Gloves and 12 Silver Sluggers.
- 14 All-Star selections.
- Two batting titles.
- And, of course, the single-season HR leader with 73 in 2001.
- His Black Ink score is 69. The average HOF player is 27. Grey Ink? 289. Average HOF is 144. Insane.
This really says it all: Baseball Reference says that the three most statistically similar players to him are Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Babe Ruth.
His autograph is not really cheap, but its nowhere near as expensive as it probably should be. He is not easy to get in person.
I don’t really need another Bonds autograph. But this card was one of many that was part of a set break. I put a snipe in hoping that the personalization would depress enough to keep it cheap. I did it–roughly $30. I was hoping cheaper, but I will take it.
Over the years I have managed to snag a couple Bonds autographs when they were well priced:
2015 National Treasure–which is probably my favorite. I would like to get the Griffey version, but I only ever seen two. One was too expensive and the other had a smear.
1999 Upper Deck SP – This is from one of the nicer autograph sets in history. I have most of the tougher names.
2016 Topps Transcendent – I bought this card mostly because a friend of mine snagged him in-person in Cleveland. I was really thrilled for my friend, but I also was like…heck…I want one now too. This card ended up being really cheap since the was a .99 cent auction.
