73 days away

I’m going to launch a new feature today, counting down the days to MLB Opening Day and comparing the number of days left to a special number in baseball.

73, for better or worse, is of course the current single-season home run record held by Barry Bonds.

What a lot of people don’t realize though, is that if you go by OPS+, the year Bonds hit 73 wasn’t his his best season.

In 2001, when he hit 73, Bonds had an OBP of .515 and an OPS of 1.378, for a ridiculous OPS+ of 259. But look at these seasons:

2002: 46 homers, .370 batting avg, .582 OBP, 268 OPS+
2004: 43 homers, .362 avg, .609 OBP, 263 OPS+

I’m not trying to say that his 73 homers isn’t as impressive as his other two seasons. I’m just saying that isn’t just one year when Bonds was legendary — he had a pretty legendary four-year span there.

Of course, no one will give him credit for that anymore because of the BALCO controversy. That’s the bad part about the steroid era — achievements that should’ve been impressive will be forgotten historically.

(I got the photo here.)