I was lookin at some of the overall hr stats from the 80's. It's still staggering to see the the difference in hr's of today compared to then. Would 2001 Barry Bonds have hit 73 hr's in lets say 1987? In those days nobody hit more than 40. Would Bonds or Sosa hit 30+ more hr's than anybody else of that time? Just wanted to see what my fellow White Sox brother's and Sister's thought about this.

In the last 10-15 years, supplements have been perfected, strength training has been perfected, and swings have been perfected.

 

It's tough to say, but I do not think Bonds would have broken the record in the, lets say, late eighties.

Depends on what you mean exactly. I am a firm believer in the evolution of baseball players. I think the players of today are way superior to the past generations of hitters. They are bigger, stronger, faster, and smarter. They can hit more pitches and have more ability.

 

So if you are saying to transport Barry Bonds 2001 to play in 1987, he would hit way more homers than anyone else, because no one else would have anywhere near his ability. I don't know if he would hit 80 or something like that for a couple of reasons. The baseballs are much tighter wound because they have gone from hand made to machine made. Plus today's strike zone is smaller, plus this was pre-expansion so there would be like 50 less really bad pitchers to face. Plus the wave of new ballparks that are all much smaller. (think of the new Houston vs the old etc.)

 

BTW good topic

Edited October 27, 200421 yr by southsider2k4

I was lookin at some of the overall hr stats from the 80's.  It's still staggering to see the the difference in hr's of today compared to then.  Would 2001 Barry Bonds have hit 73 hr's in lets say 1987?  In those days nobody hit more than 40.  Would Bonds or Sosa hit 30+ more hr's than anybody else of that time?  Just wanted to see what my fellow White Sox brother's and Sister's thought about this.

McGwire hit 49 HR's in 1987

On the juice and anytime before the 70's, they would have hit 80 every season.

One more factor that would be in the hitters favor... No cut fastballs. That is a pitch of the very late 90's and into today.

1987 was the first year that the "juiced ball" theory started.

 

 

Check out the ERAs of pitchers in the early-mid 80s until that year.

 

It's been pretty much rising power and rising ERAs since then.

I was lookin at some of the overall hr stats from the 80's.  It's still staggering to see the the difference in hr's of today compared to then.  Would 2001 Barry Bonds have hit 73 hr's in lets say 1987?  In those days nobody hit more than 40.  Would Bonds or Sosa hit 30+ more hr's than anybody else of that time?  Just wanted to see what my fellow White Sox brother's and Sister's thought about this.

No. in 1987 there were no live balls and the quality of pitching staffs was far better than it is today. There's a reason why nobody could top the 50 HR plateu for all those years.

If Barry Bonds were transported back to the mid 80's he'd get knocked on his ass the first time he crowded the plate. And since he wears armor, they'd aim at his chin. No ... Bonds would not hit 50 HR.