© Neville E. Guard | USA Today
Bruce Bochy called Barry Bonds “the best player in his era.” That legacy held true even in Bonds’s final year in 2007, when he was 42- and 43-years-old. Bonds will have his number retired by the Giants on Saturday, so to put his final season in perspective, we examined how his stats would compare against current major league players at the same point in the 2007 season.
The Giants just finished their 117th game of the year, and 26 of the other 29 MLB teams also sat at 117 games played this season (by the end of Friday night’s games), so Bonds’s numbers were calculated through the Giants’ 117th game in the 2007 season. Here’s how those numbers stack up.
Walks: 118, 1st
Bonds would not only rank first in walks, but he’d best Mike Trout by 19.
Intentional walks: 35, 1st
It’s the same case here. Bonds beats out Trout again, this time by 15 walks.
On-base percentage: 0.496, 1st
Bonds’s OBP was legendary, and that held true in his final year. He’d best Trout again here, by 0.39 percentage points.
Slugging percentage: 0.585, T-6th
They called him a slugger for a reason.
OPS (on-base plus slugging): 1.081, 3rd
Bonds would be one of just five players this season with an OPS of more than one.
Batting average: 0.282, T-42nd
He finished the season with his sixth-lowest career batting average of .276.
Home runs: 24, T-20th
The record-breaking 756th home run came on August 7th of Bonds’s final year.
Runs: 63, T-39th
This was a meager total by Bonds’s standards, but would still rank in the top-40 this year.
Hits: 78, 164th
This was one of Bonds’s greatest stat dips in his final season. He’d finish with less than 100 hits for just the fourth time in his career (excluding a 14-game season in 2005.
Runs-batted-in: 56, T-65th
Despite his age, Bonds still drove in his fair share of runs.
Games played: 103, T-113th
Bonds played a lot for a 42- and 43-year-old, but not much compared to other starters around the league.
Plate appearances: 399, T-118th
Fewer games played meant fewer plate appearances, which only adds to how impressive the numbers above are.
At-bats: 277, T-207th
The lower at-bats number is largely a product of Bonds’s absurd walk numbers.
Stolen bases: 5, T-99th
Bonds was definitely not a threat on the basepaths at age 43 like he was earlier in his career, but he did nab five stolen bases and wasn’t caught stealing.
All of Bonds’s stats come from Baseball Reference, while this year’s current player stats come from the MLB website.