Barry Bonds is one of, if not the greatest MLB hitter of all time. His legacy is open to debate, but there is no debating his place in baseball history.
Or professional sports as a whole.
ESPN recently ranked the top 100 athletes of the 21st century (since 2000), and Bonds, along with Golden State Warriors superstar Steph Curry, both represented the Bay Area in the top half of the list.
38. Barry Bonds, baseball
Key accomplishments: Since Jan. 1, 2000: 317 home runs (MLB-record 73 in 2001), 1,128 walks, four consecutive MVPs (2001-04), six-time All-Star, five-time Silver Slugger, two batting titles.
“Bonds is the best living baseball player, and never was he better than the eight seasons he played this century,” Jeff Passan wrote. “In that time, he smashed the single-season home run record, got on base at a 51.7% clip — a figure last reached in an individual year by Ted Williams in 1957 — and came as close as anyone to mastering the art of hitting. Bonds’ steroid use has kept him out of the Hall of Fame, but those who witnessed him play know: 21st-century Bonds was the closest we’ve seen to Babe Ruth.”
Arguably the greatest MLB hitter of all time ranked No. 38 might come as a surprise at first, but the list consists exclusively of athletes who played from 2000 to the current day. Bonds made his MLB debut in 1986 and played the majority of his career (14 seasons) before the turn of the century. He only played eight seasons from 2000-2007.
The 37 players ranked above Bonds are:
- Michael Phelps, swimming
- Serena Williams, tennis
- Lionel Messi, soccer
- LeBron James, basketball
- Tom Brady, football
- Roger Federer, tennis
- Simone Biles, gymnastics
- Tiger Woods, golf
- Usain Bolt, track
- Kobe Bryant, basketball
- Novak Djokovic, tennis
- Rafael Nadal, tennis
- Cristiano Ronaldo, soccer
- Stephen Curry, basketball
- Katie Ledecky, swimming
- Tim Duncan, basketball
- Shaquille O’Neal, basketball
- Patrick Mahomes, football
- Lewis Hamilton, auto racing
- Aaron Donald, football
- Diana Taurasi, basketball
- Sidney Crosby, hockey
- Kevin Garnett, basketball
- Albert Pujols, baseball
- Floyd Mayweather, boxing
- Peyton Manning, football
- Randy Moss, football
- Nikola Jokic, basketball
- Michael Schumacher, auto racing
- Mike Trout, baseball
- Clayton Kershaw, baseball
- Marta, soccer
- Miguel Cabrera, baseball
- Tamika Catchings, basketball
- Dwyane Wade, basketball
- Maya Moore, basketball
- Ichiro Suzuki, baseball
Among the 100 athletes on the list who have played in the 21st century, Bonds is the fifth-highest-ranked baseball player behind Pujols, Trout, Kershaw, Cabrera and Suzuki and one of 17 total baseball players on the list, including Justin Verlander (No. 40), Alex Rodriguez (43), David Ortiz (45), Max Scherzer (46), Adrian Beltré (52), Derek Jeter (53), Mariano Rivera (59), Shohei Ohtani (62), Mookie Betts (73), Bryce Harper (79), Roy Halladay (88) and Pedro Martinez (92).
Did ESPN get Bonds’ ranking correct?
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