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J.P. Hoornstra writes and edits Major League Baseball content. A veteran of 20 years of sports coverage for daily newspapers in California, J.P. covered MLB, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Los Angeles Angels (occasionally of Anaheim) from 2012-23 for the Southern California News Group. His first book, The 50 Greatest Dodgers Games of All-Time, published in 2015. In 2016, he won an Associated Press Sports Editors award for breaking news coverage. He once recorded a keyboard solo on the same album as two of the original Doors.
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Share✓ Link copied to clipboard! Shohei Ohtani hit 54 home runs and stole 59 bases in 2024, becoming the first known player in the history of Major League Baseball to reach the 50-50 mark in a single season.One retired star believes Ohtani would have had a more difficult time achieving the feat in his era: Barry Bonds.More news: Dodgers Pitcher in Walking Boot, Will Miss Opening Day With Foot InjuryBaseball’s all-time home runs leader believes pitchers would have retaliated against such a player “to slow him down” during his career. Bonds debuted in 1986 with the Pittsburgh Pirates and played his final season with the San Francisco Giants in 2007, hitting 762 home runs along the way.
“The game has just changed,” Bonds said on the “All the Smoke” podcast Thursday. “The game is way different than it was when I played. The same way Michael (Jordan) talks about it or anybody does. Ohtani is not gonna hit two home runs without seeing one go right here (by his ear) in my generation. I don’t care what he does. He’s not gonna steal two bases without somebody decapitating his kneecap to slow him down because it’s a different game back then.”
Shohei Ohtani #17 of the Los Angeles Dodgers waits for a pitch in the fifth inning during a spring training game against the Cincinnati Reds at Camelback Ranch on March 4, 2025 in Glendale, Arizona….
Shohei Ohtani #17 of the Los Angeles Dodgers waits for a pitch in the fifth inning during a spring training game against the Cincinnati Reds at Camelback Ranch on March 4, 2025 in Glendale, Arizona.
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None of which is to say Bonds doesn’t respect what the Los Angeles Dodgers’ star has done as a two-way player.”The pitching and hitting has been outstanding for what he’s done,” Bonds said. “Baserunning. He’s a complete player. There’s no doubt about the type of player he is and what he’s accomplished in his career.”More to come on this story from Newsweek Sports.
