Another reason Bonds is so great, which I neglected to mention before, is that he so rarely makes outs. This, of course, has to do with his fantastic on-base percentage (.419 career, .515 last year, first player with over .500 OBP since Ted Williams in 1957.), but the larger point which sometimes goes unappreciated is that outs are the most precious commodity an offense has in baseball.

In short, every time a player does not make an out means another base runner, another scoring opportunity, another RBI chance, etc. People say Bonds doesn’t drive in enough runs (only 137 last year, to go with the 73 home runs), but that’s not the point. A player’s prime objective is not to "drive in runs" which in the long run leads to swinging at bad pitches and overswinging, but to not make an out and keep rallies going. There are only three open bases; the runners will cross the plate eventually.