Barry Bonds joins the 700 club

It has almost become a no-brainer, that Bonds truly ranks among the three in the 700 club in terms of hitting. Bonds is a ferocious hitter, likely breaking Babe Ruth's 714 early next season and Hank Aaron's 755 the year after. Bonds has likely cemented himself into the Hall of Fame, and, assuming he stays clear of steroid allegations, will take the mantle of the best hitter of all time.

Barry Bonds is almost undoubtedly a better hitter. He dominates the strike-zone like no other batter in the history of baseball, absolutely shattering Babe Ruth's career-high of 160 walks. But I still do not rank Bonds among Ruth and Aaron as a complete package. There're simple reasons to this.

Hank Aaron was a tremendous hitter. He rang home 755 long-balls and held a career .305 average. Bonds will likely best him in both of those categories (although Bonds is at .297 right now and will have to work hard for the average). But there is one simple reason Hank Aaron is a better player than Barry Bonds. It's the same reason Derek Jeter will be remembered by Yankee fans for a long, long time. Bonds has a .196 average and one long-ball in 97 at-bats in the playoffs. Aaron stepped up his play big time when it mattered the most. In three series, Aaron boasted a .362 average with six slugs. In two World Series Aaron posted .364 with three slugs. There's a word called "clutch" that comes into play, and unless Bonds can prove that he can lead a team to the World Series, that will be the defining gap between Bonds and true greatness.

How about Babe Ruth, then, at 714 shots? Ruth's career average was a .342. His SLG rating is also much, much higher (career .69 compared to Bonds' .602). But that is not the main reason why Ruth's legacy is far more than Bonds will ever manage. In six seasons of pitching for the Red Sox, Ruth compiled 1190 innings pitched, 105 complete games, 17 shut outs, 89 wins, and an ERA around 2.2. If that isn't enough, in the postseason, Ruth threw three games for 31 innings, two complete games, a shutout, a 3-0 record, and a 0.87 ERA. That is called dominance, both hitting AND pitching.

So while Bonds will shatter Ruth's total and surpass Aaron's total (who knows by how much, Bonds could hit 800 before his career is over), and that no one will probably ever come even close to that total, remember that while Bonds is a great, perhaps the greatest hitter, he has still yet to prove himself to be truly among the ranks of Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron.