Play Off?

Given the media attention that Barry Bonds postseason performance, both for his past shortcomings and his seeming rapid turnaround this year, I am left to think that the media have nothing better to write and/or talk about. Well, I know that I don't, but I'd rather discuss how offbase the discussion has been.

Bonds was neither struggling in the playoffs nor has he "turned it around". The problem is that we are discussing 97 at-bats spread over 11 years in the former and 17 at-bats in five games in the latter. In each case, there are too few at-bats in the sample to set a pattern. Yes, Bonds had fewer home runs and hits over the years, but if you take 100 random at-bats from various series through his career you could probably get worse numbers. OK, these are not your typical games-they are playoff games. But Bonds is only human: he has good games and bad games. Some of those bad games can happen during the playoffs.

To prove the point, I have taken the postseason performance of every major-leaguer to hit 400 or more home runs. I though about taking all Hall-of-Famers but then I reconsidered. These are generally top-caliber offensive players more readily comparable to Bonds and they are a smaller and easier group to deal with. It's not a perfect group but who of us is? They are in reverse order by OPS (on-base plus slugging):

Name              G   AB   R   H  2B 3B  HR RBI SF SB  BB  SO HBP   BA  OBP SLUG   OPS
Ernie Banks (No playoff experience)
Billy Williams    3    8   0   0   0  0   0   0  0  0   1   1   0 .000 .111 .000  .111
Dave Kingman      4    9   0   1   0  0   0   0  0  0   1   3   0 .111 .200 .111  .311
Andre Dawson     15   59   3  11   1  1   0   3  0  2   3  16   0 .186 .226 .237  .463
Sammy Sosa        3   11   0   2   1  0   0   0  0  4   1   0   0 .182 .250 .273  .523
Ted Williams      7   25   2   5   0  0   0   1  0  0   5   5   0 .200 .333 .200  .533
Darrell Evans    13   42   2   9   1  0   0   2  0  1   9   6   0 .214 .353 .238  .591
Dave Winfield    26  101  11  21   6  0   2   9  0  2  15  16   0 .208 .310 .327  .637
Willie Mays      25   89  12  22   5  0   1  10  0  3  10  12   0 .247 .323 .337  .660
Mark McGwire     42  129  13  28   2  0   5  14  0  0  18  33   0 .217 .313 .349  .662
Mike Schmidt     36  140  19  33   9  0   4  16  0  1  15  26   0 .236 .310 .386  .695
Barry Bonds      32  114  17  24   5  1   4  10  1  8  21  22   0 .211 .331 .377  .708
Jose Canseco     30  103  15  19   1  0   7  18  0  5  19  28   0 .184 .311 .398  .710
Stan Musial      23   86   9  22   7  1   1   8  0  1  12   4   0 .256 .347 .395  .742
Eddie Mathews    16   50   7  10   5  0   1   7  0  1  15  17   0 .200 .385 .360  .745
Rafael Palmeiro  22   82  13  20   5  0   4   8  0  0   6  22   0 .244 .295 .451  .747
Eddie Murray     44  159  21  41   3  1   9  25  0  3  27  27   0 .258 .366 .459  .825
Willie Stargell  36  133  18  37  10  0   7  20  0  0  17  34   0 .278 .360 .511  .871
Frank Robinson   35  126  25  30   5  1  10  19  0  0  20  32   0 .238 .342 .532  .874
Cal Ripken       28  107  14  37  10  0   1   8  0  0  12  22   0 .346 .412 .467  .879
Reggie Jackson   77  281  41  78  14  1  18  48  0  5  33  70   0 .278 .354 .527  .880
Mel Ott          16   61   8  18   2  0   4  10  0  0   8   9   0 .295 .377 .525  .901
Mickey Mantle    65  230  42  59   6  2  18  40  0  3  43  54   0 .257 .374 .535  .908
Fred McGriff     50  188  36  57  10  1  10  37  0  1  27  37   0 .303 .391 .527  .917
Duke Snider      36  133  21  38   8  0  11  26  0  1  13  33   0 .286 .349 .594  .943
Harmon Killebrew 13   40   6  10   1  0   3   6  0  0  14  10   0 .250 .444 .500  .944
Ken Griffey      15   59  11  18   2  0   6  11  0  5   7  10   0 .305 .379 .644 1.023
Jimmie Foxx      18   64  11  22   3  1   4  11  0  0   9  10   0 .344 .425 .609 1.034
Carl Yastrzemski 17   65  15  24   3  0   4  11  0  0   9   3   0 .369 .446 .600 1.046
Juan Gonzalez    15   62  11  18   4  0   8  15  0  0   4  15   0 .290 .333 .742 1.075
Willie McCovey    8   29   4   9   0  1   3   7  0  0   5   5   0 .310 .412 .690 1.101
Hank Aaron       17   69  11  25   4  1   6  16  0  0   5  13   0 .362 .405 .710 1.116
Lou Gehrig       34  119  30  43   8  3  10  35  0  0  26  17   0 .361 .476 .731 1.207
Babe Ruth        41  129  37  42   5  2  15  33  0  4  33  30   0 .326 .463 .744 1.207
Total           858 3085 483 830 145 16 176 483  1 49 460 638   0 .269 .364 .498  .861

Yes, Bonds is below average but not by a whole lot. Legends are at the top (well, bottom here) of the list: Aaron, Ruth, and Gehrig. But there are legends like Williams, Mays, and Schmidt who fare worse than Bonds. Ernie Banks never even got to play in a postseason game-damn Cubs.

It's going to be fun to watch Bonds play in the NLCS: the pitching approach that the Cardinals use against him, the shifts, etc. But enough already with the playoff performance questions. The press should find a new story and just let Bonds play. Maybe Ted Williams' kids will do us all a favor and start feuding again so that the Jim Grays of the world have a new story to cover.