Bonds' Body Armor

by liam on Aug 6, 2007 3:22 PM EDT

There's an article in Editor and Publisher claiming that Barry Bonds' body armor actually gives him mechanical advantage(s) in addition to the protective function and that his use of the armor is cheating on a scale far worse than Sosa's corked bat (if Sosa ever used it in a game aside from the one where it broke, as he claimed). There's an estimate in the article that the armor has added 75-100 HR to Bonds total that he wouldn't have hit out without the body armor.

For years, sportswriters remarked that his massive "protective" gear - unequaled in all of baseball -- permits Bonds to lean over the plate without fear of being hit by a pitch. Thus situated, Bonds can handle the outside pitch (where most pitchers live) unusually well. This is unfair advantage enough, but no longer controversial. However, it is only one of at least seven (largely unexplored) advantages conferred by the apparatus.
...
Bonds has worn some sort of front arm protection since 1992... It seems to have remained relatively the same [ed - since 1996] until—interestingly—2001, the year of his record 73 home runs, when an advanced model appeared made (apparently) of a new material.

The article is written by Michael Witte, a "mechanics consultant to a Major League baseball Team."

Turns out that Michael Witte is a mechanics consultant for our very own beloved Cardinals, whose path to employment by the Cardinals, LLC., is described in this article from the New Yorker a year ago.

Jeff Luhnow, the Cardinals' vice-president of player procurement, admits that Witte at first seemed to have "very little credibility," but he nevertheless put him on the payroll as a consultant.

My two cents: players shouldn't be allowed to wear body armor beyond the little shin guards and Witte probably won't be employed by the Cardinals for much longer.

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Bonds

I saw that article earlier today, also.

I think one big advantage to having the arm apparatus/body armor/wuss band is that it keeps his elbow bent at the point of contact. in order to hit the outside pitch, you still keep your elbows as close to your chest as possible, and your elbow is still bent; you are just hitting the ball at a point farther behind you. With the body armor, he doesn't ever have to worry about "casting" his arms and rolling over on the ball.

by KeepOnRolen on Aug 6, 2007 3:42 PM EDT reply actions

Also

(it appears that I'm pretty much summarizing the article, but these were my previous thoughts)

If he is able to keep his arm bent, the bat barrel will be at a higher point than his wrists (what you want in order to elevate the ball)

by KeepOnRolen on Aug 6, 2007 3:44 PM EDT up reply actions

I hope you meant

"the inside pitch" instead of the "outside pitch." Because keeping your elbow close to your body on an outside pitch would be counter-productive.

by silent_bob on Aug 6, 2007 4:07 PM EDT up reply actions

Just read that

and yeah... I'm not too sure about its validity (wouldn't that technically make Bonds a cyborg?); but its interesting. Um, I guess.

Boooo-urns.

by Alxfritz on Aug 6, 2007 3:42 PM EDT reply actions

I, for one, welcome our new cyborg overlords..

I don't think Witte knows what he's talking about and that his column may cause the team some mild embarrassment.

But at least it lets us know that the Cardinals are willing to hire consultants with non-traditional backgrounds.

by liam on Aug 6, 2007 3:47 PM EDT up reply actions

Well

If they need a guy to show the values RBI Baseball teaches regarding bench and bullpen management, I could get a powerpoint together by Wednesday. Also, I have a few theories involving Big League Chew and stole bases.

Boooo-urns.

by Alxfritz on Aug 6, 2007 3:56 PM EDT up reply actions

A little tired

Of the Oliver Stone theory of the week why Bonds has so many Home Runs.

I guess what I need someone to explain.

Why if He did all of these increadable things to make him a demi-god in 2001 did it only work in 2001 and not after?

I have to wonder. What if Bonds only hit 49 Home Runs in 2001? Would American care that his T-Shirts are no longer a 50/50 cotton blend and now a polyester blend and this helped him hit 200 Home Runs over his career.

by Harknights on Aug 6, 2007 4:52 PM EDT reply actions

No one would care

he cheated to be the best, so he gets the most amount of scrutiny. If he had cheated to be Ryan Franklin, people wouldn't care.

A guy cheats on his wife, most people don't even blink. A high-ranking political official cheats on his wife, we hold committee meetings.

That's the way things go. Bonds can't say 'Why me' because this is exactly what he wanted.

Call up PJ Walters!

by Hardcore Legend on Aug 6, 2007 5:14 PM EDT up reply actions

This horse has been beaten

so much that I don't think you can tell it's a horse but...

...I still don't see it as cheating.

He was getting old.

Parts of his body hurt.

He took something to make them not hurt any more.

What is the difference between that and Vioxx?

So he has a big head. That doesn't help hit HR's.This isn't the comics...just injecting, rubbing or whatever stuff doesn't make him super human. He wasn't using the Supersoldier formula...or get blasted with gamma rays and turns into the Hulk during an atbat.

Scotty got a shot that enables him to play better than he did before the shot. Why is that OK? But rubbing a steroid cream on Bond's Knee is cheating.

by Harknights on Aug 6, 2007 5:44 PM EDT up reply actions

Barry used an anti-aging substance

it did allow him to heal from injuries (injuries he believed were the result of his steroid use).

Unlike Rolen, Bonds didn't ask a doctor for the medication. He got it through a guy he met hanging out in the parking lot of a gym who used to sell medicine be bought off of AIDS patients.

Call up PJ Walters!

by Hardcore Legend on Aug 6, 2007 6:18 PM EDT up reply actions

OK

So he cheated because he was "Healed?" I guess I am missing why that's a bad thing. You say anti-agin like it's a bad thing.

He also cheated because he didn't have a doctors note? What if instead of the guy "hanging out in the parking lot" He went to Mexico an got it there? Or what if he had his doctor write him a note.

I guess I have a hard time calling a guy a cheater because he made himself healthier but didn't have the proper paperwork to show it.

by Harknights on Aug 6, 2007 6:27 PM EDT up reply actions

Blah blah, the foregone conclusion is that

whatever substance Barrold used was significantly more powerful and illegal than baby lotion, knee cream or cortisone shots. BALCO does deal in products other than massage oils, but I guess you're probably not being serious.

Still, I have heard people use that argument before, and it always strikes me as naive... then they compare steroids to Vioxx and it strikes me as idiotic instead!

Scott Rolen "played better" after his shot because he could hardly move his shoulder, but if he slugs .850 when he's 37, I'll buy everyone a Barry Bonds cocktail.

by baw on Aug 6, 2007 6:28 PM EDT up reply actions

Difference between Vioxx/steroids?

Well, one pretty important way is that steroids, in the way Barry was allegedly using them, are illegal.

Vioxx, cortisone shots, and anything else that you'd probably throw out here, are legal.

And I fully know that steroids are legal with a doctor's prescription, but again, not for the purpose of being a better home run hitter. Pretty sure that would have gotten any doctor a trip to jail and the loss of their medical license.

by mtalken on Aug 6, 2007 8:15 PM EDT up reply actions

Reactions

Just saw this piece linked from the Giants SBN blog. It's a fairly amusing roundup of reactions from baseball people to Witte's article.

by liam on Aug 6, 2007 6:06 PM EDT reply actions

I found this line interesting

"There have been studies done by the East Germans that demonstrate increased testosterone help improve judgment of objects in three dimensional space, an obvious help for a baseball slugger."

I had never heard this before. A lot of the defense for Bonds and other possible steriod users is that while it may help them recover from injury, make them stronger, etc. steriods cannot help you hit a baseball. This seems to contradict that line of defense.

by Handsome B Wonderful on Aug 6, 2007 6:50 PM EDT up reply actions

canseco

also claimed that was the case, anecdotally, in his gawdawful book.

Anyway the recent claims were that "*HGH* doesn't help you hit a baseball, or make you stronger etc, so it shouldn't be something we concern ourselves with", not steroids, which obviously make you stronger.

"This is a ball club with issues." -Nats announcers (talking about the Cardinals)

by SleepyCA on Aug 6, 2007 7:10 PM EDT up reply actions

That's easy

Theory can be summed up in one piece of anecdotal evidence: Male vs. Female drivers.

Cheeseburger in paradise.

by joker24 on Aug 6, 2007 8:50 PM EDT up reply actions

The body

armor isn't worn to keep baseballs out--it's to inhibit his dope-filled muscles from growing beyond the limits of his skin and exploding. And the head, my god the head. One day, a pitch will get close enough to its gravitational pull that the ball will simply go into orbit. I wonder if MLB will consider that an unfair distraction.

by rockin redbird on Aug 7, 2007 12:03 AM EDT reply actions