is that a serious question ?
The transformation that Barry Bonds achieved through the use of
performance-enhancing drugs is reflected in his batting statistics.
Bonds began using steroids before the start of the 1999 season, when
he was 34 years old. His numbers, as compiled by baseball-reference.com,
show that his performance improved dramatically at a time when otherwise
he might have been approaching the end of his career.
Of the five best offensive seasons in Bonds' career, four came after
he was 35 years old - and after 1999, the year he began using steroids.
The historic 2001 season, when he was 36 years old (his age as of
Opening Day), was the best of all - .328 batting average, 73 home runs,
an on-base percentage of .515. But 2002, when he was 37 (.370, 46 HR)
and 2004, when he was 39, (.362, 45 HR) also were excellent seasons for
Bonds, and 2003, when he was 38, was not far off the mark.
In fact, of Bonds' five best seasons, only one came in what is usually
considered a baseball player's prime. That was 1993, before steroids,
when Bonds was 28 years old and playing his first season for the Giants.
Year Age AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG
2001 36 476 129 156 32 2 73 137 177 93 .328 .515 .863
2002 37 403 117 149 31 2 46 110 198 47 .370 .582 .799
2004 39 373 129 135 27 3 45 101 232 41 .362 .609 .812
1993 28 539 129 181 38 4 46 123 126 79 .336 .458 .677
2003 38 390 111 133 22 1 45 90 148 58 .341 .529 .749
Bonds' home run production also increased after he began using steroids.
In his 19-year career (through 2004), Bonds hit 45 or more home runs in
six seasons. Five of those seasons were after 1999 - after age 35, and
after he had begun using performance-enhancing drugs.
Year Age HR
2001 36 73
2000 35 49
2002 37 46
1993 28 46
2004 39 45
2003 38 45
Another measure of Bonds' power surge is home run frequency - the number
of at-bats it took him, on average, to hit each home run. Over the first
13 years of his career - that is, before steroids - he hit a home run
every 16.2 at-bats. His most productive year during that period was 1994,
when he hit a home run every 10.6 at-bats. (Bonds played in 112 of the
Giants' 115 games in 1994, the season that ended in a lockout. He hit 37
home runs in 391 at-bats.)