40th birthday gag gift idea

Sluggers discover life doesn't begin at 40

Bonds hoping to defy the odds

By MIKE DIGIOVANNA Los Angeles Times

Sunday, September 5, 2004

For Frank Robinson, who is fifth on major-league baseball's home run list with 586, the reflexes were the first to go.

"They're just not there, the hand-eye coordination," the Montreal Expo manager said, recalling the difficulty he had hitting home runs as he approached the age of 40. "To me, hitting is seeing and reacting. When you get older, it's cheating and reacting before you see it."

For Dave Winfield, who hit 465 home runs during a distinguished Hall of Fame career that ended in 1995, when he was 43, it was his vision.

"There were some pitches where you'd say, 'Oh, man, how'd I miss that one? How did this chump get that ball by me?' " Winfield said. "You've got to have that hand-eye coordination, and when you reach 40, your eyes change. When I stopped playing, I got a thorough checkup . . . and I needed glasses."

Life may begin at 40, but not for those who make their living bashing baseballs over outfield walls.

Diminishing returns

Hank Aaron, baseball's home run king with 755 homers, hit 20 home runs when he was 40, then slipped to 12 when he was 41 and 10 when he was 42. Babe Ruth, who slugged 714 home runs, hit only six after his 40th birthday.

Willie Mays, fourth on the all-time list with 660 homers, dropped from 18 homers as a 40-year-old, to eight as a 41-year-old and six as a 42-year-old, his skills having deteriorated rapidly by 1973, his final year with the New York Mets.

Robinson hit 22 homers when he was 38 but fell to nine at 39 and three at 40. Mark McGwire, with 583 homers, retired at 37; Harmon Killebrew, with 573, didn't make it to 40, and Mike Schmidt, 548 homers, hit only six as a 39-year-old and was batting .203 when he tearfully announced his retirement in May 1989, four months shy of his 40th birthday.

Former Detroit Tiger slugger Darrell Evans hit the most home runs in a season by a 40-year-old, 34, in 1987. Carlton Fisk hit the most homers of anyone after 40, 72, but he needed more than five seasons to get them.

Most major leaguers begin to fade as they approach 40, but aging power hitters, with their long swings, slowing reflexes and increased susceptibility to injury, seem even more vulnerable to the ravages of time.

Unless your name is Bonds.

Barry Bonds.

The San Francisco Giants' left fielder is an anomaly, a slugger of prodigious home runs who turned 40 July 24 and has shown no signs of slowing.

Bonds, who needs four home runs going into the weekend to become only the third player in baseball history to hit 700, leads the National League with a .367 average and has 38 homers and 88 runs batted in this season. His walk-to-strikeout ratio (183 to 28), on- base (.606) and slugging (.820) percentages are off the charts.

Getting better with age

Bonds turned 37 the year he set the single-season home run record with 73 in 2001. He hit 46 homers in 2002, the year he turned 38, and 45 in 2003, the year he turned 39.

Bonds' swing is still short and compact, and generates more than enough bat speed. His vision is still sharp -- not all those walks are intentional -- and his command of the strike zone is unrivaled.

"He doesn't swing at a pitch unless the ball is in a certain area, and he rarely misses it," Angel batting instructor Mickey Hatcher said. "He's unbelievable. No one knows the strike zone like him."

Bonds has not been on the disabled list since 1999, remarkable considering he has not had the luxury of the designated hitter, a role that has amounted to a golden parachute for some aging sluggers.

"I know Barry pretty well; I know what he does," Winfield said. "He pays attention to his diet, his food consumption, his nutrition. I don't know his training regimen specifically, but he works our rigorously.

"He's dedicated, and I don't think he'll leave anything in his tank when he's done, but when you hit 40, you don't know when a physical ailment might derail you. What's phenomenal is, he's still playing outfield, he's not a DH, and he still has to do a lot of running."

Subject of rumors

Few question Bonds' work ethic or mental toughness -- his winter training regimen, once the subject of a lengthy magazine article, has become almost legendary -- and he has excelled in recent years, despite the lengthy illness and subsequent death of his father in 2003 and the swirling speculation of performance-enhancing drug use during his assault on baseball's home run record.

Bonds has gained 40 pounds since 1996, going from 190 pounds to 230, and his childhood friend and former personal trainer, Greg Anderson, is at the center of a federal investigation of the Burlingame-based Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, which has been accused of illegally distributing steroids.

BALCO founder Victor Conte reportedly told Internal Revenue Service agents during a September raid of his company that he furnished steroids to Bonds. Conte's attorney said his client's remarks were misinterpreted, and Bonds has denied using steroids.

"Just accept it," Bonds told the Contra Costa Times in July. "There's no mystery. There's no scientific explanation. There's no tricks. There's no nothing. It is what it is. One day, people will appreciate that. Maybe one day they will understand. There's no gimmicks to what I do on the field. . . .

"When Bill Gates became a billionaire, he did what he did by doing it. When people invent things, like the airplane, they are people who simply did what they did. The same with Muhammad Ali and other greats. They've got a gift -- God's gift."

Staying in shape

The gift of modern medicine hasn't hurt. Whether he has enhanced his performance by illegal means or not, Bonds has benefited from year-round workouts, protein shakes, and the nutritional information and training techniques that are available to today's athletes. Players are bigger, stronger, faster than they were a generation or two ago.

"It's a different era," Robinson said. "The emphasis is put on conditioning and staying in shape. When I played, there wasn't the emphasis on conditioning. You just played. You played until it was time to go. You played yourself into shape in spring training."

Bonds acknowledges the effects of age, even if they don't always show. He gets fatigued more often. He doesn't run out routine ground balls or fly balls. A Gold Glove outfielder in what seems like another lifetime, he plays defense conservatively, rarely risking injury.

"You need more recovery time," Winfield said. "You're not fresh every day. You're trying to find ways to compensate. How do you get loose quicker? Do I need an Advil today?"

Among the 40th-birthday gag gifts that still sit by Bonds' locker in SBC Park is a sign that reads: "Caution, 40-year-old having a senior moment."

Quite a week

Of course, one of those "senior moments" was the week of Aug. 15, during which Bonds had 12 hits, including four home runs, two doubles and a triple. He reached base safely 20 times in 28 plate appearances.

Another was going four for four with two walks in a physically draining, 12-inning loss to the New York Mets on Aug. 21, then coming back the next day and hitting a two-run homer in the Giants' 3-1 victory over the Mets.

Bonds looked weary when he arrived at the park that Sunday morning. Asked the root of his exhaustion, Bonds told a female reporter, "I'm 40 years old, sweetheart."

But with his team in the playoff race, Bonds played.

"This is a time when you have to suck it up and play, regardless of how you feel," he said. "I was tired, but I keep going."

Bonds maintains a similar attitude toward all the walks he takes. Opponents fear him and rarely pitch to him, but he has not let it frustrate him, remaining patient and ready when he does get a choice offering.

"I have no idea what Barry Bonds is dealing with," Robinson said. "I admire the way he's handled it, and the results he's been getting are unbelievable. They're astonishing, really. You see him take so many walks. He takes one or two swings a game and has such success."

As majestic as many of his tape-measure home runs are, those who have played baseball beyond the age of 40 are just as impressed by Bonds' focus.

"Some people lose their drive as they get older -- they'd rather be with their family, they don't want to travel, there are parts of the industry they don't want to do anymore, and it affects their mental approach to the whole game," Winfield said.

"I don't see Barry losing the mental drive. He's very strong, and he keeps people away from intruding on his space and making him lose concentration."

Winfield has no doubt Bonds will break Aaron's home run record.