Will Barry Bonds Break the Home Run Record?

The home run record has stood for dozens of years and has been held by Hall of Famer Hank Aaron who played for the Braves. However, Barry Bonds has over the past couple of years sparked huge debate on whether he could break a record that has stood for so long. So the question remains, will Bonds break the record?

Barry Bonds was plagued all of last year by injuries and hardly had any at bats. When he was able to play towards the end of the season he finished with good numbers, hitting 5 homers in a limited number of at bats. His team's season seemed to be lost from the beginning as it was never in the playoff hunt and finished several games behind the Padres in the division. Bonds didn't seem too enthusiastic to return as he eased his way into returning to the lineup. Bonds has also declined an American invitation to play in the World Baseball classic for the United States team.

So will this be the year he breaks the record? I don't think he will. In order for Bonds to break the record he will have to hit near 50 homers at least. This means that Bonds will once again have to resume to the superstar status he had when he broke the home run single season record.

In addition, no pitcher wants to be known as the pitcher whom Bonds hit the homer to break the record on. Even if Bonds has a great season and starts to get close to the record, pitchers will walk Bonds even more than the season he had the 75 homers in. He won't even get to see a pitch to hit. He will have even more intentional walks.

Then there is the point that Bonds' health will play a crucial factor. After his injury, it takes a while for a player to get back into the swing of things. His injury will have some kind of affect on his play, however minor effects it may have.

Another factor to consider is the debate of whether or not Bonds was on steroids. While Bonds has continued to deny steroid use, he has refused to take a public drug test. Some people say that his injury may have been caused by the steroids he was taking. In addition, Victor Conte, a doctor who admitted that he gave out steroid injection, has named Bonds as one of the people he gave steroids too. Other players such as Giambi and Palmero have also been known to take steroids.

Finally there is the issue that Bonds has publicly stated that the 2006 will in fact be his last season of baseball before he retires. So even if Bonds falls short of the record this year, he will not go after it next year.