Thursday, Dec. 18, 2003
Barry Bonds
In a season in which he coped with his father's long illness and death, Barry Bonds continued to perform at superhuman levels. He won a record sixth MVP award despite missing 32 games (roughly one-fifth of the season). He led the major leagues in slugging percentage (.749), on-base percentage (.529) and walks (148) while batting .341 and cracking 45 home runs for the first-place Giants. Now it gets interesting, as Bonds chases Mays, Ruth and Aaron on the all-time home-run list, while the public continues to question whether today's juiced numbers — including Barry's — are attributed to illegally juiced muscles.