Barry Bonds passed Hank Aaron for the most home runs in the major leagues.
Still...Bonds is NOT the home run king.
That title belongs to Sadaharu Oh....who is now manager of the Softbank Hawks of the Pacific League.
From 1959-1980 Oh hit 868 home runs.
Oh...Japanese ball players don't play at the level of the MLB players, right?
Tell that to Ichiro Suzuki or
Dice-K Matsuzaka.
Oh hit 868 home runs in 127 fewer games and 524 fewer at-bats than it took Bonds to pass Hank Aaron. The Japanese also play fewer games each year than their American counterparts play.
Bonds has 759. I wonder if Bonds is interested in playing another 4-5 years to chase a real world record.
Or...maybe he can go to Japan to finish out his career.
In 2001, Tuffy Rhodes tied Oh's single season record. Pitches to hit were too far and few between to break the record. If Bonds went to Japan to break the record, chances are pitches would never get close enough to him to hit.
Oh's batting stats can be found here.
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