Record for multi-home run games, career.

[kairos12]

1-Babe Ruth 72 games

2-Barry Bonds-71 games.

[Pantagruel]

1. Bonds had 500 more walks than Ruth

that cut into his ability for 2nd HR on many occasions.
Bonds also rarely faced SP more than 1-2 times but in Ruth's day, before relief pitchers, SP usually pitched the entire game.
Ruth also had a ballpark advantage for HR hitting.

OTOH, Bonds probably had chemical help. Of course, we're now learning that many of the pitchers he faced were also jacked up.
Ruth may have been on anything he wanted, no drug testing back then. More likely his legendary boozing cut into his totals.
Still, Bonds faced much , much better pitching when you consider conditioning, size and science advances. OTOH, in Ruth's day , doctoring the ball was much more prevalent.

Have a few brews and argue it out for hours.

[Power 2 the People]

2. A few more things to consider besides the juicing

Bonds played in a 162 game schedule. Ruth played in 154. Therefore, Bonds played in almost 500 more games than Ruth - 2,986 to 2,503

Ruth spent his first five years as a pitcher and only hit a combined 20 homeruns due to that fact. Imagine if he played every day in his prime years like Bonds?

Bonds had 2,000 more plate appearances than Ruth - 12,606 to 10,623. Even if you subtract the walk disparity that's 1,500 more plate appearances.

Bonds averaged 1 walk every 1.16 games. Ruth was virtually identical at 1 walk every 1.21 games.

I agree with you that the relief pitching was much better in Bonds time but the quality of pitching was probably worse (mathematically.) In Ruth's time there were only 16 teams. In Bond's era there were 30. That means only the cream of the crop were on the roster in Ruth's time. In Bonds time there were at least 140 pitchers in MLB that would have never made the roster in a 16 team league.

You're right that we can argue about ballplayers til the cows come home and nobody will be right. In my opinion Bonds was a good player until he started juicing. He was an other worldly player after.

[rurallib]

3. In Ruth's era baseball was about the only professional sport

so for those with athletic talent who wanted to make some money baseball was the major outlet. There was some pro football and more individual sports like golf, tennis and boxing.

In Bond's era the best athletes had many more choices from football to basketball and soccer. Don't know if that adds anything to the discussion. Of course segregation in the Ruth era eliminated a lot of great athletes and potential pitchers.

One argument I heard from an acquaintance who made it to AA ball was that the strike zones in the 90s and early 2000s were the size of a postage stamp forcing pitchers to throw a lot down the middle.

[Power 2 the People]

4. All interesting points rurallib

I guess we'll never know for sure.

[rurallib]

5. one of the great draws of baseball and sports in general

how would the superstars perform in different eras?

Most were or are superstars because of their innate ability.

But the Barry Bonds juicing is an unnatural addition.

One thing we did learn about some superstars like Michael Jordon - dunking a basketball does not mean you can hit a curve.

[ProfessorGAC]

7. MJ Could Hit The Curveball!

Well, he could if i was pitching to him!

[world wide wally]

6. An interesting side note.

Watch a film of Bonds when he was in his first few years as a pro. Then watch one from later in his carrier. He literally dwarfs himself!