You know someone has made a brilliant observation when, upon hearing it, you are more stunned at the fact that no one had made it before than you are at the observation itself. Posnanski does this regarding Barry Bonds over at his Soul of Baseball Blog:
. . . Bonds was two different players. [in 1990-94] he was the young Bonds who hit homers, got on base, stole bases, played brilliant defense (except when Sid Bream was rounding third) ... I've sometimes wondered which Bonds was better, this Bonds or the later, two-hat-sizes-bigger Bonds who hit every other ball into the Bay. It's a lot like the question: Which Elvis was better, young hip-swinging Elvis or fat, cape-wearing Elvis? I really don't think there's much of an argument in Bonds case -- he clearly was more valuable later in his career. But I think he was a lot more fun to watch when he was young.
Genius.
By the way, it's worth noting that Posnanski writes his usual 3-4 columns a week for the Star, presumably catches all of the Royals games, emcees presentations all over town, and then turns around and spews nearly 9000 words about the greatest hitting peaks in baseball history for his pro bono blog, with every other entry containing some interesting, insightful or profound observation.
Someone needs to check his basement for a crank lab.
