Kind of hard to compare him to the greats who excelled for long careers, but I didn’t think I’d see a two-way player like him in my lifetime. He was doing historic stuff. After hurting his shoulder and only focusing on offense for this season, he’s still doing historic stuff.
Baseball players aren't viewed as "having to win a ring" for their legacy... There's too much going on during a single game where you personally are not impacting it. It's an ultimate team sport.
That said, if Ohtani does help the Dodgers win a ring it will likely increase his popularity even further because while people don't really watch regular season baseball (besides their own team) they do still watch the World Series.
Sometimes I do see people use ring culture when criticizing baseball players. It’s really silly.
They're not walks
It's......fear
It’s both fear and a skill.
Some sluggers walk a lot, but some don’t. Bonds had a great eye at the plate. He began his career as a leadoff man and always had high walk rates.
His eye and plate discipline really helped later on when he would barely see any pitches, and then crush the first hittable one. He even got intentionally walked with the bases loaded.
Throughout the decade he was usually leading the NL in both total walks and intentional walks, then he got walked even more after he BALCO’d up following the 98’ season.