What was the league ERA from 1954-1976 when Hank Aaron played, and what has been the league ERA when Barry Bonds has played. I think this would show how much the expansion of MLB teams has thinned the quality of pitching. More teams means more pithcers which means less quality overall, so wouldnt Bonds homeruns be off less skilled pitchers than Aarons?

Here you go :


Hank Aaron
1954 Johnny Antonelli New York Giants 2.30
1955 Bob Friend Pittsburgh Pirates 2.83
1956 Lew Burdette Milwaukee Braves 2.70
1957 Johnny Podres Brooklyn Dodgers 2.66
1958 Stu Miller San Francisco Giants 2.47
1959 Sam Jones San Francisco Giants 2.83
1960 Mike McCormick San Francisco Giants 2.70
1961 Warren Spahn Milwaukee Braves 3.02
1962 Sandy Koufax Los Angeles Dodgers 2.54
1963 Sandy Koufax Los Angeles Dodgers 1.88
1964 Sandy Koufax Los Angeles Dodgers 1.74
1965 Sandy Koufax Los Angeles Dodgers 2.04
1966 Sandy Koufax Los Angeles Dodgers 1.73
1967 Phil Niekro Atlanta Braves 1.87
1968 Bob Gibson St. Louis Cardinals 1.12
1969 Juan Marichal San Francisco Giants 2.10
1970 Tom Seaver New York Mets 2.82
1971 Tom Seaver New York Mets 1.76
1972 Steve Carlton Philadelphia Phillies 1.97
1973 Tom Seaver New York Mets 2.08
1974 Buzz Capra Atlanta Braves 2.28
1975 Randy Jones San Diego Padres 2.24
1976 John Denny St. Louis Cardinals 2.52

Barry Bonds

1986 Mike Scott Houston Astros 2.22
1987 Nolan Ryan Houston Astros 2.76
1988 Joe Magrane St. Louis Cardinals 2.18
1989 Scott Garrelts San Francisco Giants 2.28
1990 Danny Darwin Houston Astros 2.21
1991 Dennis Martinez Montreal Expos 2.39
1992 Bill Swift San Francisco Giants 2.08
1993 Greg Maddux Atlanta Braves 2.36
1994 Greg Maddux Atlanta Braves 1.56
1995 Greg Maddux Atlanta Braves 1.63
1996 Kevin Brown Florida Marlins 1.89
1997 Pedro Martinez Montreal Expos 1.90
1998 Greg Maddux Atlanta Braves 2.22
1999 Randy Johnson Arizona Diamondbacks 2.48
2000 Kevin Brown Los Angeles Dodgers 2.58
2001 Randy Johnson Arizona Diamondbacks 2.49
2002 Randy Johnson Arizona Diamondbacks 2.32
2003 Jason Schmidt San Francisco Giants 2.34
2004 Jake Peavy San Diego Padres 2.27
2005 Roger Clemens Houston Astros 1.87
2006 Roy Oswalt Houston Astros 2.98
Since both of the players played in the N.L. for thier whole career, those were the N.L. E.R.A. champions.

Whoops, sorry.

The guy below me is right.

He wants the league ERA, not the league leaders in ERA.

The league ERA during Aaron's time was roughly 0.25 - .050 lower than recent years (the last 10.)
.

The ERA is much higher now than it was for Aaron (0.5-0.6) but the difference is two fold...The mound was higher givings pitchers an advantage but the pitchers did not have the movement that pitchers today have...Aaron played in a time that you faced the same guy four times unlike Bonds facign the starter twice and different relievers geared to only get him out the other two at bats. There are many differences between the two eras...people should just start accepting that they are vastly different eras and comparing is going to be hard. I do think that expansion has watered it down too much now!

I totally agree! The fences were further too, and the ball is now livelier, and the freaking stike-zone was 3 times larger back then. It is a joke to compare Bonds or any other player today to the guys Aaron played with based on numbers. Numbers don't mean squat today except compared to other today numbers.

Year. ERA. Bond's HRs
2000: 4.76 . 49
2001: 4.41 . 73
2002: 4.27 . 46
2003: 4.40 . 45
2004: 4.46 . 45
2005: 4.28 . 5 *only 14 GP
2006: 4.52 . 26
2007: 4.39 . 21
(source: ESPN)

This just shows that the ERA doesn't really matter, because if Barry can hit 73 off pitchers with a 4.41 ERA, but can only hit 49 off pitchers with a 4.76 ERA. Mainly proven with the fact that he hit 24 more homeruns in one season when the ERA was 0.35 lower. Just look at the numbers and try to justify it.

I couldn't find the league averages in ERA from 1954-76 (Aaron's career) but unless the league ERA was under 3, I can't really see how that played a role in this. It all comes back to how much bigger and stronger the players are today. I'm not saying steriods are the only factor, because these players still have to have the swing to hit the ball; however, I personally think that Bonds was on the juice and that his HR amounts were more based on how strong he was and not the pitcher's ERAs.

To add to this, after looking at other sources from this question, I found that in 1963 the league ERA was 3.29 and Hank Aaron hit a total of 44 homeruns that season. In ' he hit 38 off pitchers when 4.05 was the ERA average in the league.

Yeah, Aaron certainly played his best years in the most dominant era of pitching.

But don't make the mistake of blaming it on dillution due to baseball expansion.

Sure, the number of teams nearly doubled. But the population of the US also more than doubled. Plus, now they heavily recruit from Latin America and increasingly Asia. So the talent pool is bigger than ever.

Hitters have gotten better faster than pitchers have. Plus, the ball parks favor the hitters a lot more than during Aaron's time. f

So, yeah, Bonds and all players hitting stats have to be viewed in context, but dillution of talent is not a big part of that context.

Did you know Babe Ruth led the league in homers as a pitcher. Ruth was 94 wins and 46 losses as a pitcher and still holds the record for consecutive scoreless innings pitched in World Series. Oh and Ruth hit 714 in almost 4000 ab less than Aaron.

its not just that although that does factor in some not just for bonds but all hitters but also steroids look at bonds entire career and look at aarons you could see aaron had chance at ruths record long beofre he broke as you can see now A-rod has chance at the record even before he hit 500 you knew he ahd a great chance you saw that griffey jr. migth have gotten close had he not gotten hurt all those years but its like all of sudden last couple eyars bonds has the record all those other guys aaron a-rod griffey(before the reds years) ruth mays all were consistent homerun hitters look at the average for aaron first 10 years and last 10 years goes down slightly with age as all players do bonds in his late 30's all of sudden doubels his average