While not strictly baseball related, there’s a baseball angle to the incredible things Golden State Warriors basketball player Steph Curry has been doing from beyond the three-point arc this season.
As FiveThirtyEight notes, so far this year, it’s like Curry is the greatest home run hitter of all-time by a country mile:
How insane is Steph Curry's 3-point shooting this season? It's like hitting 102 home runs.https://t.co/wRS5GWWISL pic.twitter.com/YEwKJqvdQW
— Ben Casselman (@bencasselman) February 29, 2016
102 homers? Besting the previous record of 73? That’s like Barry Bonds on steroids (um, on steroids).
Although Bonds’ home run record is seen by many as tainted, it’s still a number that sticks out in your mind as an absurdly high total that no player since has come close to matching (Ryan Howard’s 58 in 2006 is the closest, 21% short). With that context, then, you can see just how crazy it is what Curry is doing, whether you like basketball or not.
Speaking of that, though … anybody going to touch Bonds’ record in the next 50 years? Without serious changes to the game, I’m not sure I see it. We live in a pitching-dominated era, and every new advantage developed seems to favor pitchers further. I say “without serious changes to the game,” however, because it’s possible that a rules change here and a mound lowered there, and we could get there.
It’ll be a while, though.
For more on Curry’s greatness and the other players to which his feat could compare (and blow away), check out the article at FiveThirtyEight.