Arizona State had Barry Bonds, but Columbia had Lou Gehrig

Arizona State and Columbia could meet up this weekend in the NCAA baseball regional at Cal State Fullerton.

The two schools are far apart academically (Columbia is fourth and Arizona State 139thin the U.S. News & World Report rankings), but both have produced top baseball players: Lou Gehrig (Columbia, 1922-23) and Barry Bonds (1982-86).

Gehrig had 493 home runs. Bonds had 762 home runs.

Gehrig won two MVP awards. Bonds won seven MVP awards.

Gehrig won six World Series championships. Bonds had no World Series championships.

Gehrig was unanimous voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Bonds is hoping his invitation merely got lost in the mail.

Gehrig served as New York City parole commissioner after his baseball career. Bonds was found guilty of obstruction of justice for giving evasive answers under oath after his baseball career.

Memorable quotes:

Gehrig: “Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about a bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth.�

Bonds: “You wanted to bring me down, you’ve finally brought me and my family down. You’ve finally done it. So now go kick a different person.�

Little known fact:

Gehrig, as Columbia’s pitcher, struck out 17 Williams College players on the same day that Yankee Stadium opened.

Bonds, playing for Arizona State, was struck out by future Los Angeles Times reporter Gary Klein, then a Cal State Northridge pitcher.

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