The Boston Globe demonstrates the value of showing numbers in context when building charts. Often times, charts will casually depict numbers on different scales (e.g., Millions and Billions side by side) which obscures interpretation.
When creating visualizations, try to keep values on a relative scale whenever possible. If not, try to create a common measurement for context (as Shaq is below). And when all else fails, try using a natural log version to illustrate the relative shape of the data.
