San Francisco Giants: Our Favorite Barry Bonds Memories

From Michael Saltzman:

Barry Bonds has 754 home runs and the San Francisco Giants were heading to San Diego for a three game series with the Padres.

I hopped in the car with a friend of mine and fellow die hard Giants fan and drove from San Jose to San Diego to catch the series and hope to see history.

We bought tickets online for the first game up in the 3rd deck and figured we’d buy tickets somehow for the other two games once we got there.

That first night, Bonds did not hit a home run. Matt Cain, as was typical of the 2007 season and his entire career, was “Cained,” going 7 1/3, and watching a 3-0 lead get ruined by Vinny Chulk as he was charged with 2 earned runs and a no decision.

The second night, we saw magic happen first hand. Bonds hit his 755th home run of his career. Fans had been booing Bonds with each plate appearance the previous night as well as this night. However, as that ball soared, those boos quickly morphed into cheers as they had seen history.

Bonds tied Hank Aaron and everyone in that stadium were able to witness greatness first hand. My friend and I had standing room only seats, so we basically ran around the stadium high-fiving anyone in a Giants shirt.

As we watched another Padres walk off win, we were still filled with adrenaline of Bonds blast. I walked around to Padres fans and told each one I encountered “You’re welcome” for having been allowed to be a part of history.

From Jeff Young:

Barry Bonds was one of the most imposing players of I have ever seen. He dared pitchers to throw inside as he stood on top of the plate. It helped that he had 20 pounds of armor protecting him in case a pitcher actually did throw inside and accidentally hit him.

Despite standing on top of the plate, he proved over and over again that he could turn on any inside fastball. Don’t take my word for it. Just ask Eric Gagne‘s 100 MPH fastball.

However, standing on top of the plate was not what I remembered most. It was how he handled himself while in the batter’s box. In today’s game, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred is tinkering with ways to improve the pace of baseball. He would have loved watching Barry Bonds hit.

When Bonds hit. He never left the batter’s box. He never stepped out to get the sign from the third base coach. I assume every signed he had ever received was to hit the ball as far as you could. He never stepped out to follow a ritual, or do anything else.

As soon as one pitch was thrown, he was ready for the next pitch. It was as if he was saying to the pitcher, “Can you pick up the pace here?” Not only was he daring the pitcher to throw inside, but he conveyed that he was ready for whatever offering the pitcher was getting ready to throw. It felt like it was an unintentional, non-verbal way of taunting the pitcher.

This stands out because you just do not see players handle themselves in that way. He was always ready for the next pitcher. And, whatever that pitch was, it was never good enough. He rarely tried to show up the pitcher with bat flips or taunting.

However, his demeanor and presence in the batter’s box was intimidating. And, that presence remained ready to hit until the at-bat was over. And, normally that at-bat ended in a home run.

From Jules Posner:

I have only seen two walk off home runs in person in my life. On August 19, 2003 I got to see Barry Bonds hit one in the Bottom of the tenth inning off Ray King.

There’s really not many more exciting feelings than seeing your home team clinch a game in one of the most dramatic ways possible. What’s crazy to me, is looking up the box score I have no idea what happened in that game besides the home run. Looking back on the box score, there were some pretty interesting things.

First Russ Ortiz through seven quality innings FOR THE BRAVES. Secondly, Chipper Jones started in Left Field that day? I vaguely remember that, but the Braves were a pretty stacked team in 2003 and ended up winning the NL East that year, so this was a particularly meaningful game. I guess the Giants were down in the 8th when, you guessed it, Todd Linden tied the game on a wild pitch with Andres Gallaraga at bat forcing the game into extra innings.

I was with my older brother and my seats were next to the Braves bullpen and I remember watching Ray King warm up. He was a short, fat, and otherwise unremarkable dude, but he kind of owned Barry Bonds. Anyway, King waddled into the game and Bonds smoked a splash hit into the Cove to end it. I remember watching the ball fly over our heads on it’s way over the arcade seats.

Sometimes you’ll hear a commentator call a home run “a streak of lightning across the night sky” which is an apt simile. But this home run went so far, so fast and was so high, it was more like a shooting star.

It was crazy how quickly the ball got out and how the anxious Tuesday night crowd exploded with joy and relief all at the same time. It was a pretty cool sight to see and it was one of the first games my brother and I got to go to together without our parents laming everything up. Was it a Matt Stairs walk off for the A’s against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays? No. But it was still pretty cool.

From The Editor, Daniel Sperry:

I was trying to think of a moment that I could pull that would unearth a potentially covered up memory by some fans. But I repeatedly come back to THAT moment. The moment that pretty much defines his career.

So where were you? Where were you when Mike Bacsik’S 3-2 fastball leaked back over the heart of the plate? Where were you when 42k+ raised their arms in sync with the greatest hitter ever? Where were you?

More from Around the Foghorn

• SF Giants: The closer of the present and future has arrived
• BOGO 50% off on San Francisco Giants shirts at BreakingT
• SF Giants: Brandon Belt hits IL with fractured thumb
• SF Giants: 2021 team is approaching franchise milestone
• SF Giants: Brandon Belt is a qualifying offer candidate

I was in my living room. The 12 year old me had just came off his greatest little league season, hitting six homers, all inside the park. That might have been the end of my baseball playing days, but it was just the start of my fervor for the game of baseball. The whole summer I had my eyes glued to the TV when Barry Bonds came to the plate. I remember being on vacation and texting google (because that’s how I got sports scores when away from ESPN, in the times prior to phone Apps).

I found out Barry Bonds hit 755 because of a conversation I overheard at the rest stop at Casa De Fruita, our most frequented bathroom pit-stop along highway 152 and Pacheco Pass. I was so angry that I missed it, that I vowed to not miss a game until Bonds finally hit 756. I remember that Tuesday night being frustrated that Bonds hadn’t done it yet.

There were so many close calls, and you could tell he was pressing. Until that moment. That 3-2 fastball that came back over the plate. Off the bat I knew it was gone. I didn’t need to see it. There is a way the ball comes off the bat in that split second that the TV Producer has yet to flip over to the high camera view, and I felt like I had a good enough beat on it. Boy did I.

I ran around the living room, half crying tears of joy, and half yelling. It finally happened. A moment I’d been dreaming of as a Giants fan for a few years. In the end, I credit Bonds’ pursuit of 756 keeping me invested in Baseball at a time where I could easily have been swayed elsewhere.

I stopped playing baseball because I wanted to pursue competitive soccer, as I enjoyed playing soccer more than I loved baseball. But that never meant I didn’t like baseball. But I can easily think back and wonder what would’ve been with my own fandom if Bonds’ chase wasn’t there for me from 2003-2007.

A bad team is hard to follow for a little kid. But Bonds made that team a reason to follow. Then later in 2007 we were all introduced to Tim Lincecum, and Matt Cain had started to get going. All of a sudden the early bricks to the San Francisco Giants eventual dynasty were in place. Bonds kept me a Giants fan. And who knows if that’s the case for others? But let’s go back to my original question: Where were you?

You can answer that question on Twitter for us, or in the comments below.