Mac Daddy’s Legend Of The Week: Barry Bonds

Thank you everyone who voted! Mac Daddy’s first ever Legend Of The Week voting ended with one of baseball’s greatest hitters, Barry Bonds being declared the winner! The goal behind the Legend of the Week is for me to choose athletes who impacted my life greatly and celebrate their careers through my memories and writing. Regardless of how you feel about Bonds’s steroid use and impact on the game that had, the fact is Barry Bonds did things that we may never see again. His numbers are astronomical and as a kid, every single one of his at bats was a must watch day in and day out his entire career.

This article is a really tough one to write for me. Growing up, I was hands down one of the biggest Barry Bonds fans on the planet. Jerseys, Posters, Binders for school, Hats, Textbook covers, you name it, it either had a Yankee or Giants Logo or a picture of Barry Bonds. How could someone not be? By the numbers Barry Bonds is the most dominate player of all time. Yes, he hit 762 homeruns, crowning him the all time HR king, but it was the other things that he did that left you speechless. Things that to this day and having all the information we do, are still hard to ignore regardless.

Barry Bonds was destined for greatness from birth. He is the son of MLB great Bobby Bonds and godson of one of the best players of all time in Willie Mays. He was drafted at 21 years old by the Pittsburgh Pirates and went on to play 22 seasons with them and most notably, the San Francisco Giants. He is a 7x MVP and a 14x All Star Selection. He finished his career as baseball’s all time leader in home runs with 762. He also holds the single season homerun record with 73. His homerun records are jaw dropping enough. Every at bat you expected a mammoth blast or a walk. I have never seen a man so feared at the plate. I mean who remembers Buck Showalter intenionally walking Bonds with the bases loaded? He impacted the game that much. I still remember his homerun at the Angels in the 2002 World Series where they caught Angels 3B Tim Salmon on TV in awe stating “That’s the furthest ball I have ever seen hit”. Those moments will never be forgotten but it is his accomplishments that came with them that take him to another level of dominant.

Barry Bonds was walked a total of 2,558 times in his career. If the number doesn’t astonish you in itself, then the fact that it is nearly 400 walks ahead of the 2nd place player just might. In 2004, Bonds’s age 39 season, he was walked a MLB record 232 times. Even more ridiculous is the fact that he had 373 official at bats but miraculously reached base 376 times. Read that again. That is a real statistic. Mind boggling. I cannot even begin to explain how that happens but he is the only player in MLB history to have reached base more than have at bats. Look it up if you do not believe me. If someone ever does eclipse his homerun records, I can still almost gurantee no one comes close to his walk and on base records.

I cannot and will not ignore the elephant in the room here. I know. I was heartbroken the day I finally accepted the truth about Barry Bonds. I am on record in previous writing that I do not believe he belongs in the Hall Of Fame despite the god-like numbers I presented today. I do not believe he deserves the proverbial “death sentence” he seems to have received however. These numbers and achievements are things I do not expect to see again in my lifetime. The excitement and awe that one player brought me has yet to have been matched, even though Mike Trout is a damn good ball player. It may be an era which baseball tends to want to forget but ultimately it was an era I am glad I experienced and Barry Bonds is a player I’m proud to say I grew up watching. Here is to Barry Bonds. Mac Daddy’s 1st Ever Legend Of The Week!