Bobby Bonds and the Thirty-Thirty Club

Bobby Bonds did things on the baseball field, good and bad, that had not been accomplished before. Bonds' combination of power and speed allowed him to set records as a leadoff hitter, and his propensity for swinging and missing earned Bobby Bonds some dubious strikeout marks as well. Bobby Bonds was somewhat of a mystery, a multi-talented baseball player with a less than conventional attitude towards the game that alienated him from some of his teammates, much like his son Barry does nowadays.

Born in Riverside, California in 1946, Bobby Bonds came from an extremely athletic family. His sister was an Olympic hurdler, his brother played in the National Football League, and he himself excelled at track, football, and baseball growing up. Bonds was recognized as a high school All-American in track and field in 1964, and he was one of the fastest men ever to play baseball at the pro level. The Giants signed Bonds out of high school in 1964, and he made his major league debut in startling fashion on June 28th, 1968, against the Dodgers at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Bonds first hit was a grand slam, the only player of the modern era who could make that claim. Bonds batted .254 in 81 games that season, but struck out an alarming 84 times in 81 games, a trait that would haunt his career. The next year, Bonds set a major league record with 187 strikeouts, but also hit 32 homers, stole 45 bases, and led the NL in runs scored with 120, becoming the fourth man in history to join the 30 homer-30 stolen base fraternity.

Perhaps the greatest burden Bobby Bonds lived with was the comparisons to his Giants' teammate, Willie Mays, which he could never live up to. Batting leadoff, Bonds would set since broken records for home runs from that spot in the lineup, and ten times he would exceed twenty homers in a season; in six of those he belted thirty or more. But he was often accused of not hustling, especially on ground balls. His reply to such criticism did nothing to endear him to old time baseball minds. "If you get 200 hits a season, you're going to hit .333 and you'll still have 400 outs. I don't see why you have to run down to first base every time to make an out."

Bobby Bonds broke his own strikeout record in 1970, whiffing 189 times, a mark that would stand until the Reds' Adam Dunn fanned 195 times in 2004. Bonds was an outstanding outfielder, winning a trio of Gold Gloves and pulling off a rare unassisted double play in a 1972 game against Los Angeles. Bonds completed the first of his two one hundred runs batted in campaigns in 1971, with a total of 102 for the Giants. He played for San Francisco for seven years, stealing forty or more bases five times. The Sporting News named Bobby Bonds their National League Player of the Year in 1973, when he hit .282, with 39 homers, 96 RBI, and 41 steals. Bonds was traded to the Yankees in 1975 for Bobby Murcer, an unpopular move to the fans of both franchises. Playing just one year in pinstripes, Bonds hit 32 homers with 85 runs batted in, as the Yankees were playing their home games at the Mets' Shea Stadium while Yankee Stadium was being renovated.

The Yankees sent Bonds to the Angels in 1976 for Mickey Rivers and Ed Figueroa, who would both play prominent roles in their three straight pennants. Meanwhile, Bonds had an injury filled 1976, playing in only 99 tilts, but made 1977 his best year with 37 homers, 115 RBI, and 41 steals. However, the Angels sent him packing to the White Sox, and he began a period where he changed teams every year for the remainder of his career. In all, Bobby Bonds, despite his immense talents, played for a total of eight different clubs in 14 seasons.

Bonds retired in 1981, with 332 round trippers, 1,024 runs batted in, 461 stolen bases, and over 1,700 strikeouts. Bonds was the second player to achieve 300 homers and 300 steals, with Mays being the first. Bonds pulled off the 30 homer-30 steal feat a record five times, and was the first man to do it more than once. Bobby became a hitting instructor for the Indians after he retired, and then joined the Giants as a coach in 1993 when his son Barry became a member of the team. Barry Bonds would go on to become a member of the 300 -300 club, and combined with his dad to have the most homers by a father-son combo, a total that is currently well over one thousand. Bobby Bonds died in 2003 of complications from a brain tumor and lung cancer, a great baseball talent that always left fans expecting more.