[原文] Bonds makes splash with No. 661
04/13/2004 11:12 PM ET
Bonds makes splash with No. 661
By Barry M. Bloom and John Schlegel
SAN FRANCISCO -- Barry Bonds has completed the family circle. And now it's on
to the Babe.
More history was made Tuesday night at SBC Park when Bonds passed his godfather
, Willie Mays, by hitting home run No. 661. He's now all alone in third place
on Major League Baseball's all-time homer list, just 53 behind the legendary
Babe Ruth, who has 714. Hank Aaron, at 755, is a seemingly distant first, 94
away.
The feat, coming in the eighth game of the 2004 season, his 18th in the big
leagues, seems even more special because Bonds is nearly three months away from
his 40th birthday and doesn't appear to be slowing down.
The big blow came at home just a day after he hit No. 660 into McCovey Cove off
Milwaukee Brewers right-hander Matt Kinney.
No. 661 came in the seventh inning on a hanging slider from right-hander Ben
Ford on a 1-and-2 count. Once again, it wound up getting wet, becoming the 29th
Splash Hit off the bat of Bonds, the 33rd overall at SBC Park. The 468-foot
shot was plucked out of McCovey Cove by Giants fan and part-time Arnold
Schwarzenegger-impersonating kayaker Larry Ellison, who gave No. 660 to Bonds
but reportedly wants to keep this one.
Unlike No. 660, there was no ceremony or hug from Willie Mays -- just Bonds'
normal routine seen literally hundreds of times, ending with his two-handed
point to the sky and, of course, a rousing ovation from the 42,040 fans in
attendance.
No. 660 was a 442-foot shot on a 3-and-1 fastball that traveled high and far
for a Splash Hit. The three-run shot gave the Giants a 5-4 lead in the fifth
inning of their home opener, bringing the sellout crowd of 42,548 at SBC Park
to its feet with the crack of the bat. The Giants wound up winning the game,
7-5.
No. 659 was also a three-run shot that came with one out in the eighth inning
of the April 5 season opener at Minute Maid Park on the first pitch served to
him by Houston starter Roy Oswalt. That homer tied the game at the time and the
Giants went on to score another run in the ninth to win, 5-4.
Bonds, who now has hit 216 homers since the start of the 2000 season, said the
milestones were particularly poignant because of his relationship with Mays,
his godfather and now the father figure and batting coach he'd been missing
so dearly since the death last year of his own father, former Giants great
Bobby Bonds.
"It's my dad in right field, Willie in center field and I get to be in left
field. There's just no greater feeling than completing the circle of family,"
Bonds said.
Bobby Bonds hit 332 homers in 14 seasons, the first seven in San Francisco.
He also played for the Yankees, Angels, White Sox, Rangers, Indians and
Cardinals, before finishing up in 1981 playing one season for the Chicago Cubs.
The family circle outfield of the two Bonds and Mays would have combined to hit
1,653 home runs.
Bonds is certain to join Mays someday in the National Baseball Hall of Fame at
Cooperstown, N.Y. He is also almost certain to have a statue of his likeness
placed outside SBC Park near the already existing bronze figure of Mays, the
man who became his godfather and mentor when he was a 5-year-old.
Bonds' father joined the Giants in 1968 when he was 22 years old and Mays, then
37, was in the twilight of his 22-year career.
The tyke Barry quickly latched onto Mays, who became like a grandfather, taking
him to center field during batting practice at Candlestick Park, throwing him
pitches and playing catch.
"I couldn't catch the ball, but Willie made me hang with it," said Bonds, who
recalled hiding above Mays' locker at the Giants' former ballpark. "I'd stick
my head down from there and try to scare him."
Bobby, who would ultimately add 461 stolen bases to his career statistics, was
trying to make it big in the Major Leagues and asked Mays if he would be the
godfather to his young son.
"There wasn't any doubt in my mind about that one," Mays said. "It was an honor
to me. The answer to that question was yes."
Mays and the elder Bonds parted ways when Mays was traded to the Mets early in
the 1973 season. Mays began his career in 1951 when the Giants were still in
New York. He played his first seven years starring at the old Polo Grounds and
the New York fans never got over the loss when the Giants moved to San
Francisco and Seals Stadium in 1958.
Joan Payson, the Mets' original owner, had a soft spot for Mays and wanted him
to end his career in the city where it began. The Mets, after all, were created
in 1962, only five years after the Dodgers and Giants broke so many hearts and
moved to California.
The Mets, in fact, played their first two seasons in the Polo Grounds and Mays
returned there again to make basket catches and hit home runs at the strange
horseshoe-shaped yard in Manhattan across the Harlem River from Yankee Stadium
in the Bronx.
But by the time Mays returned to New York for good, his career was petering
out. He hit his 600th homer late in the 1969 season as a pinch-hitter in what
was then called San Diego Stadium, the ballpark in Mission Valley vacated last
year by the Padres.
Mays, who hit only 60 more homers before retiring, was ready to walk away from
the game in '73, but Payson called him back.
"She said, 'Willie, you can't walk away. You have a lifetime contract.' So I
finished out the season," he said.
Mays, now 72, hit only six homers during the '73 season.
The last homer of his career came on Aug. 17, 1973. It was a solo shot leading
off the fourth inning against Cincinnati right-hander Don Gullet at Shea
Stadium in the borough of Queens.
Mays' career ended after the Mets lost a seven-game World Series to the Oakland
A's, a team in the midst of winning three consecutive championships.
Mays only played in the World Series four times -- his 1954 Giants swept the
Indians for his only World Series ring. Though the Giants have been to the
World Series three times since then, all while playing in San Francisco, they
have yet to win another championship.
Bonds has played in the World Series once. In 2002, he hit four homers, but
the Giants lost to the Anaheim Angels in seven games.
Unlike Mays, Bonds' greatest power surge has come at a time in his career when
most baseball players are winding down. He broke Mark McGwire's three-year-old
record with 73 homers in 2001. He and McGwire, who hit 70 homers in 1998, are
the only two players in baseball history to reach the 70-homer plateau.
Bonds, a six-time NL Most Valuable Player, followed the single-season record
with 46 homers in 2002 and 45 in 2003, the latter figure coming in only 130
games. He missed 32 games last season, primarily because his father was sick
and ultimately succumbed to cancer.
A .297 lifetime hitter, Bonds radically changed his style of hitting at the
same time he began smacking more home runs. He led the National League with a
.370 average in 2002, a year after setting the home run record. He batted .341
last season. Prior to 2002, Bonds' highest batting average was .336 in 1993,
the year after he left the Pittsburgh Pirates as a free agent to sign with the
Giants.
Prior to 2000, when he hit 49 homers, Bonds had had hit more than 40 only three
times. His highest previous homer output of 46 came for the Giants, also in
1993. Bonds never hit more than 34 homers in a single season during his first
seven years playing for the Pirates.
Barry M. Bloom is a national reporter for MLB.com. John Schlegel is a reporter
for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League
Baseball or its clubs.
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