Barry Bonds: 73 Home Runs

Barry Bonds: 73 Home Runs

Barry Bonds: 73 Home Runs

Throughout his entire career Barry Bonds was considered to be one of the most feared hitters in Major League Baseball history simply because of the power that he possessed when smashing pitches to the outfield. Many times the swings of Barry’s bat carried pitches all the way past the outfield walls.

The 1961 regular season saw a classic home run chase between two teammates on the New York Yankees in Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris, and the 1998 regular season, which was said to be the season that helped revive baseball in the United States, Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals and Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs battled back and forth for the single season home run crown. In the case of Barry Bonds, he would stand alone in 2001 chasing the single season home run record of 70 set by McGwire just 3 years prior.

2001 was a career-defining year for Bonds as he batted .328 with a .515 on base percentage, the highest on base percentage recorded in the National League since John McGraw in 1900. Bonds also posted a career best .863 slugging percentage, and his 1.379 OPS, on base plus slugging percentages combined, would be the 2nd best OPS of his career. Because of his threat of hitting home runs Bonds often drew walks from opposing pitchers, both unintentional and intentional walks. Bonds drew 177 walks in 2001. Bonds went on to have 156 hits, 32 doubles and 13 stolen bases. Bonds also posted a career best in runs batted in with 137.

The 73 home runs that Bonds hit in 2001 made history as Bonds became the oldest player in Major League Baseball history to lead in home runs hit in a single season, and he would also become the oldest player to reach the 40, 50 and 60 home run milestones in a regular season.

Bonds was also good at evaluating how pitchers went about facing him. Studying which pitches they would throw on certain pitch counts, Bonds often guessed right and hit a home run off pitchers. In fact a few pitchers have the distinction of giving up 3 home runs to Bonds in the 2001 regular season. Curt Schilling of the Arizona Diamondbacks gave up 3 home runs to Bonds on May 21 (430 feet), and on July 26 (375 and 370 feet). Jason Middlebrook of the San Diego Padres gave up 3 home runs to Bonds on September 23 (411 and 365 feet), and on September 28 (440 feet). Finally Chan Ho Park of the Los Angeles Dodgers gave up 3 home runs to Bonds on April 18 (420 feet), and on the historic night of October 5 when Bonds officially broke McGwire’s record (440 and 410 feet).

Other noteworthy feats that Bonds accomplished in 2001 include him hitting grand slam home runs against Curt Schilling on July 26, and against Ricky Bones of the Florida Marlins on August 14. Bonds had a few games where he hit 3-run home runs, which include one against Jimmy Haynes of the Milwaukee Brewers on April 14 (410 feet), one against Joe Borowski of the Chicago Cubs on August 11 (396 feet), and one against Todd Belitz of the Colorado Rockies on September 9 (394 feet).

The shortest home run that Bonds hit in distance would be a silent 320 foot bomb off Pat Rapp of the Anaheim Angels on June 12, and the longest home run in distance for Bonds would be a booming 488 foot shot off Scott Elarton of the Colorado Rockies on September 9.

There were only a handful of teams who were regularly punished by the swing of Bonds’ bat. 4 of the 5 teams that got taken deep for home runs all resided in the National League West division. The San Diego Padres pitching staff was punished the most by Bonds as they gave up 11 home runs. The Colorado Rockies followed closed behind by surrendering 10 home runs to Bonds. The Arizona Diamondbacks gave up 9 home runs to Bonds, though that didn’t stop them from eventually winning the 2001 World Series. The Los Angeles Dodgers, the bitter rivals of the San Francisco Giants, gave up 6 home runs to Bonds. The Atlanta Braves gave up 7 home runs to Bonds though the Braves and the Giants didn’t play each other often in 2001.

Hitters are sometimes evaluated by spray charts that indicate where players are most likely to take batted balls out to. With his 73 home runs Bonds stayed true to his left-handed self as he hit 50 home runs out to right field and right center field, whereas he hit just 12 home runs out to left field and left center field, and only 11 home runs out to straightaway center field.

Taking a look into which innings Bonds hit his home runs, he did a great job of spreading out when he would strike. Bonds ended up hitting 12 home runs in both the 1st inning and the 4th inning of games. Following close behind were the 5th and 8th innings as Bonds hit 9 home runs in each inning. The 3rd inning of games saw Bonds hit 8 home runs while the 6th inning saw Bonds hit 7 home runs. The 7th inning saw Bonds hit 6 home runs while the 2nd inning saw Bonds hit 5 home runs. Bonds also hit 3 home runs in the 9th inning of games while he would hit just 2 home runs in the 11th inning.

Bonds would be voted into the 2001 MLB All-Star Game, and after the season he would win the Silver Slugger Award for his respective position of left field along with the honor of being named the National League Most Valuable Player. 2001 was certainly a remarkable year in the career of Barry Bonds, and regardless of what detractors will claim, especially regarding steroid use, the amazing hand-eye coordination was put on display by Bonds, which is something no avid baseball fan can take away from him.