RIP BOBBY BONDS!
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RIP BOBBY BONDS
RIP BOBBY BONDS
a lot of cats never knew their fathers or never had one in thier life so its a blessing barry got a lot of years with his dad and all even though they didn't spend enuff time when boby wuz a player but they had a good relationship and he should be happy he had those years. RIP
RIP BOBBY BONDS
a lot of cats never knew their fathers or never had one in thier life so its a blessing barry got a lot of years with his dad and all even though they didn't spend enuff time when boby wuz a player but they had a good relationship and he should be happy he had those years. RIP
SAN FRANCISCO -- It's difficult chasing a ghost ... especially when that phantom is still alive. Bobby Bonds did that as a Giant, battling not only Major League pitches but expectations as the "next" Willie Mays.
Equaling the Will(ie)-o'-the-wisp's feats was an impossible task, yet Bonds carved his own legacy as a San Francisco player, even if the legendary Mays -- and his own son, Barry -- would better his exploits.
That's what baseball will remember most about Bonds, who died Saturday morning at age 57 from a variety of illnesses: He was his own man and was the prototype of the modern-day leadoff hitter, armed with a sprinter's legs and potent lumber.
"Bobby was a clubhouse leader and a great player in his own right," said longtime friend and former Giants third baseman Jim Davenport. "He played hard and always gave his best. He was a good ballplayer if not a superstar. Some people compared him to Mays, but he did well. I've known him for all these years."
Bonds was in his 23rd season with the Giants as either a player, coach, scout or front-office employee. This year he entered his seventh year as a special assistant, serving as a hitting instructor and scout.
Even this year as he suffered through chemotherapy and failing health, Bonds still found time to advise his superstar son on the latter's swing, which was out of sync to start the season.
"He's been with me my whole career," said Barry Bonds during his father's earlier medical setbacks. "He's my dad, and it doesn't feel the same when he's not here."
There was a magic baseball umbilical cord between the two men, separated by only 18 years in age and sharing athletic DNA in every muscle and corpuscle. Bobby Bonds blasted a grand slam for his first Major League hit in 1968, while Barry Bonds would begin his literally booming career with homer No. 1 in 1986, only five seasons after his dad retired.
The elder Bonds told one interviewer that watching his son in his big-league debut as a Pittsburgh Pirate was one of his greatest-ever thrills, and that the young Bonds would never fail to end their numberous telephone calls with "I love you, Dad."
Bonds had suffered from a variety of ailments over the past year, including lung cancer, brain and kidney tumors and heart disease. He had a tumor removed from a kidney last year and recently underwent open-heart surgery.
Strongly built and blessed with speed, Bonds would slug 332 lifetime homers, steal 461 bases, had a career .268 average and played for the Giants, Yankees, Angels, White Sox, Rangers, Indians, Cardinals and Cubs over a 14-year career.
He also hit at least 30 home runs and stole 30 bases in a season five different times, becoming the charter member of baseball's 30-30 club in the 1969 campaign.
Bonds would never prove to be another Mays -- no one can, no one will -- yet Bonds ironically dubbed the Say Hey Kid as son Barry's godfather, and the threesome would prove inseparable.
Bonds still had a great career. In 1974, he was the All-Star Game MVP in Kansas City by belting a homer and double with two RBIs in the National League's 7-1 win.
In 1971, he finished fourth in the National League MVP balloting, then was third three years later behind Pete Rose and Willie Stargell.
Bond had a super season in 1973, playing 160 games, leading the National League with 131 runs and just missing being the game's first 40-40 player, hitting 39 homers and stealing 43 bases.
Speed and power, that's what he was made of. He was not ebullient and talkative and excitable like Mays, perhaps because of pressure to succeed and exceed Mays' numbers.
One of his dubious achievements was striking out 1,757 times, including a Major League record 189 K's in 1970. He would whiff one in every four at-bats.
Bond was originally signed by the Giants as a free agent in 1964.
He is survived by his mother, Elizabeth, wife Pat, his three sons -- Barry, Ricky and Bobby Jr. -- and a daughter, Cheryl Dugan.
This has been an especially traumatic year for the Bonds family. The elder Bonds had a cancerous kidney removed in 2002 and was diagnosed early this year with lung cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy.
Barry Bonds spent several days away from Spring Training to fly back to the Bay Area to visit his ill dad, who was later diagnosed with a brain tumor. Bobby Bonds had felt OK at times and visited the clubhouse on several occasions this season, but had been in and out of the hospital in recent weeks.
He last visited Pacific Bell Park in a wheelchair Aug. 20, but there were no ceremones, only a quick mention on the giant video screen. That was Bonds' wish.
Funeral services are pending.
