| Bobby Bonds | |
|---|---|
 Bonds in 1975 | |
| Right fielder | |
| Born:(1946-03-15)March 15, 1946 Riverside, California, U.S. | |
| Died: August 23, 2003(2003-08-23) (aged 57) San Carlos, California, U.S. | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| June 25, 1968, for the San Francisco Giants | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| October 4, 1981, for the Chicago Cubs | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .268 |
| Home runs | 332 |
| Runs batted in | 1,024 |
| Stolen bases | 461 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
As player
As coach | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Bobby Lee Bonds Sr. (March 15, 1946 – August 23, 2003) was an Americanright fielder inMajor League Baseball from1968 to1981. He played for theSan Francisco Giants,New York Yankees,California Angels,Chicago White Sox,Texas Rangers,Cleveland Indians,St. Louis Cardinals, andChicago Cubs.
Noted for his combination of power hitting and speed, he was the first player to have more than two seasons of 30home runs and 30stolen bases, doing so a record five times (the record was matched only by his sonBarry) and was the first to accomplish the feat in both major leagues. He became the second player to hit 300 career home runs and steal 300 bases, joiningWillie Mays. Together with Barry, he is part of baseball's most renowned father-son combination, holding the record for combined home runs, RBIs and stolen bases.[1] A prolific leadoff hitter, he also set major league records for most times leading off a game with a home run in a career (35) and a season (11, in1973), both records that have since been broken.
Born inRiverside, California, Bonds played varsity high school baseball atRiverside Polytechnic High School.
Bonds signed with the Giants in1964. Playing in the Giants' minor league system, he was Most Valuable Player of the class-AWestern Carolinas League.
Bonds was on the San Francisco Giants from 1968-1974.[2] During his career with the Giants, he hit agrand slam in his third at bat in his first major league game, June 25, 1968, becoming just the second player, and the first in MLB's modern era, to hit a grand slam in his debut game. The first wasBill Duggleby in 1898.[3] Bonds was named to the 1968Topps All-Star Rookie Team.
Bonds was remarkable during this era for his combination of power and speed but also for his propensity tostrike out.
In his first full season in1969, he set a major league record with 187 strikeouts, while also leading the NL inruns. He broke his own strikeout record a year later with 189. That record lasted until2004, whenAdam Dunn broke it by striking out 195 times. This mark now belongs toMark Reynolds with 223 in 2009. Bonds' 1970 total currently ranks tenth on the all-time single-season strikeout list. When Bonds retired, he ranked third in career strikeouts with 1,757, behindWillie Stargell's 1,912 andReggie Jackson's 1,810. Bobby Bonds hit 39 home runs and had 43 stolen bases in 1973—the highest level of home runs and stolen bases (39+ of each) untilJosé Canseco of the Oakland Athletics in 1988. Barry and Bobby had 1,094 combined home runs through 2007—a record for a father-son combination. He was a three-timeGold Glove Award winner (1971, 1973–74), and a three-timeAll-Star (1971, 1973 and 1975, winning the All-Star MVP award in 1973).
In 1970, he stole a career-high 48 bases, the highest total by a Giant sinceFrankie Frisch in 1921. Bonds was second in the NL in runs (134), third in triples (10) and stolen bases (48) and fourth in doubles (36) and total bases (334). He also set a major league record with 189 strikeouts, which stood for 34 years until it was broken in 2004 byAdam Dunn.
In 1971, he finished fourth in the NL inruns batted in and second in runs, leading the Giants with a .288 average as they won theNational League West title, earning their first postseason berth since the1962 World Series. A bruised rib cage limited his play in the1971 NLCS, his only postseason appearance. He was a late-inning replacement for rookieDave Kingman in Game 1 and did not play in Game 2 before starting the final two games, batting 2-for-8 in the series. That season, he placed fourth in the NLMVP award voting. In 1972, Bonds scored 118 runs, which was second in the NL (the third straight season he was second in runs scored) and his 26 home runs was ninth in the circuit while his 44 stolen bases was 4th in the league. In 1973, he placed third in the MVP voting after hitting a career-high 39 home runs, 11 of them to start a game and leading the league in runs a second time. Bonds was named the NLPlayer of the Year byThe Sporting News in 1973[contradictory] and was also named an outfielder onTSN'sAmerican League All-Star Team in 1977.
After the 1974 season, the Giants traded Bonds to theNew York Yankees forBobby Murcer.[4]
In 1975, Bonds brokeEddie Yost's career record of 28 leadoff home runs. His eventual record of 35 stood untilRickey Henderson broke it in 1989, and his NL record of 30 was broken byCraig Biggio in 2003. His single-season mark of 11 was broken byBrady Anderson in 1996. His 32 home runs was fourth in the AL and his 30 stolen bases were eighth in the league. He was voted honorable mention on AP's All-MLB team.
With the Angels needing right-handed power hitters, he was acquired from the Yankees forMickey Rivers andEd Figueroa on December 11, 1975.[5] In 1977, he tied the Angels club record for home runs in a season (37).
Bonds was acquired along withRichard Dotson andThad Bosley by theChicago White Sox from the Angels forBrian Downing,Chris Knapp andDave Frost on December 5, 1977.[6] The transaction was part ofBill Veeck andRoland Hemond's rent-a-player strategy in which they attempted to get one productive campaign from a star player who was expected to become a free agent at season's end. It had worked the previous year whenRichie Zisk andOscar Gamble helped to keep the White Sox in contention into September but it failed when the team opened1978 with Bonds as its right fielder and a 9–20 start.[7]
He was sent to theTexas Rangers forClaudell Washington andRusty Torres on May 16, 1978.[8]
Bonds, along withLen Barker, was dealt from the Rangers to theCleveland Indians forJim Kern andLarvell Blanks on October 3, 1978.[9] In his one season with Cleveland, he hit his 300th career home run.
His trade to theSt. Louis Cardinals forJohn Denny andJerry Mumphrey on December 7, 1979, was the sixth in just over five years.[10]
After his contract was purchased by theChicago Cubs from the Rangers on June 4, 1981,[11] he had played with eight different MLB teams in eight years. This prompted a line in the lyrics toTerry Cashman's 1981 hit song "Talkin' Baseball", in which the line in part reads "And Bobby Bonds can play for everyone."[12] In the first inning of his first game with the Cubs, Bonds tripped on a seam in the artificial turf atThree Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh and broke a bone in his wrist. He went on the 21-day disabled list and didn't play again until after the1981 Major League Baseball strike.[13]
Bonds joined theSt. Lucie Legends of the newly formedSenior Professional Baseball Association in 1989, playing for one season as well as managing for the second half of the season. The club folded after their inaugural season and the league folded during the second season.
Bonds' 461 career stolen bases ranked 12th in major league history upon his retirement. He was hitting instructor for the Indians from 1984 to 1987, and rejoined the Giants as a coach in 1993 when his son Barry signed with the team as a free agent. As a player, coach, scout and front-office employee, he was with the Giants franchise for 23 seasons. Barry Bonds is the only other player in major league history to hit 300 home runs and steal 400 bases, and also the only other player to have five30–30 seasons.
Eleven times Bonds was in his league's top 10 in stolen bases, with eight of those seasons in the top six. Seven times he was among the league top ten home run hitters and nine times he was among the top ten in runs scored, leading the NL in 1971 and 1973. He was in the top ten in total bases eight times, leading the NL in 1973. He had as of 2018 the fifth-highest careerpower–speed number, behind his son Barry, Rickey Henderson,Willie Mays, andAlex Rodriguez, at 386.0.[14][15]
His brother, Robert, won two gold medals in the hurdles at the high school track and fieldstate finals in 1960, and was anNFL draft pick in 1965. In 1964, Bobby was a High SchoolAll-American intrack & field, while also being named Southern California High School Athlete of the Year. His sister,Rosie, was a 1964 Olympic hurdler.
On May 3, 1963, he married Patricia Howard. They had three sons:Barry went on to become one of the greatest major league players of all time, and Rick andBobby Jr., who played eleven years of pro ball but never made it to the major leagues.[16]
Bonds had an addiction to alcohol that saw him joinAlcoholics Anonymous after his career ended.[17]
Bonds died of complications fromlung cancer and abrain tumor at age 57 inSan Carlos, California. He is interred atSkylawn Memorial Park inSan Mateo, California.[18]
| Preceded by | Cleveland Indians Hitting Coach 1984–1987 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | San Francisco Giants Hitting Coach 1993–1996 | Succeeded by |
