For Two Homers, Where Matters More Than When
By DAVE ANDERSON
Sports of The Times
July 16, 2007
For Barry Bonds, the countdown has resumed: four home runs to tie Hank Aaron at 755, five to break the record. But Bonds has left what he described in San Francisco during the All-Star Game festivities as his town, his friends, his people. And now, the Giants will be playing four games, beginning today, in Chicago, where the fans in the “friendly confines” of Wrigley Field are not likely to be any friendlier to him than fans elsewhere in his travels in a Giants road gray uniform.
And the Giants’ schedule has raised the possibility of not only adding another controversy to the steroids suspicions surrounding Bonds, but also creating a reprise of the commotion over the former commissioner Bowie Kuhn’s involvement in Aaron’s approach to Babe Ruth’s previous record, 714.
The obvious question now: If Bonds is a home run or two from Aaron’s total at Wrigley Field, will the Giants bench him during their three-game series next weekend in Milwaukee in order to give him a better shot at hitting the record-tying and record-breaking home runs when they return to AT&T Park next week against the Atlanta Braves and the Florida Marlins?
Another thought: If Bonds were to hit either or both of those homers against the Braves, whom Aaron played for when he broke the Babe’s record in 1974 and whom he works for as a senior vice president, that would be the ultimate irony, especially with Aaron’s having said he would not attend a game when Bonds could break the record.
Judging by the words of Manager Bruce Bochy, the Giants hope to choreograph Bonds’s presence in the lineup so that he won’t hit the 756th until he’s wearing their home white uniform.
Over the weekend, Bochy talked about how a “perfect scenario” would be Bonds’s hitting the 756th home run in San Francisco and how Bonds, 42, “needs days off.”
Bochy added, “If it’s at the end of a road trip and he’s within one, that would be a good time to rest him.”
•
So if Bonds gets to 754 in Chicago early this week or in Milwaukee, say, Friday or Saturday, look for him not to be in the starting lineup until the Giants return to San Francisco next week. And if that were to happen, would Commissioner Bud Selig order the Giants to put Bonds in the lineup, the way Kuhn did when the Braves threatened not to comply with his edict in 1974?
Aaron hit his 713th home run on Saturday night during the final weekend of the 1973 season. In the Sunday finale, he had three singles, but the 714th homer had to wait until 1974.
Weeks before the opener in Cincinnati, the Braves’ front office, hoping to assure that Aaron would tie and break the Babe’s record in a scheduled 11-game homestand that began the following Monday night in a nationally televised game, announced that he “will be available as a pinch-hitter for the road games in Cincinnati and for part-time play if required by Eddie Mathews,” the Braves’ manager and Aaron’s former teammate.
When critics howled that the Braves, in planning to not use their best hitter, were flouting baseball’s integrity, Kuhn ordered the Braves to start Aaron in at least two of the three games in Cincinnati — in line with the 40-year-old Aaron’s routine in 1973. On his first swing against Reds right-hander Jack Billingham on opening day, Aaron hit his 714th home run. After a day off, Aaron did not play Saturday, when Mathews used four other pinch-hitters.
Fearing that the Braves may not play him Sunday as well, Kuhn, in a telephone call to Mathews at the Braves’ hotel, ordered that Aaron play. He grounded out and struck out twice. With the possibility of the 715th homer, the Braves’ home opener on Monday night drew 53,775, a stadium record.
After walking in his first at-bat, Aaron, on his first swing against the Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Al Downing, clouted a fastball over the left-center-field fence near the 385-foot sign. But there was a notable absentee that night. Kuhn was in Cleveland for a scheduled talk to an Indians fan club.
His ambassador, Monte Irvin, presented Aaron with an engraved watch. Selig, who lives in Milwaukee and is a longtime friend of Aaron’s from when he played there for the Braves and later for the Brewers, has yet to announce if he will be in the ballpark for Bonds’s 756th home run.
Because of the steroids controversy, Selig has distanced himself from Bonds’s pursuit of the record.
Bonds’s pursuit could stall, of course. If he hasn’t hit his 756th by the end of next week, Selig is scheduled to be at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cooperstown, N.Y., that weekend — another convenient reason for him not to be where Bonds and the Giants are. After that, the Giants go to Los Angeles and to San Diego before returning to AT&T Park against the Nationals and the Pirates.
If Bonds hasn’t broken the record by then, the Giants then travel to, yes, Atlanta where Hank Aaron lives. Another chance for the ultimate irony.
Sports of The Times
July 16, 2007
For Barry Bonds, the countdown has resumed: four home runs to tie Hank Aaron at 755, five to break the record. But Bonds has left what he described in San Francisco during the All-Star Game festivities as his town, his friends, his people. And now, the Giants will be playing four games, beginning today, in Chicago, where the fans in the “friendly confines” of Wrigley Field are not likely to be any friendlier to him than fans elsewhere in his travels in a Giants road gray uniform.
And the Giants’ schedule has raised the possibility of not only adding another controversy to the steroids suspicions surrounding Bonds, but also creating a reprise of the commotion over the former commissioner Bowie Kuhn’s involvement in Aaron’s approach to Babe Ruth’s previous record, 714.
The obvious question now: If Bonds is a home run or two from Aaron’s total at Wrigley Field, will the Giants bench him during their three-game series next weekend in Milwaukee in order to give him a better shot at hitting the record-tying and record-breaking home runs when they return to AT&T Park next week against the Atlanta Braves and the Florida Marlins?
Another thought: If Bonds were to hit either or both of those homers against the Braves, whom Aaron played for when he broke the Babe’s record in 1974 and whom he works for as a senior vice president, that would be the ultimate irony, especially with Aaron’s having said he would not attend a game when Bonds could break the record.
Judging by the words of Manager Bruce Bochy, the Giants hope to choreograph Bonds’s presence in the lineup so that he won’t hit the 756th until he’s wearing their home white uniform.
Over the weekend, Bochy talked about how a “perfect scenario” would be Bonds’s hitting the 756th home run in San Francisco and how Bonds, 42, “needs days off.”
Bochy added, “If it’s at the end of a road trip and he’s within one, that would be a good time to rest him.”
•
So if Bonds gets to 754 in Chicago early this week or in Milwaukee, say, Friday or Saturday, look for him not to be in the starting lineup until the Giants return to San Francisco next week. And if that were to happen, would Commissioner Bud Selig order the Giants to put Bonds in the lineup, the way Kuhn did when the Braves threatened not to comply with his edict in 1974?
Aaron hit his 713th home run on Saturday night during the final weekend of the 1973 season. In the Sunday finale, he had three singles, but the 714th homer had to wait until 1974.
Weeks before the opener in Cincinnati, the Braves’ front office, hoping to assure that Aaron would tie and break the Babe’s record in a scheduled 11-game homestand that began the following Monday night in a nationally televised game, announced that he “will be available as a pinch-hitter for the road games in Cincinnati and for part-time play if required by Eddie Mathews,” the Braves’ manager and Aaron’s former teammate.
When critics howled that the Braves, in planning to not use their best hitter, were flouting baseball’s integrity, Kuhn ordered the Braves to start Aaron in at least two of the three games in Cincinnati — in line with the 40-year-old Aaron’s routine in 1973. On his first swing against Reds right-hander Jack Billingham on opening day, Aaron hit his 714th home run. After a day off, Aaron did not play Saturday, when Mathews used four other pinch-hitters.
Fearing that the Braves may not play him Sunday as well, Kuhn, in a telephone call to Mathews at the Braves’ hotel, ordered that Aaron play. He grounded out and struck out twice. With the possibility of the 715th homer, the Braves’ home opener on Monday night drew 53,775, a stadium record.
After walking in his first at-bat, Aaron, on his first swing against the Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Al Downing, clouted a fastball over the left-center-field fence near the 385-foot sign. But there was a notable absentee that night. Kuhn was in Cleveland for a scheduled talk to an Indians fan club.
His ambassador, Monte Irvin, presented Aaron with an engraved watch. Selig, who lives in Milwaukee and is a longtime friend of Aaron’s from when he played there for the Braves and later for the Brewers, has yet to announce if he will be in the ballpark for Bonds’s 756th home run.
Because of the steroids controversy, Selig has distanced himself from Bonds’s pursuit of the record.
Bonds’s pursuit could stall, of course. If he hasn’t hit his 756th by the end of next week, Selig is scheduled to be at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cooperstown, N.Y., that weekend — another convenient reason for him not to be where Bonds and the Giants are. After that, the Giants go to Los Angeles and to San Diego before returning to AT&T Park against the Nationals and the Pirates.
If Bonds hasn’t broken the record by then, the Giants then travel to, yes, Atlanta where Hank Aaron lives. Another chance for the ultimate irony.
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