SF Giants 2000's

Now the next part of the blog about the San Francisco Giants I will be discussing the events and star players for the period of the 2000’s.  I will be specifically be talking about the 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2007 seasons. The Giants really dominated baseball in the very early 2000’s, up to the 2003 season. After the 2003 season, the Giants really struggled up to the 2010 season, due to injuries to key guys such as Barry Bonds and Jason Schmidt.

The 2000 season was the first season where the Giants were at the new ballpark; Pacific Bell Park. This stadium was absolutely gorgeous, as it was considered one of the nicest ballparks in the MLB. Every home game in the 2000 season was basically sold out. This support led the Giants to winning their second division title in four years. The key guys in this season were Jeff Kent; who won the MVP award, and Barry Bonds, of course. Manager Dusty Baker won his third NL manager of the Year award.

 

The 2001 season was truly the season about Barry Bonds. Even though the team didn’t capture any titles or anything, Bonds truly made history this year. The homerun single season record currently was Mark McGwire’s 70 homeruns in one season. Bonds chased this record and eventually broke it. Bonds had 39 homeruns at the All-Star break, which was unbelievable for any player at the time. Bonds that year clubbed 73 homeruns, making him the all-time leader for most runs in a single season. I remember watching this chase as a little kid, as I absolutely loved watching Barry Bonds play. He truly deserved this record as it felt like every game he was either hitting a home run or he was getting intentionally walked so that pitchers would not pitch to him. Watching him get in the minds of pitchers was something truly to watch. This was just the beginning to Bonds’ chase of a homerun record. 2007 was the ultimate prize for Bonds, as I will discuss later. Track all 73 of the homeruns by clicking on this link.

 

 

 

The 2002 season was the season that I as a kid remember the most vividly. This was a remarkable season for the Giants, as I watched them make the playoffs as the Wild Card team and plow through the top teams such as the Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals to make it to the World Series to battle the Anaheim Angels. This was the first season where both contenders in the World Series were the Wild Card teams and what a series it was! This series shattered numerous offensive records in a classic seven game series. The teams split games one and two and then split games three and four, making the series notched up at two going into game five. Game five was all San Francisco as they crushed the Angels by a score of 16-4. I remember as a child watching every game, as my tensions and emotions were building up as every game was gut wrenching and hard to watch. As a child I had never been into something as much as I was into this series. I watched every game from my grandma’s house and I would be screaming and shouting at the TV as my grandma would be yelling at me and telling me to tone it down because I was being too loud. As a Giants fan, I just couldn’t help myself because I never got to witness such an event as a World Series on TV. I thought the Giants had this series in the bag; until games six and seven rolled around. It was game six and it was the seventh inning and the Giants were up 5-0. My emotions could not be controlled at this point as I thought we were going to celebrate another championship in our storied career. Then Scott Spezio hit a three-run homerun in the seventh to cut the lead to 5-3 going into the eighth inning. I was still confident about my team. Then the Angels collected three runs in the eighth inning to take the 6-5 lead. Then my heart sunk as the Angels took game six. The Angels had the momentum in their favor as game seven was in Anaheim. John Lackey shut the Giants down in game seven as I watched the Angels celebrate on the TV as my team was weeping with tears. I started crying at my grandma’s house as this day was probably one of the saddest days as a child. I did not talk to anyone for the next month as I was so devastated. It felt like the whole world hated me. When a team has angels on their side, anything is possible.  

The 2007 season was a losing season for the Giants. The only positive thing that came out of this season was the ultimate home run chase with Barry Bonds. The all-time current homerun leader in baseball was Hank Aaron with 755 career homeruns, a remarkable number of homeruns. The setting was August 7, 2007, one week from my birthday. The Giants welcomed the Washington Nationals into San Francisco for a dark cloudy night in San Francisco. May I mention I recorded and taped this game. The pitcher for the Nationals was Mike Bacsik. Tensions were rising at AT & T Park as every time Barry came to bat, it was all over MLB Network, Sports Center and just about any sports channel you can think of. No one exactly knew when Bonds was going to hit it, which game he was going to hit it, or even no one even knew if the pitcher was even going to pitch to Bonds; until it happened. It was the fifth inning and Bacsik threw Bonds a fastball right down the middle of the plate and Bonds crushed it into right center field. As soon as he hit it, he knew it, the fans knew, Bacsik knew it, just about anyone who knows baseball knew that Bonds just accomplished the greatest feat in baseball; the homerun record. Bonds stood alone that night as the new homerun king of baseball. He finished his tremendous baseball career with 762 homeruns. This record will be very hard to beat nowadays. My parents still make fun of me to this day as they tell me that Bonds is a cheater and didn’t deserve to win anything and he wasn’t that big when he played for Pittsburgh. The only thing I tell them back is: He hasn’t been proven guilty and that who’s the homerun champ. Follow Bonds’ homerun milestones here.

Bonds' 756

SF Giants 1990's/Barry Bonds

Now the next part of the blog about the San Francisco Giants I will be discussing the events and star players with awards for the period of the 1990’s.

 

     The era within the 1990’s was pretty much dominated by one guy; BarryBonds. Barry Bonds was my favorite player growing up and I enjoyed watching him play the sport like it should have been played. Even though he is in the swirl of steroids, that did not or will not change my opinion on how much respect I have for Bonds. Bonds started in the major leagues with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1986. He played eight long and brutal seasons there. Bonds debuted for the Giants in 1993, where he was a rookie then. Not much was thought about him as he was traded from the Pirates to the Giants. However, a couple years went by and it was 1996.

     Before coming to the Giants, everyone knew that he had the talent and speed to be great. Before joining the Giants, Bonds was a five time all-star, five time gold glove winner, won five silver slugger awards and won three National League MVP awards. Bonds’ speed and power was what really made Bonds the player that he was at this time. Bonds was called “Player of the Decade” in the 1990’s. On April 27, 1996 Bonds added to his tremendous resume by becoming the fourth member to join the 300-300 club, a very rare feat in baseball. This means that he was the fourth quickest player to hit 300 home runs and steal 300 bases. Bonds was the third Giant to accomplish this along with Willie Mays and his father, Bobby Bonds. Also in the same year, Bonds became only the second player ever to join the 40-40 club. This means he hit over 40 home runs and stole 40 bases in one year. The other player who did this was Alex Rodriguez. Bonds made history again in 1998 as he was the first player ever to join the 400-400 club. Bonds was the only person to do this so he was technically the founding member of this club. Three years later, Bonds was at it again as he established the 500-500 club.

     The Giants overall however, did not do that great in the 1990’s. The Giants had two straight losing seasons within the period. The 1994, 1995, and 1996 seasons were all losing season for the Giants. They turned it around starting with the 1997 season where they won the division. They had a shot to make the postseason in 1998; however, the Giants lost to the Rockies for in a winner take all one game playoff. The 1999 season was gruesome for the Giants. Injuries to main guys such as Barry Bonds, Jeff Kent and Ellis Burks hurt the club this year. The main focus this year was the fact that the Giants stay at Candlestick Park would finally come to an end.

Barry Bonds first year highlights!

     Since I was born in 1990, I was truly honored to have been a Giants fan and had the pleasure to watch Barry Bonds grow as a player. I never watched him when he played for the Pirates. The reason my favorite team is the Giants was primarily because of Barry Bonds. He was an idol figure to me growing up and I watched Barry play every chance I could get. I always went to the games when they played the Pirates to chant Barry on, even though it wasn’t the smart thing to do. Bonds career stats and achievements are so unbelievable that they get tainted because of the whole PED issue. Barry Bonds is and still will be my favorite baseball player of all time. His career comes to a peak in the 2000’s.  

SF Giants 1980s

Now the next part of the blog about the San Francisco Giants I will be discussing the events and star players with awards for the period of the 1980’s.  

 

The period of the 1980s was definitely one of the worst eras that the Giants have ever had. The Giants record their highest loss totals within the 1980s. The Giants lose 86 games in 1980, 96 games in 1984 and 100 games in 1985. These by far were the worst season in the history of the San Francisco Giants. They turn it around in 1987 and 1989 where the Giants would win division titles in these years and head to the World Series in 1986.

All Stars within the 1980s included greats such as Bob Brenly, Mike Krukow, who is now a broadcaster for the Giants, Will Clark, Kevin Mitchell and Rick Reuschel. Mitchell won an MVP award in 1989. Robby Thompson won the Rookie of the Year in 1986. Joe Morgan won Comeback Player of the Year in 1982. Morgan, Clark and Mitchell win Silver Slugger Awards and Reuschel won a Gold Glove in 1987.

 

These great players helped build and shape the Giants into what they are today. As I said earlier, Krukow is now a broadcaster for the Giants, as he has always been a part of the Giants organization for a long time. Legends and greats like these players really shape for the future of the upcoming years and teams to come.  Continue to read my blog for the next era of the Giants; the 1990s.

SF Giants 1987 NLCS

SF Giants 1970s

Now the next part of the blog about the San Francisco Giants I will be discussing the events and star players with awards for the period of the 1970’s.

 

The 1970’s wasn’t a great era for the Giants. They had a lot of star athletes but not too many big results. There were some no-hitters and playoff appearances here and there, but the Giants couldn’t capture the gold. Key players within the 1970’s included legends such as Bobby Bonds, Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Gaylord Perry, Chris Speier and Jack Clark. These players collected 12 all-star appearances between them, one Comeback Player of the Year Award and three gold gloves.

 

 

 

In my opinion, the 1970’s was a rough era for the Giants as they really did fail to accomplish some big awards, such as an MVP and a World Series championship, something that the Giants was very used to before the 1970’s. The best player in this era would probably be Bobby Bonds. He was a sensational athlete and really was the star for the Giants within the 1970s. He was a great defensive outfielder winning three gold gloves. He was the MVP of the All Star game in 1973. He really molded well within the San Francisco Giants organization. His son, Barry became one of the top players ever in the Giants organization.