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.
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