Thursday , March 28 2024

Bonds NL MVP

Barry wins for the sixth time and third in a row. The home runs are amazing, staggering, but it’s the on-base percentage that sets him apart from any slugger since Babe Ruth:

    At 39, he has enjoyed one of the most remarkable careers in the modern game – but Bonds has no plans to slow down.

    After 18 major league seasons, Bonds still has worlds to conquer. He wants a World Series ring, and he’s still pursuing the career home run record.

    The San Francisco outfielder has one more goal in mind: He wants to keep making Bobby Bonds proud.

    “I’m looking very much forward to next season,” said the Giants star, who has won twice as many MVP awards as any other player. “I started training just two weeks after the season. I’m training even harder this year than I did last year. I really want to see if I can put things together without my father for the first time.”

    Bobby Bonds, his three-time All-Star father, died in August. When Barry returned to the Giants, he led them to the NL West championship.

    “This award is more special to me than any award I’ve ever received because it’s dedicated to my father,” Bonds said. “He has been my hitting coach my entire life, ever since I was a little kid. I miss him dearly. It’s a really emotional time for me right now.”

    Bonds, the only player to win more than three MVPs, hit .341 with 45 homers and 90 RBIs, leading the major leagues in slugging percentage (.749), on-base percentage (.529) and walks (148). He also became the first player with 500 homers and 500 stolen bases.

    ….Bonds’ emotional summer has led to a fall filled with controversy.

    Bonds and many other athletes have been subpoenaed to testify by a federal grand jury investigating the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, a nutritional supplements lab. On Monday, a lawyer for Bonds’ personal trainer, Greg Anderson, confirmed his client is a target of the probe.

    Bonds declined comment on BALCO, citing his lawyer’s advice, but welcomed the start of steroid testing next season.

    “I am glad there is going to be testing,” he said. “I am glad that, hopefully, hopefully, it will diminish a lot of everyone’s speculation, and everyone can just move on.”

    Bonds should pass his godfather, Willie Mays, for third place on baseball’s career homers list early next season. He’s currently fourth with 658, also trailing Babe Ruth (714) and Hank Aaron (755).

    If he maintains his pace, Bonds would reach Aaron’s record in 2005 or 2006. [AP]

Bonds is unreal, and has become a much more sympathetic figures over the last couple of years – he really CARES about his family and about the game.

Alex Rodriguez won the AL MVP.

About Eric Olsen

Career media professional and serial entrepreneur Eric Olsen flung himself into the paranormal world in 2012, creating the America's Most Haunted brand and co-authoring the award-winning America's Most Haunted book, published by Berkley/Penguin in Sept, 2014. Olsen is co-host of the nationally syndicated broadcast and Internet radio talk show After Hours AM; his entertaining and informative America's Most Haunted website and social media outlets are must-reads: Twitter@amhaunted, Facebook.com/amhaunted, Pinterest America's Most Haunted. Olsen is also guitarist/singer for popular and wildly eclectic Cleveland cover band The Props.

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