Bonds Walked 200 Times

On Sept. 11, 2004, San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds is walked three times in a game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. With the three walks Bonds became the first player to ever be walked 200 times in one season.

That season Bonds would set two different walk records in a single season, most walks in a single season with 232, most intentional walks with 120. He would also set a record for the best on-base percentage with .609. He would be named the MVP, for the fourth year in a row, in part to his seventh MVP award, also the most all time.

Never before had a player been intentionally walked more than 68 times, which Bonds did two years prior on 2002. To measure how outstanding being intentionally walked 120 times in a single season is here are the top five players and their amount of intentional walks in a single season. 1 – Bonds, 120, 2004. 2 – Bonds, 68, 2002. 3 – Bonds, 61, 2003. 4 – McCovey, 45, 1969. 5 – Pujols, 44, 2009. This stat was first kept in 1955, so Babe Ruth might have been on the list in front of McCovey or Pujols, but there was no official stat for being intentionally walked then.

Of the top 27 most intentionally walked players in a single season Bonds hits the list 11 times, while the next closest player is Albert Pujols with three. But all three of Pujols’ seasons that are on the top 27 still wouldn’t amount to what Bonds was intentionally walked in 2004. Pujols’ three seasons of intentional walks accumulate to 116, Bonds had four more than that in one season.

In his career Bonds was walked more than any other player with 2,558 walks, all of which came in the National League, for the Pirates and Giants. Babe Ruth, who owns the American League record for walks in a career, had 2,042 walks. Rickey Henderson is the number two player all time in walks with 2,129 walks, but his came in both the American and National Leagues.