Bonds Hits 73

On Oct. 7, 2001, San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds records home run 73 of the season against Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Dennis Springer.

Barry Bonds would finish the 2001 season with 73 home runs, a new major league record, breaking Mark McGwire’s record of 70 home runs that was set just a few years earlier in 1998. Bonds received the Babe Ruth award in 2001 for leading the MLB in home runs.

Bonds would never reach the plateau of 70 home runs again, but his record still stands today. The 2001 season was the fourth season in which Bonds was named the National League MVP, the first as a San Francisco Giant. The three previous MVP awards came while he was on the Pittsburgh Pirates. The 2001 MVP award was also the first of four consecutive MVP awards Bonds would receive while playing for the Giants as he also won the award in 2002, 2003 and 2004. No other player has won four MVP awards, let alone four consecutive MVP awards.

The 2001 season also saw Bonds draw in a few more records besides home runs, including 177 walks, and had .515 on-base percentage, a feat which had not been seen since Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams over forty years earlier. Bonds’ slugging percentage in 2001 was also a major league record, which still stands, as he hit an astounding .863.

Earlier in the 2001 season Bonds had also hit home run 500 putting him in great company, at the time only 16 other players were in the 500 home run club. Since Bonds reached the feat eight other players have reached 500 home runs.

Bonds is not yet a member of the Cooperstown Baseball Hall of Fame but should be  in my opinion. Whether or not you believe steroids helped Bonds reach the home run feats, he was still a great player in the batters box or on defense. Bonds won an unprecedented seven MVP awards in his career, four more than the next players on the list, which include Hall of Famers, Yogi Berra, Joe DiMaggio, Jimmie Foxx, Stan Musial, Roy Campanella, and Mike Schmidt. Two active players also have three MVP awards, New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez and Anaheim Angels first baseman Albert Pujols.

Bonds also holds 17 MLB records including most walks in a season, and a career, and shares a piece of four other records including most seasons (five) with 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases, which tied his father Bobby. Barry and Bobby are also the only father and son duo to be in the 30-30 club.

Maris Ties Ruth

On Sept. 26, 1961 New York Yankees great Roger Maris hits home run 60 of the season off Jack Fisher, tying Babe Ruth's record for most home runs hit in a single season.

Maris would go on to break Ruth’s record later that season, finishing the season with a total of 61 home runs. The record Maris totaled would stand until 1998 when Chicago Cubs Sammy Sosa and St. Louis Cardinals Mark McGwire broke the record hitting 66 and 70 home runs respectively.

Over the course of his 12-year career, Maris played for four teams including the Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Athletics, St. Louis Cardinals and Yankees.

Maris had an impressive career that saw him play in 1,463 games with 5,101 at-bats, where he put up a career batting average of .260. Maris totaled 1,325 hits, with 195 doubles, 42 triples and 275 home runs. He would also accumulate 850 RBIs and 826 runs scored with 652 walks and 21 stolen bases while striking out 733 times.

Maris led the league in RBIs twice, in 1960 and 1961, his first two years with the Yankees. His highest single season total of RBIs came in 1961, the year he broke Ruth’s home run record. Maris also led the league in runs scored and home runs in 1961 with 132 and 61 respectively, both of which were single season career highs for Maris.

Maris would rack up quite a few awards during his career including seven All-Star appearances, including two in each of the 1960, 1961 and 1962 seasons when MLB featured two All-Star Games during the season. He would win two American League MVP Awards in 1960 and 1961. He would also win two AL RBI Champion Awards in 1960 and 1961. In 1960 he won a Gold Glove and in 1961 he won the Home Run Champion award.

Maris would appear in seven World Series with the Yankees and Cardinals, and was on the winning end three times in 1960 and 1961 with the Yankees and in 1967 with the Cardinals.

The New York Yankees retired Maris’ No. 9 jersey on July 21, 1984, which was Old-Timers’ Day.

A new Roger Maris plaque was also dedicated in Monument Park at Yankee Stadium. The plaque calls Maris, "A great player and author of one of the most remarkable chapters in the history of major league baseball." Maris participated in the ceremony wearing a Yankee number 9 uniform.

The United States Postal Service issued a "Roger Maris, 61 in 61" commemorative stamp on September 17, 1999. On September 22, 2011, the Yankees celebrated the 50-year anniversary of Roger Maris' single-season home run record at Yankee Stadium.

Although not elected to Cooperstown Baseball Hall of Fame, Maris is eligible to be identified as a Golden Era candidate in 2014: The Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) appointed-Historical Overview Committee (10-12 representatives; BBWAA members) who will identify 10 Golden Era candidates from the 1947 to 1972 era, for possible election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2015.

Election of any of the 10 Golden Era ballot candidates in 2014 requires getting 75 percent of the 16-member Golden Era Committee vote during its winter meeting in December 2014.

McGwire Has Another 50 Home Run Season

On Sept. 10, 1997, St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Mark McGwire joins Babe as only players to hit 50 home runs in two consecutive years.

McGwire had his first of two back-to-back 50 plus home run seasons in 1996 with the Oakland Athletics as he hit 52 home runs to lead the American League in home runs. In 1997 he started the year with the Athletics, and had hit 34 home runs in 105 games but was traded to the Cardinals, where he finished off another 50 plus home run season, with 58 total. He had hit an amazing 24 home runs in 51 games with the Cardinals down the stretch.

McGwire would go on to collect four consecutive 50 plus home runs seasons as in 1998 with the Cardinals he would hit 70 home runs, and in 1999 again with the Cardinals he would hit 65 home runs.

McGwire is only tied with former Chicago Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa, as Major Leaguers who had four consecutive years of 50 plus home runs.

McGwire finished his career with a .263 career batting average, 1,626 hits, and 1,167 runs, 1,414 RBIs to go along with his 583 home runs. His career on base percentage was .394, his career slugging percentage was .588 and his on base plus slugging was .982.

McGwire was the 1987 American League Rookie of the Year, and was a 12-time All-Star including six-straight appearances twice, from 1987-1992 and from 1995-2000. He was a two-time World Series Champion, once as a player with the Oakland Athletics in 1989 and once as a coach with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2011. He won a Golden Glove at first base with the A’s in 1990 and won three Silver Slugger awards, two with the A’s in 1992 and 1996 and one with the Cardinals in 1998.

McGwire also won the 1992 Home Run Derby and was given the Lou Gehrig Award in 1999.
Also in 1999 McGwire was named to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.

McGwire also played for Team USA in the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 helping Team USA earn a Silver medal. McGwire also helped the United States in international play during the Pan American Games and Intercontinental Cup in 1983 helping the USA earn a Bronze and Silver medals respectively.

In 1999, The Sporting News released a list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players. The list had been compiled during the 1998 season and included statistics through the 1997 season. McGwire was ranked at Number 91.

In 2005, The Sporting News published an update of their list and McGwire had been moved up to Number 84.

However, in the 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013 balloting for the Baseball Hall of Fame, McGwire failed to attain election receiving 128 of the 545 cast (23.5 percent of the vote) in 2007, 128 of 543 (23.6) in 2008, 118 of 539 (21.9) in 2009, 128 of 539 (23.7) in 2010, 115 of 581 (19.8) in 2011, 112 of 573 (19.5) in 2012, and 96 of 569 (16.9) in 2013.

Currently McGwire is the hitting coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers, after being the hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals from 2010-2012.

McGwire had a Hall of Fame career based on his stats and accomplishments but because of his trouble with performance enhancing drugs (PED) his call to the hall might come in to questioning.