All-time MLBbro great and reigning home run king Barry Bonds has ripped up the record books when it pertains to offensive productivity over his career. For a five year period, pitchers were so afraid to throw to him, intentional walks were pretty much the norm and drew boos from the crowd…when his team was on the road!
Back in 2022, MLBbro.com documented an opinion piece on baseball’s attempts to not only blackball Bonds from the Hall of Fame but every home run discussion going forward…
The MLBbro legend will sadly be defined by his allegations of steroid use that some use to tarnish the superstar status he attained with the San Francisco Giants. Baseball fans, analysts and some MLB players forget (or choose to ignore) that Barry Bonds was one of the influential superstars in Pittsburgh Pirates history!
Despite Bonds’ not gaining election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame with the 75 percent needed over the ten years on the ballot, the Pittsburgh Pirates will be inducted into the team Hall of Fame on August 24th.
The Pirates drafted Bonds with the sixth pick of the 1985 and the next seven years was filled with awards for our MLBbro legend and championship contention for Pittsburgh.
Barry Bonds:
A hitting slash of .275/.380/.503 that adds to the OPS+ advanced stat of 147…
The only player in franchise history with two MVP awards…
Named to two All-Star teams…
Won two Silver Slugger awards and three Gold Gloves…
Ranked 5th on the Pirates franchise list in homers with 176…
Only player in franchise history to have at least 175 home runs AND 200 stolen bases…
Pittsburgh Pirates:
Three straight NL East titles in Bonds’ final three years…
A 1992 NL Championship series matchup with the Atlanta Braves…
It’s a start for Barry Bonds’s road to redemption and the Pirates looking at the accomplishments instead of reputations is a good start…
“As an organization, we are proud to add three significant members to the Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Fame,” Pirates chairman Bob Nutting said in a statement. “Included in this year’s class is a two-time MVP award-winner in Barry, a two-time Manager-of-the-Year-winner in Jim and a two-time World Series champion with the Pirates in Manny. All three inductees are very deserving of this prestigious recognition. We look forward to celebrating their induction with our fans and sharing their stories with generations to come.”
Bonds will be celebrated with former Pirates player, Manny Sanguillen and his old manager Jim Leyland. There will be plenty to show the infamous blowout between Bonds and Leyland but MLBbro.com closes this article showing the entire story…learn.
On April 25th of this year, Baseball Digest announced the winner of their Lifetime Achievement Award, and this year it has been given to the great Dusty Baker. The award “recognizes a living individual whose career has been spent in or around Major League Baseball and who has made significant contributions to the game.”
As this is the fourth time the award has ever been presented, Baker has added to a list of all time greats who have received this honor, joining inaugural winner Willie Mays, Vin Scully, and Joe Torre. “I never thought that I’d be in the class of the people that received this award. I know that my late mom and dad would be proud of me. This is really special,” Baker said at the time.
Dusty had been in the league for 56 years as a player, coach, and manager. He played 19 seasons in The Show, primarily with the Atlanta Braves and the Los Angeles Dodgers, and managed five teams between 1992-2023, including the San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Washington Nationals, and Houston Astros. He is the only manager in MLB history to earn division titles with five different teams, and is seventh all time in managerial wins.
As a player, Baker was a two-time All-Star, a two-time Silver Slugger award winner and earned a Gold Glove in 1981, the same year he won a World Series with the Dodgers. He also copped the National League’s first ever NLCS MVP award back in 1977, when he batted .316, with three home runs and a staggering 13 RBI in just four games.
As a manager, Baker led three teams to pennants, once in ‘02 with the Giants, and back-to-back in ‘21 and ‘22 with the Astros. In 2022, in his 25th managerial season, he finally won his first World Series as a skipper, the final piece of the puzzle to his Cooperstown-bound career.
He became the seventh man in MLB history to win a ring as a player and manager. It took him only 3,884 regular season games and 97 postseason games before that first World Series, which were the most in MLB history for both. At 73, he was the oldest manager to ever win a title not just in MLB history, but the history of all four major North American sports leagues (NFL, NBA, NHL).
Legendary career for Dusty Baker 👏
▫️ 26 seasons ▫️ 2,183 career wins ▫️ 3 pennants ▫️ 3x Manager of the Year ▫️ 2022 WS Champion 🏆 pic.twitter.com/cfOKdsr0Q1
After retiring from managing in 2023, Baker is still in Major League Baseball as he is back in San Francisco with the Giants in a front office role. According to mlb.com, he joined the team as a special assistant to Farhan Zaidi, the team’s President of Baseball Operations.
There really isn’t anyone more deserving of this award than Baker. The impact he has had on the game is arguably second to none, as he’s set the highest of standards on being a great leader on the field, and an even better role model off of it.
Every time he tries to leave something keeps pulling MLBbro Dusty Baker back to the field of dreams.
Only this time he’ll be moving on up to the front office. After originally retiring from managing after a 26 year career, Baker is returning with the San Francisco Giants as a special advisor to baseball operations the team announced on Thursday.
Dusty began his MLB managerial career with the Giants in 1993 where he led them to a 2002 World Series appearance (Lost to the Anaheim Angels in 7), two NL West titles and three trips to the postseason with Barry Bonds setting records that may never be broken.
Dusty Baker Returns to San Francisco
Although he is not returning to the dugout, this role isn’t unfamiliar to him. Baker served as a special advisor to team CEO Larry Baer from 2018 to ’19. Baker’s role in his third stint with the team will be similar to the role he had in 2018, having a hand in both business and baseball operations.
Even though Baker has reached the mountain top with the Astros winning a World Series (2022) and coached teams such as the Chicago Cubs (2003-2006), Cincinnati Reds (2008 to 2013), and the Washington Nationals (2016-2017), Baker considers the Bay Area home.
“I’ve enjoyed my stops at various places, but I’m happy to be back home,” Baker said in a team release. “I look forward to providing guidance to the organization and helping the Giants get back to the top in a very tough division.”
Dusty Baker Has The Winning Formula
The 74-years-young Baker surely has limitless amounts of knowledge and wisdom to share.
In his career in the dugout Baker has reached three World Series, became the first manager in MLB history to lead five different teams to division titles, captured three NL Manager of the Year awards and has 2,183 wins under his belt.
The Giants are excited to be able to tap into Dusty’s endless well of baseball knowledge going forward.
“I was fortunate enough to get to know Dusty when we overlapped in the organization in 2019, and I’m excited to get to work with him again,” Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said in a statement. “I learn something new in every interaction with him and look forward to leaning on his experience and perspective on the game.”
The Giants have not been to the postseason since 2021 and had a disappointing ’23 season placing 4th in the NL West (79-83 record).
We look forward to watching this MLBbro legend help the organization turn things around and get back on a winning track
Dusty Baker got ejected on Saturday after his pitcher, Ryan Stanek, was called for an 8th inning balk that forced in the go-ahead run in the Astros’ 8-7 loss to the Dodgers.
As MLB’s winter meeting heat up and $300M deals have already been secured, all eyes turn to MLBbro Aaron Judge and what appears to be a two-team race for his services between the New York Yankees (who just inked GM Brian Cashman to a new four-year deal) and the San Francisco Giants who are seeking the franchise’s first superstar of this caliber since Barry Bonds.
Judge Hit AL Record 62 Bro Bombs, Remains A Free Agent Through First Days Of San Diego Winter Meetings
Cashman said Monday that the team has made multiple offers to the MLBbro who has spent his entire career for the Yankees. Judge is reaching free agency at the optimal time. Now that Trea Turner was rewarded with an 11-year $300M deal, it’s not a question if the Judge will exceed that contract threshold. As Jeff Passan reported on ESPN, “it’s just a matter of by how much.”
At the All-Star break, the Yankees appeared to still be in the driver’s seat despite Judge’s fast start, but he certainly wouldn’t commit to anything past this season. A season in which he overdelivered and dismissed any talk of decline, being injury prone
Now that the offseason is in full swing, Judge has no shortage of suitors, but at this point it’s all about the check book. He hit 10 more homeruns than any other player in baseball, which is the biggest gap in 90 years. It’s also about how genuinely the Yankees show they truly want to retain him.
San Francisco Giants Putting Full Cout Press On Judge
San Francisco is putting a full court press on Judge. Judge is the forbidden fruit that the Giants want to taste, and the Yankees already have tasted it and reaped the financial benefits of Judge’s historic accomplishments and popularity. There’s clearly a number that they aren’t willing to surpass.
Meanwhile, NBA star Stephen Curry has been joined by members of the 49ers NFL roster as they look to bring Judge to San Francisco. Judge has recently visited the Giants, with the organization said to be ‘elated’ with their meeting.
49ers stars Drake Jackson, Willie Snead IV, Talanoa Hufanga and Marcelino McCrary Ball have sent messages to Judge from the locker-room asking him to make the move. “Aaron Judge, you need to come home bro,” said Jackson.
“It’s beautiful out here, wherever you are right now, I bet it’s not like this,” he added. “If you sign with the Giants, those are three potential championship winning teams right here in San Francisco,” Snead IV teased Judge.
Compare that to the Yankees corporate bore of a courting and reports surfacing that Judge feels the Yankees “turned the fans against him” at one point and there’s a real risk that he won’t be in pinstripes ever again.
As a reminder of how totally, dominant Judge was this season and how he ranked among his peers, “All Rise” became the first player to lead MLB in home runs, RBI, runs and extra base hits since the iconic Mickey Mantle in 1956.
Giants’ manager Gabe Kapler says, “this is the most exciting time that I can remember. It feels like there’s a lot at stake for the game. We want to be an exciting brand at the winter meetings. Not just during the season.”
Gabe Kapler on what a potential big name FA signing whether that be Aaron Judge or any other big name means to the #Giants and the game of baseball….
Kapler: “This is the most exciting time I can remember. This feeling like there is a lot of stake for the game.” pic.twitter.com/r70QtXWrqE
AJ, who grew up in California, is really milking this situation, as he should, and the mystery surrounding his feelings heightens the theater for major league baseball. After all, this is the sport’s biggest story of the offseason, and they have to get every marketing and advertising advantage out of it. Football is starting to kick into high gear as teams begin to jostle for playoff positioning and the NBA is in full swing and about to dominate the headlines post-January.
So, it’s all about Aaron Judge and whether or not he will leave the Yankees. If you try to read between the lines, the Yankees say they have made two offers.
Per Jon Heyman of the New York Post and MLB Network, the Giants’ current offer to the reigning American League MVP is believed to be in the range of $360 million. ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported last week the Yankees have an offer on the table worth around $300 million over eight years, but they could increase it depending on how far the Giants are willing to push the market.
If he does indeed want to finish his career in pinstripes, then you’d have to assume that the Yankees offers aren’t as attractive as San Francisco’s offer. How many times will Judge allow the Yankees to come with an offer that he feels is low balling his worth? Even if he doesn’t prefer the Giants, the Yankees don’t seem to be making it hard for him to decide to leave.
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