Barry Bonds may not be in the Baseball Hall of Fame as of right now.
As absurd as that is, we don’t necessarily need him in Cooperstown to know what an all-time baseball great he was, arguably the greatest hitter ever to lace up spikes, and a home-run hitter for the ages.
On Wednesday, there was one video going around that was a reminder just how dominant he was. Back in 1998, the Arizona Diamondbacks were up 8-6 on the San Francisco Giants. The bases were loaded and there was Bonds striding up to the plate. The slugger was in the middle of an amazing season, although not an MVP year by his standards.
Still: The D-Backs chose to intentionally walk him. That’s right, they walked a run in instead of letting him swing the bat. Instead, they threw to Brent Mayne … and Buck Showalter’s move WORKED! Game over, Diamondbacks win.
But who else would be intentionally walked with the bases loaded? Exactly.
By the way, this is has been done since, for what it’s worth:
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