One of my relatives says that Bonds’ attitude is more about “don’t sweat it” rather than surly. He thinks that Bonds became mature and developed an even keel that he totally lacked when he was young, so he doesn’t fall into the traps set by some in the media as easily as he did before. As a result, he doesn’t seem to be as “nuts to records” (a phrase from The Baseball Life of Sandy Koufax), or about many other things, as many are. That is perceived aloofness, and of course infuriates many in the media thirsty for soundbites.
Bonds hit #60 today in the second inning. The game is currently in the 4th inning. You can follow the game at http://www.mlb.com. Go to either Arizona’s page or the Giants’ page and click on “Gameday” at the top of the page.
Bonds hit homeruns number 61, 62, and 63 today. He’s on pace to hit 70, he needs 8 more in 18 games to break the record.
BTW, I don’t know if that link will change or not.
I also heard he got booed in Coors Field over the weekend. Any known reason for that, or do the fans there just not want Barry to break the record?
They ALWAYS boo Bonds at Denver. He has always been a player they like to hate there. Just one of those things, I guess. That said, Barry got a standing ovation in Denver after the third homer, they chanted his name and he gave a curtain call. Pretty cool…
People boo Barry everywhere. Except PacBell, of course. Although this year there have been some weird exceptions, like when he hit a homer in Montreal, the fans gave him a standing ovation. All ten of them.
I didn’t see the games they played here in St. Louis, but did St. Louis fans boo him? I hope not, I’d like to think the fans here (considering this is supposed to be such a great baseball town) would have a little more class than that.
I can’t understand booing a guy just because he’s having an outstanding year. It’s my belief you boo a player only when they’ve done something wrong. The only wrong I can see Bonds doing is to opposing pitchers’ ERAs. I read some of his comments before he came to St. Louis and he was very respectful in the article about the record and what it means to Cardinal fans, etc. I haven’t seen any reason he deserves boos. I’ve made commments here about voodoo dolls and stuff, but I was just playing around.
Here’s a link to yesterday’s game.
Crunchy Frog, that’s because St Louis fans are baseball fans as well.
I was at the final game of a three game series at Turner Field (Braves / Giants) earlier this year where Bonds went 6-7 with 6 HRs in the series. People game him a standing O when he hit his 3rd HR of the game (6th of series).
As they should have.
Is this is in response to the question, “I didn’t see the games they played here in St. Louis, but did St. Louis fans boo him?” That’s not rhetorical. I didn’t see the games, I don’t know if he got booed in St. Louis or not. Does your answer mean that Bonds was well received at Busch?
From CNN/Sports Illustrated:
This means the playoffs and the World Series will also be delayed by one week. For the first time ever, there will be Major League baseball played in November.
I agree with this decision.
I agree too with the decision to suspend games until Monday. If I were Bud Selig, though, I’d truncate the Division Series, and possibly the LCS’s, to best-of-5, to make up the lost time and get the Series in before Halloween. (TV would hate the idea, so there’s little chance of this happening).
That’s my poor reading skills, actually… I missed the first part of your post where you said
You were saying that you didn’t think that you should boo someone because they are having a good year – I was simply backing you up on that.
I have no idea how he was received in SL.
I don’t think the owners would like it, either. They make more money on long series than on short ones. People may say the owners are greedy, but it’s a reasonable complaint, IMHO.
How do you suppose the long break from live pitching will affect Bonds chances from breaking the HR record? The first few games back are probably going be kind of slow and those games are important considering the season is nearly over.
Isn’t the Division Series already best of 5?
But I agree in general with the dicision. In relation to what’s going on, sports is not a priority. I’m as hard-core gung-ho baseball fanatic as you can find, but even I can understand why it’s postponed. Knuckleheads who are whining about it are just getting on my nerves.
Mkay, I follow the Giants pretty religiously, and watch every game I can (damn work), and can assure you that pretty much everywhere they go, Barry is booed. You can usually hear the boos even before his name is announced - it’s a signal to those of us watching at home who’s coming to bat (not that I didn’t already know who’s up after Aurilia).
I recall that there was less booing St. Louis than in other places, which is not surprising, considering that I have always heard that they are really great fans and very knowledgeable of baseball. But there was still some booing. I remember being surprised by that.
Er, I just said I was surpised and not surprised by the same thing in my previous post. Poor editing. What I meant is that I was not surpised that there was less booing of Barry than in other parks, as St. Louisans have the reputation for being excellent fans. What startled me was that there was booing at all.
Well, I’m going to take the completely uniformed position that those were yahoos who aren’t baseball fans, but just go to the game to see Big Mac hit a longball and know next to nothing of the game itself.
Of course, I could be wrong since no city is devoid of morons.
Crunchy, we all know that you would never boo someone just for having a good year. You are an excellent example of why sports fans in St. Louis are so well thought of.
I don’t want to come off as terribly shallow, but I am looking forward to the resumption of baseball. I agree that a few days off was the right thing to do, but it seems so weird to open the sports page and not see any box scores next to the standings. Constant news coverage on every station is very emotionally draining, I would really like to have my favorite pleasant and harmless distraction back.
I don’t think a lot of people are booing him for having a good year. In Houston, people have always booed Bonds. At Allstar Games, Bonds has always been booed. I think maybe it’s becuase he is just a bad guy…
(Truth in advertising: I started reading this thread on page 3, so if I jumped the gun and look like an idiot, I blame pages 1 and 2).