Barry Bonds Walks into Record Book

By Stephen M. Silverman

Thursday October 04, 2001 02:34 PM EDT

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Yahoo Buzz
• E-mail

That magic number continues to elude San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds. On Wednesday he once again failed to hit a record-tying 70th home run of the season, but the 37-year-old did manage to break another major league record. In a game against the Houston Astros (which resulted in an 11-8 Giants victory), Bonds was walked three times, twice intentionally, to give him the record for most walks in a season -- 172. Bonds's walks superceded Babe Ruth's 78-year-old record of 170. Meanwhile, Bonds still remains one run away from tying St. Louis Cardinal Mark McGwire's single-season home run record of 70. (The McGwire record, set in the taut 1998 season during which both he and Chicago Cub Sammy Sosa dueled for the record, surpassed the 61 homers hit by Roger Maris in 1961.) The Astros, locked in a dead-heat battle with the Cardinals for the National League (NL) Central division title and a playoff slot, again handled Bonds with care at hitter-friendly Enron Field, noted Reuters. A terse Bonds said he was not bothered by the fact that Houston's pitchers would not challenge him. "I'm not frustrated. We won," he said. He also chided reporters for focusing on him instead of his teammate's efforts to win the game. "This is not right," remarked Bonds. "Other guys did more out there for our team."