Sunday, August 12, 2001
Bonds hits No. 50
The Associated Press
CHICAGO — Barry Bonds prefers hitting homers to talking about them. But when he drove out his career-best 50th Saturday, it was a milestone on several fronts he had to acknowledge.
He reached the mark quicker than any player ever has and also became, at age 37, the oldest player to ever hit 50.
“It's important. It's something my godfather (Willie Mays) said I should have done years ago,” Bonds said Saturday following the San Francisco Giants' 9-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs.
“I finally accomplished it and he can leave me alone for a while.”
Sammy Sosa hit his 41st home run for the Cubs. He homered three times Thursday at Wrigley Field.
Still ahead of Mark McGwire's pace when he hit 70 in 1998, Bonds reached his 50th in the Giants' 117th game. Sosa was previously the fastest to 50, doing it in 121 games in 1999.
Bonds, who hit 49 homers last season, now has 544 for his career, four behind Mike Schmidt for eighth place.
“I don't predict the future. I go day-to-day. They always want to count me out but I keep hanging around,” Bonds said of his long career.
Asked if he was relieved to finally hit 50, Bonds said he was just glad to help the Giants build a big lead.
“During the game, you don't think about those things. You just think about winning,” Bonds said.
“That's the only accomplishment I need. The rest of it is just irrelevant. That's why I'm still playing.”
“I remember the night he hit his 500th homer and now he's 40-plus past that. It's a pretty incredible feat,” Cubs manager Don Baylor said.
“He's a line drive hitter, who hits home runs. He uses the whole field and he still has the bat speed at his age.”
Bonds' homer came off Joe Borowski (0-1), who was just called up from the minors and was making his first major league start after 57 relief appearances with three other big league clubs.
Bonds, who sat out Friday's series opener to rest, lined a 2-2 pitch just over the fence above the ivy in center with the ball bounding back onto the field. Bonds waited at second until umpire Bill Welke signaled a home run.
Bonds is just the third Giant to hit 50 homers, joining Mays, who hit 51 in 1955 and 52 in 1965, and Johnny Mize, who had 51 in 1947.
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