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CNN Sunday Morning

Barry Bonds Reluctantly Chases the Home Run Record

Aired September 09, 2001 - 09:19   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Baseball fans are keeping a close tab on that home run race. Giant's slugger Barry Bonds was held without a homer for the second straight game, and he's still holding his 60.

CNN's Tom Rinaldi has more on a man who stands at the top, all by himself.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM RINALDI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's morning at Packtell Park. Players go through typical workouts hours before game time. Some take in field, others shag balls, Barry Bonds sits on the bench. Ten minutes pass, the team practices, Bonds talks to friends. Fifteen minutes -- more drills, Bonds still talks. A half an hour later he takes batting practice then heads back to the clubhouse. But once the game begins...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He hits one high, he hits it deep and he hits it out of here.

RINALDI: Bonds hits yet another home run -- the only run the Giants will score this day. And isn't that the only swing and the only thing that really matters?

MATT WILLIAMS, BONDS' TEAMMATE: Why isn't Barry out stretching? Well, who really cares? If he's out there playing left field the way he plays left field and he's hitting 58 home runs, who should really care?

Now, you want to be a team and I can see that aspect of it as well but you know what? He does some plays and that's all you can ask.

RAY RATTO, COLUMNIST, "SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE": Bonds stands alone and the other players understand and recognize that. They my not like it, they may be put off by it, some in fact are, but they've come to recognize over the years that that's how it is, that's how it's going to be. From him you get numbers, from somebody else you get leadership.

TONY GWYNN, PLAYING IN 20TH MAJOR LEAGUE SEASON: Hopefully the fans in this country will rally behind this race like they did the other races. But Barry in his case I don't know because Barry sometimes gets locked into what he's doing and what people -- what people think and what they want to hear ain't important there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Swing and he's got it in the corner. It might make it. There it is -- 62, folks. And we have a new home run champion.

RINALDI: The last great home run race was in 1998 was a Neolithic pursuit. Mark McGwire was baseball's Paul Bunion, a slugger from central Kansas with his lovable son cheering him on. Sammy Sosa, a lovable Cub was his effervescent foil. Both chased a 37-year-old record of records, and both broke it.

Three years later Barry Bonds is trying to break the new record -- 70 home runs. But this version of the pursuit seems to lack the magic. Start with the would be record breaker's own reluctance.

BARRY BONDS, PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL PLAYER: No, I don't want 70.

QUESTION: Why not?

BONDS: I don't need it. I need to win. I don't need 70 home runs. What is 70 home runs going to do for me? I still lost. But it's good for the public. It's not good for me.

RATTO: You look at Bonds, you see a guy of incredible talent -- you know, almost without exception -- without question the best player of his era who doesn't exude the fun that Sosa did in '98 and that McGwire did down the stretch in '98.

RICH AURILA, TEAMMATE SINCE 1995: I think it's tough for Barry sometimes. The only attention you get when you play on the field you get a lot more attention for what happens off the field and what you do there. And I think that would be tough for anybody to handle.

RINALDI: Bonds is a mixture of excellence and enigma. Even inside the heat of a pennant race, his home runs can seem less distant than he does. Inside the Giants clubhouse much has been made of his three lockers, his large leather recliner, his own TV set up where only he can see it. Yet in person Bonds can be candid and engaging on topics from home runs to his own reputation.

BONDS: If me not hitting a home run puts us in first place I'll take first place. Longevity -- I'll hit the home runs next year. I'll hit home runs the year after that. I'm not retiring.

People say, "You know, you can be a jerk." You're right, I can be at times -- there's something new, you know? But the thing is is that I'm in the public eye so when I'm a jerk it's just publicized.

RINALDI: It was publicity that famously caused Roger Maris' hair to fall out in clumps as he pursued Babe Ruth's home run record. The scrutiny Bonds faces with more media, a pennant race and even fewer pitches to hit will only intensify with each at bat. So will the pressure on a player who hasn't asked for the role of America's slugger.

BOB BRENLY, DIAMONDBACKS MANAGER: A lot of guys -- they get the same negative press and the same negative response when he goes on the road to various cities would crumble under that kind of pressure but Barry seems to thrive on it. He knows what's best for Barry and it's nobody else's business to tell him how to handle it.

RINALDI: In a world where performance matters most should personality really matter at all? Is it the record that we care about or the record breaker? As long as Bonds keeps hitting home runs and is the center of his team's hopes does it matter if he lingers on the margins of the team itself?

AURILA: We know when we get between the lines. We're 25 guys on that field all working for the same goal and that's to get to the post season. And Barry chasing a home run record we know as a team if he gets a record we have a better chance of winning.

REPORTER: Is it important for you to be liked by your colleagues?

BONDS: Sure. But what can you do if they don't. Not everyone's going to like you -- that's life -- that's the way it is -- you can't change it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Long drive right center field and Barry Bonds has become the fifth player in major league history to hit 60 or more home runs.

RINALDI: The vast majority of Bonds' home runs this season have been meaningful to the team not just to him. Nearly half have tied games or given San Francisco the lead. Still, one man hits a home run and this home run race seems to belong to one man whether he wants it to or not making for a lonely chase toward history. In San Francisco, I'm Tom Rinaldi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: Well, let's talk more about Barry Bonds and baseball. Joining me now from New York is John Heymon, he's the national baseball columnist for "Newsday." Good morning to you. Thanks very much for being with us this morning.

Let's pick up sort of where we left off right there with that report and, does it really matter, about Barry Bonds, about how he acts, especially to the media, or perhaps how he may come across? Is that important?

JOHN HEYMON, "NEWSDAY": I don't think so. I think Barry Bonds can be jerky at times, but he can also be engaging at times. I think he can be personable. He's a very bright guy. And I think what really counts here is that he's probably the greatest home run hitter and he will be the greatest home run hitter of all time when he breaks Hank Aaron's record, and I think he will get there.

I think Mark McGwire is looked at as the best home run hitter of this generation, but I think Bonds is going to break that record too.

SAVIDGE: We tend as fans to like the good guys, obviously. We also like the bad guys, though, very much. We celebrate them just as much, don't we?

HEYMON: I think so. Barry Bonds is a very interesting figure. He's very much talked about. There are people for him, people against him, and I certainly think that makes things more interesting. It makes for a debate, and baseball is all about debates.

SAVIDGE: And then you go up against a, character-wise, a person such as Sammy Sosa, which comes across as such a genuine, sincere, honest, nice, likable guy. I guess, in that way, it sort of makes it even tougher for Barry Bonds, if he cares.

HEYMON: Right. I think everybody loves Sammy Sosa. He just has a great personality. He's engaging all the time, unlike Barry, and I think everybody's rooting for Sammy Sosa to get there. I just don't think that there's going to be time for him to make it. Barry, with 19 games to go, he can easily hit 10 or 11 home runs. He had that 26 game stretch where he hit 21 home runs earlier in the year and he's got a game in Colorado today. He's got three more games in Houston, and he's got three more games in San Diego, where he's hit 33 home runs in his career.

So, I think Barry Bonds is the one who is going to do it. We'd all like to see Sammy right there with him, as he was in '98, right there with Mark, but I think time is running out for Sammy to get there.

SAVIDGE: Giants and the Cubs, either team got a shot at the pennant?

HEYMON: I think so. I kind of like the Giants. I think the Giants were at a little bit of a disadvantage during the season. They're playing in the west, which is a much more difficult division than the central. The Cubs took advantage of playing Milwaukee and Pittsburgh and Cincinnati nearly 50 times. The Giants didn't have that advantage, but I think in the long run they're a little bit better team and I think they're going to be able to beat out the Cubs for the pennant -- for the play off spot.

SAVIDGE: And why is it, I'm curious, that we don't seem to have this tremendous hype like we did the last time around, when the home run record was being challenged? What do you make of that?

HEYMON: I think that is mostly about the fact that Roger Maris' record stood for 37 years and a lot of people thought that that record was unbreakable at the time, and people didn't get close for many years.

Sixty-one seemed like a real big number until Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire took those shots at it in '98 and I think another part of it is the fact that it was two guys, Sosa and McGwire, with different personalities, both going for the record. And I think that added to the hype.

Here, it's only been three years and I think Bonds' personality plays a role in it too. Some people don't like him and some people want McGwire to have that record. So, there's a number of factors, but the main one is the fact that Maris' record stood for 37 years and people assumed that it was unbreakable. Now, I think people think that Barry can get there and they're probably pulling for Mark to hold that record for the most part.

SAVIDGE: Well, we haven't got a lot of time left, but I'd like to ask, did you think this was a good year, a good season, not over yet, obviously, but for the fans?

HEYMON: I think so. I think the home run chase has added to it. I think the fact that a lot of teams that were expected to be also- rans and were in the race, I think that has really helped this season. The Cubs are in the race, the Twins were in the race for a long time. The Phillies are still in the race.

These are teams that really were not expected to be in the pennant race at all, and I think that's great for baseball. It's not good for baseball when the Yankees win every year, and they may win again this year, but at this point, it's hard to say that they're even the favorites. Seattle is having the best year and I could easily see Seattle or Oakland winning it all, or maybe even the Cubs. Anybody could win.

SAVIDGE: Well, don't count out the Cleveland Indians. That's all I've got to say.

HEYMON: That sounds like a personal favorite there.

SAVIDGE: It is, a hometown favorite. John Heymon from "Newsday" thanks very much for joining us this morning, talking about Barry Bonds and baseball.

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