Barry Bonds will be getting a statue outside the Giants' ballpark, team CEO says
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Barry Bonds will be getting a statue outside the San Francisco Giants' home stadium where he set baseball's career home run record, the team's CEO said Thursday.
Giants President and Chief Executive Officer Larry Baer was asked during a radio interview about a statue for Bonds, and he responded that it was 'on the radar." But Baer didn't have any details of when that would happen.
'Barry is certainly deserving of a statue, and I would say should be next up,' Baer said during an appearance on San Francisco's 95.7 The Game. 'We don't have the exact location and the exact date and the exact timing. ... It's coming. All I can say is it's coming.'
Bonds played for San Francisco the last 15 of his 22 big league seasons, hitting 586 of his 762 homers while with the Giants from 1993-2007. He set the single-season MLB record with 73 homers in 2001, and hit his record-breaking 756th homer to pass Hank Aaron in a home game off Washington's Mike Bacsik on Aug. 7, 2007.
There are currently five statues outside Oracle Park, those of Hall of Famers Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Juan Marichal, Gaylord Perry and Orlando Cepeda. The Giants retired Bonds' No. 25 jersey in 2018.
Bonds, a seven-time MVP and 14-time All-Star, is not in the Hall of Fame. He failed to reach the 75% threshold required during his 10 years on the Baseball Writers Association of America's Hall of Fame ballot, mostly because of steroids allegations that dogged him during his final years with the Giants. The Contemporary Player Committee also passed on electing Bonds in 2022, though the committee could reconsider Bonds' status.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
14 minutes ago
- New York Times
Giants reach midpoint of season in good position but not in good head space
SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants reached the halfway point of their season with a stock portfolio in the green. They have a winning record (44-37) and a positive run differential (plus-34). They have a new franchise hitter, Rafael Devers, who promises greater returns in the middle of their lineup. They are relevant in the National League standings — 6 1/2 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West but just a half-game out of the third wild-card spot and three wins removed from leading the pack. Advertisement They are settling into a soft pocket in their schedule, too. They wore matching gray sweatsuits and jetted off Thursday afternoon for a 10-game road trip that will begin with a series against the last-place Chicago White Sox and conclude in Sacramento with a series against the last-place Athletics. Their attire was airplane casual. But their countenances did not match. Soft pockets aren't much help when there are too many holes in your game. And getting swept at home by a losing club, the Miami Marlins, would make anyone a tad irritable and hypersensitive. Wilmer Flores appeared ready to fight the entire Marlins dugout in the latter stages of Thursday's 12-5 loss when he reacted to someone's comment following his strikeout on a checked swing appeal. Both benches and bullpens emptied in the seventh inning, and Jung Hoo Lee dragged Flores away from the front line before the situation escalated. not to be dramatic but… everyone has a hit and we just hit our season-high 12 runs. — Miami Marlins (@Marlins) June 26, 2025 The two teams were already playing under a warning from the umpiring crew after Hayden Birdsong hit Otto López with a fastball in the first inning — a pitch that dripped with so much obvious motivation that Miami manager Clayton McCullough drew an ejection for arguing that the umpires let the Giants off too easy. Flores, who also exchanged words with Boston Red Sox closer Aroldis Chapman last Friday, did not stick around long enough to explain the source of his consternation in the seventh inning. He double-timed it from his locker to the bus and did not slow down when reporters attempted to ask him a question. Rolling a piece of luggage in each hand and cradling another bag under an arm, he appeared determined not to make a second trip. Advertisement 'Wilmer was gesturing to the (first-base) umpire and maybe their pitcher took exception to that, is my guess,' Giants manager Bob Melvin said. 'I don't know. Maybe he said something to him. I haven't talked to him. But it's frustrating to get swept, especially here at home, coming off a pretty good series against the Red Sox.' A night earlier, Giants right-hander Logan Webb said he hoped the team would take the field with a little edge after the Marlins became the latest opponent to take a pound of flesh with inside pitches. Webb's language was thinly coded: A Giants pitcher would throw a retaliatory pitch Thursday to show their hitters that they had their backs. Birdsong's apparent beanball came in the exact time and place that the unwritten rules prescribe: two outs, bases empty, first pitch. Birdsong did not headhunt, either. The fastball hit López below the belt, not above it. But then Agustín Ramírez hit a double. Kyle Stowers hit a homer. The Marlins took a quick 3-0 lead, and from there, Birdsong looked very much like a green 23-year-old — either distracted or disinterested, but obviously off his game. 'His velo was kind of all over the place,' Melvin said. Maybe the Giants felt they had to send a message both to opposing teams and their own clubhouse. Maybe it'll help them be a more cohesive group over the coming weeks and months. But it came at a price Thursday. Playing angry sure as heck didn't make them play any better. The Giants hadn't been swept at home all season. They hadn't been swept at home by the Marlins since 2017. In that context, it might have been difficult to appreciate that Devers slugged his second home run as a Giant — a 438-foot blast to center that ranked as the longest hit by a Giant at home in more than four years. (Austin Slater hit a 456-foot shot in 2021.) 4️⃣3️⃣8️⃣ feet — SFGiants (@SFGiants) June 26, 2025 'Yeah, it's hard to feel good about today,' Giants right fielder Mike Yastrzemski said. 'It's not hard to feel good about where we are. If you were to tell us in February that at the halfway point, we'd be seven games over .500 and in the thick of things, with a guy (Devers) we didn't expect to have, I think we'd take that. He swung the bat really well today, Willy (Adames) has been swinging great. We couldn't put it together as a team, but to see those guys having those at-bats is a real positive sign.' Advertisement At least the Giants received good news on third baseman Casey Schmitt, whose apparently unintentional plunking in the ninth inning Wednesday night was viewed as the last straw by Webb and others in the clubhouse. Schmitt underwent a CT scan that ruled out a hand fracture. He said he couldn't swing a bat Thursday and the hand was swollen, but he held out hopes of returning to the lineup Friday night on the South Side of Chicago. By the tail end of this road trip, there's a chance the Giants will have Matt Chapman at third base, Schmitt at second and Devers at first. Purpose pitches and anger management aside, what the Giants most need in the second half is a lineup with more depth and danger. 'It's tough to have perspective from the beginning of the year to where we are right now,' Melvin said. 'We are who we are, and we feel we're a lot better than we played the last three games. So we're not in a horrible position. Yet we feel like we're a better team than what our record is right now.' (Photo of Wilmer Flores: Eakin Howard / Imagn Images)
Fox Sports
32 minutes ago
- Fox Sports
Tampa Bay Rays' Wander Franco convicted of sexually abusing a child and gets a suspended sentence
Associated Press PUERTO PLATA, Dominican Republic (AP) — Suspended Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco was convicted of sexually abusing a child and handed a two-year suspended sentence Thursday. Franco was arrested last year after being accused of having a four-month relationship with a girl who was 14 at the time, and of transferring thousands of dollars to her mother to consent to the illegal relationship. Franco, now 24, was found not guilty of charges of sexual and commercial exploitation against a minor and human trafficking. Judge Jakayra Veras García said Franco made a bad decision as she addressed him during the ruling. 'Look at us, Wander,' she said. 'Do not approach minors for sexual purposes. If you don't like people very close to your age, you have to wait your time." Prosecutors had requested a five-year prison sentence against Franco and a 10-year sentence against the girl's mother, who was found guilty and will serve the full term. 'Apparently she was the one who thought she was handling the bat in the big leagues,' Veras said of the mother and her request that Franco pay for her daughter's schooling and other expenses. Franco's attorney, Irina Ventura, said she would appeal the judge's ruling: 'Evidently, justice was not done." Meanwhile, prosecutor Luis Martínez said he was pleased with the rulings but did not say whether the government would appeal. Before the three judges issued their unanimous ruling, Veras reviewed the extensive evidence prosecutors presented during trial, including testimony from 31 witnesses. 'This is a somewhat complex process,' Veras said. More than an hour into her presentation, Veras said: 'The court has understood that this minor was manipulated.' As the judge continued her review, Franco looked ahead expressionless, leaning forward at times. Franco, who was once the team's star shortstop, had signed a $182 million, 11-year contract through 2032 in November 2021 but saw his career abruptly halted in August 2023 after authorities in the Dominican Republic announced they were investigating him for an alleged relationship with a minor. Franco was 22 at the time. In January 2024, authorities arrested Franco in the Dominican Republic. Six months later, Tampa Bay placed him on the restricted list, which cut off the pay he had been receiving while on administrative leave. He was placed on that list because he has not been able to report to the team and would need a new U.S. visa to do so. While Franco awaited trial on conditional release, he was arrested again in November last year following what Dominican authorities called an altercation over a woman's attention. He was charged with illegally carrying a semiautomatic Glock 19 that police said was registered to his uncle. That case is still pending in court. After the ruling, Major League Baseball issued a brief statement noting it had collectively bargained a joint domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy 'that reflects our commitment to these issues.' 'We are aware of today's verdict in the Wander Franco trial and will conclude our investigation at the appropriate time,' MLB said. ___ Associated Press writers Dánica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Ron Blum in New York contributed to this report. recommended
Fox Sports
34 minutes ago
- Fox Sports
For Harrington, one bogey outshines the birdies and keeps him in share of lead at US Senior Open
Associated Press COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Padraig Harrington made four birdies Thursday, though it was the bogey he saved after losing a tee shot deep in a thicket of trees on the 15th hole that helped him keep a share of the first-round lead with Mark Hensby at the U.S. Senior Open. The leaders shot 3-under 67 for a one-shot edge over a group of six, including Stewart Cink, who hit the first 17 greens before making bogey after coming up short on No. 18. Harrington, the 2022 U.S. Senior champion, made all four birdies on the (easier) front nine at the Broadmoor and was leading by one when he snapped his tee shot on the par-4 15th deep into the woods. The Irishman took a cart back to the tee box for his third shot, then hit that into the right rough. His approach to 20 feet and the ensuing make limited the damage and he made three pars on the way in to stay atop the leaderboard. It was quite a different scene for Hensby, who made seven birdies on his front nine and got to 6 under at the turn, but finished bogey-bogey for his 67. He looked and sounded anything like a leader of a major championship afterward. 'Obviously, I felt like I lost some out there,' Hensby said. 'It's just frustrating. I played like (expletive) the back nine. What else can you say?' Hensby's bogeys each came after drives that missed the fairway and landed in rough that is thick — yet maybe not the biggest problem at this course nestled at the base of Cheyenne Mountain, which influences every putt. 'It's just a different version of what we saw at Oakmont, with really treacherous greens,' said Notah Begay, who made the field as an alternate and shot even par. 'We got a break today, to be fair.' It was, indeed, a calm, partly cloudy day less than 36 hours removed from a massive thunderstorm that soaked and softened the course. Even so, only 17 players finished under par with a few in the 156-man field still on the course as dusk approached. When the tournament was last played here in 2018, David Toms won with a score of 3-under par — a number that made Hensby's 6 under after nine that much more remarkable. But the Aussie, who shot 63 in the second round of last year's U.S. Open at Newport Country Club was more focused on the back nine. 'I've never been a very consistent player,' he said. 'I'm hot or cold, and that kind of sucks. Certain shots I keep hitting during rounds, it just (ticks) me off, so to speak. So yeah, the back nine was just kind of a bit of that.' ___
