10 years ago today, Barry Bonds played his final baseball game. The 70-89 Giants lost to the Padres and Jake Peavy won his 19th game on the way to a Cy Young Award. Bonds went 0-3 before getting pulled for a pinch hitter, Eliezer Alfonzo.
Here's how the New York Times described the day.
Bonds went hitless in three at-bats but provided perhaps the biggest thrill of the evening with a towering drive in the bottom of the sixth to right-center field, the deepest part of AT&T Park. The ball only went as far as the warning track, where it dropped into the glove of center fielder Brady Clark.
Bonds then slowly walked from the field as the overflow crowd stood chanting, “Barry, Barry.” Bonds tipped his helmet as he entered the dugout, where he was hugged by his teammates and Manager Bruce Bochy. Bonds then went back on the field for one last time and again tipped his hat to the crowd. Then it was down the clubhouse stairs and into an uncertain future.
Such emotional tributes had become commonplace at AT&T Park as Bonds chased Hank Aaron’s home run record. But Wednesday’s game came under considerably less festive circumstances.
Bonds, who signed with the Giants in 1993 as a big-money free agent, announced Friday that this season would be his last with the club. A last-place team for most of 2007, the Giants have decided that they need a new direction, presumably including freedom from Bonds’s salary — $15.8 million plus incentives — and the ongoing federal investigation into perjury charges surrounding his alleged steroid use.
In September, Bonds hit just .233/.378/.367 in 37 plate appearances. However, for the 2007 season, he .276/.480/.565 with 28 home runs in 126 games. At the age of 43. His 132 walks led all of baseball.
Bonds' last home run came a few weeks before on September 5th.