When I saw the greatest ballplayer of our generation limp off the field last night in San Diego, I have to admit it finally hit me that this may very well be the last season that this die hard Giants fan will get to see #25 in the orange and black.
That realization makes me sad - there's no other way to put it - because Barry Bonds has meant so much to my team and my love of the game of baseball. I know the general public despises him, thinks he's a cheater and a generally bad guy, but to me he's the best I've ever seen and the single biggest reason why my Giants have been a winner more often than not since he arrived in 1993.
That year he helped take a team that was 72-90 the year before and led them to 103 wins. If the Wild Card had been in place that year they would have been able to make a real run at the World Series, but instead the Atlanta Braves won 104 games and took the NL West crown.
The next ten years of Giants baseball saw them amass a better overall regular season record than all but two teams, the aforementioned Braves and the New York Yankees. And while all that success only led to one appearance in the fall classic, it was the play of Bonds and the feeling that they would always have a chance with him that kept me looking forward to spring and the start of the baseball season.
I'm gonna miss Barry and I have a feeling no matter where he plays next season that he's going to miss San Francisco, but I guess they were right when they said all good things must come to end. I just wish "they" were wrong once in a while.
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