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Barry Lamar Bonds 1964–, American baseball player, b. Riverside, Calif. Bonds grew up surrounded by baseball; his father, Bobby Bonds, was a San Francisco Giants outfielder (1968–74), and the great Willie Mays was his godfather. Bonds left Arizona State Univ. to play for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1986, and just four years later he was voted the National League's Most Valuable Player (MVP). In 1992 he was again MVP, and became a free agent and signed a lucrative contract with the San Francisco Giants. During his first Giants season the left-handed power hitter and Gold Glove–winning outfielder again was named MVP and led the league in home runs and runs batted in. Early in 2001, Bonds hit his 500th home run, and in the last game of that season he made baseball history by smacking his 73d homer, surpassing by three Mark McGwire's 1998 record. Bonds also shattered two of Babe Ruth's long-standing records : the 81-year-old slugging record (Ruth's was .847; Bonds' .863) and the 78-year-old record for walks in a season (Ruth had 170, Bonds 177) and won his fourth MVP, a record. In 2002, Bonds broke the 600-homer mark, set a new record for season walks (198) and on-base percentage (.582), and was again the NL MVP. In 2003 he tied Jimmie Foxx's record of 12 consecutive 30-home-run seasons.
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