Barry Bonds reached base in 21 of 30 plate appearances across the 2002 World Series, a rate of .700 that stands as a Series record. It was the finest stage of a long career, played out in one October week in Anaheim.
Twenty-one times on base, four balls over the wall
Bonds homered in his first World Series at-bat, and the Giants took the opener 4-3. He went on to go 8-for-17 with two doubles and four home runs, and became the first player to homer in each of his first three World Series games.
The Angels stopped pitching to him. Thirteen walks, seven of them intentional, showed how little they wanted the bat to decide things.
The turning point came in Game 6 at Edison Field. San Francisco led 5-0 in the seventh, then let it slip: a three-run homer by Scott Spiezio, a solo shot by Darin Erstad, and a two-run double by Troy Glaus over Bonds' head made it 6-5. Two nights later the Angels loaded the bases in the third of Game 7 and cleared them with a double, and a 4-1 lead held.
The only World Series of a 22-year career
The 2002 Series was the sole championship round Bonds ever reached. It arrived after his record 73-home-run season of 2001 and a 2002 regular year in which he batted .370 with a .582 on-base mark.
The postseason erased an old shadow. He had entered the year hitting .196 in 97 playoff at-bats; that October he hit .356 overall with 8 home runs and a then-record 27 walks. Series MVP went to Glaus, though the number that lasted was Bonds'.
The Angels, in their first World Series since 1961, won it in seven games. Bonds set the record and lost the title, and the two would remain fixed together in his story.
