Barry, how much did the message from Hank Aaron mean to you?
It meant everything, It meant absolutely everything. We’ve all admired Hank Aaron, all have a lot of respect for him, everyone in the game.
Right now, everything’s hitting me so fast, I’m at a loss for words again, but it was absolutely the best.
There was so much controvery surrounding this
Pedro, you’re always going to be controversy, so it doesn’t really matter. It’s the only thing that comes out of your vocal cords.
Henry: Barry, you said the other day 755 was the hardest, and then you had two days to think about it. Was 756 the hardest, or 755?
755 was the hardest. When – every time I’m training in the wintertime and I’m running the hill, it’s always harder to get to the top. It’s not that hard to come down from the hill.
Yesterday, I think I really tried. It was the first time during the whole entire time I actually tried. You know, the kid pitched me very well, and I came out of my zone a lot. Then, you know, last night, I thought about some things, I got with John Yandell again today, went over some things. I went back and looked at some things and remembered some of the things my Dad said. The one thing my Dad used to say was “load your back leg, just load it.”
I told Willie Upshaw before the game I was going to do what my Dad said and load my back leg. I got a hit the first time. I’ve said a lot of times my Dad’s been right about a lot of things in baseball. I got the first hit and I felt pretty good. I got the second hit, and I was, well, sometimes I’m just hard-headed and I need to listen more to my Dad.
Barry, how do you feel now. All these years, you’ve been chasing a goal and you are at the top now. Tell us what that feels like.
I don’t know how it feels at the moment. Right now, I’m very happy that it’s all over with. I’m really happy with my teammates. That’s the most thing. And, the fans, like I said, the fans here are my family. No one will ever take that away. No one ever can take that away. My teammates, having to go through this every single day, their support, their being understanding --- it was the best. Omar and I talked, and I said “you guys have got to remember something – with all this craziness, you are on stage too. We are all on stage and we all have to try to perform.”
Ever since that conversation, we’ve been winning more games than we’ve been losing, and we’ve been playing a lot better.
Now, the hard part’s over, and we get to actually go back to our everyday routines and enjoy ourselves. Like we said in there, let’s have some fun, we can turn the music up and enjoy it.
Barry, on Saturday after your BP, it looked like you were on target there, and then today, your manager had a good feeling about this. Did you feel tonight was the night?
Any time I get into a situation with John Yandell and he challenges me, I get into a groove with things. Today I was hitting the ball out of the park more than I had been. There’s certain times with John I can just feel it will happen, with the things that we go over and the things that we talk about. There’s days I just don’t have it, there’s times that he really wears me down. We try to make corrections, but you’re only human. This isn’t something you can just DO. I’ve learned that through all of this.
You are surrounded now by your wife and kids. How much of a backbone have they been, and what kind of discussiogn leading up to 756?
Well, they’ve always been my backbone. Everyone’s family is their backbone. This is my biggest supporting cast right here, as you can tell. We are a close-knit family. It’s great. It’s great. They are happy and excited. I’ve got my daughter back here now, and it’s great. That helps, too. My daughter was out of the country, and at least I waited until she came back, too, and before they went back to school.
When you hit 755, you alluded that as baseball players, you were a fraternity that should stick together, and the Giants also said if you hit it at home, there would be a surprise. Obviously, that surprise was Hank Aaron. Is that part of the pulling together you hoped would happen when you hit 756?
As baseball players, that’s who we are. We are a fraternity. We are supposed to stick together, that’s what we do. I’m rooting for any baseball player, I don’t care if you’re a first year player, or 22 years, like myself.
You’re here for a reason, and I’ll stand behind you no matter what. Like I say, I’ll ride and die with you. To be one of 1200, or however many players there are in this game --- you’re entertaining millions of people, and you’re here for a reason. It’s no accident, it’s not a mistake, you are a professional.
This group of guys, we’re trying to do our best, work hard, and give these people excitement. I’ll ride and die with you, no matter what.
Barry, you talked about your Dad. Obviously, he wasn’t here, but Willie was. Can you talk about what his presence has meant?
Willie’s presence, to me, is everything. That’s my godfather, and to be able to play out my baseball career and have him have the opportunity to see it is one of the greatest gifts that I can ever have.
You know, when you are growing up as a kid, you don’t think he’d still be around, and for him to be around, he’s really taken that second-fiddle that’s helped me since my Dad’s been gone. He’s been there for me since my Dad’s been gone, been that great mentor to me and kept me strong.
Barry, the magnitude of this record – this is generally considered by everyone the most revered record of all sports, certainly all American sports. Do you agree with that contention?
I think all records are great. I’m not going to sit there and say this is the best record. Football has their records, basketball, hockey with Wayne Gretzky’s records, I think they are all great records, regardless of what sport it is. When Tiger Woods gets to it, it’s going to be a great record when he gets past Jack Nicklaus with all the pursuit he’s doing.
All these records, there’s no one record – we can’t all play the same sport. I just don’t agree, I think they are all the same.
You told me in the spring of 1994 when you had 3 MVP’s of the goals you had left – to be in the 4th MVP category by yourself, and to win a ring. Now you’ve got 7 MVP’s, you don’t have a ring, but now you have this, that you weren’t even thinking of in 1994. How does that all reconcile with your goals now?
I haven’t quit yet. That ring’s still coming.
Two questions. First of all, can you talk about what was going through your heart and mind as you went around the bases – I was interpreting is as relief. You had a huge smile.
Probably, my Mom called me up and told me how proud she was of me, and she was just glad she got to live to see me tie the record. That’s what I was thinking of, because my Dad, truthfully, would have said something like “what the hell took you so long?”
Because my Dad was never totally satisfied with anything until you’re done, but my Mom called me up. That was a key. My Mom has always been there, she’s the one who drove me to Little League, who took me to school all the time. My Mom was the concession stand lady, selling hot dogs out of the concession stand for the other moms. My Mom was the one who was there when my Dad was never there.
My Dad and I had the opportunity to be together in ’93, and my Dad coached me even before then, but my Mom was the one who traveled to be at important things.
Moms are very special. With respect to what you’ve done, it’s a great accomplishment – there are obviously people who see things differently – you’ve heard the word “tainted” – do you feel it is tainted?
This record is not tainted. At all. At all. Period. You guys can say whatever you want.
Barry, you were born into baseball, your father and Willie Mays were obviously important to you. My question is, through stages of your life up to now, are there people who stand out who have been a positive influence on you on and off the field?
There’s a lot of people. Muhammad Ali – to me, there’s no one greater than Ali than God, ever. Bill Cosby has always been the other one in my eyes. Magic Johnson was my guy when I was growing up, basketball, Michigan, I watched him through my career. Obviously, Willie Mays was another one. There’s quite a few people, and it’s unfortunate that you don’t mention everyone’s name.
Obviously Michael Jordan was there for me, there’s so many other people that were there for me that I admire and look up to.
Barry, you know how sports is, tomorrow we will ask what’s next. Have you thought about 775 or 800?
No, I haven’t thought about that, but I’ll tell you one thing, I’m going to hit a lot better from now on.
Everybody pretty much said Aaron wasn’t going to be part of this, and with the message, he was. Everybody said the Commissioner wouldn’t be here, and he was for 11 games. Everybody said the reaction on the road would be negative, and it wasn’t. Do you have anything to say after all the tumult?
No, Barry, I don’t throw stones for throwing stones. That’s not my style, it’s never been my style. Just because I’m a quiet, to-myself kind of person, it doesn’t mean anything. That’s how I was raised, that’s just how I am. It’s just not me.
Bud Selig called me after the game, we had a chance to talk, he congratulated me, I was very happy about that. I thanked him. He told me it was a great accomplishment, you’ve endured a lot, and I have a lot of respect for you. And, I have a lot of respect for him.
Barry, you saw a lot of pitches before you hit the home run, a couple of at-bats and, I think that was the seventh pitch of that at-bat. Were you gaining intellingence there, and how much has that helped through your career, reading pitchers?
Like I said, my career was better when my Dad was around. I did this interview with Kuiper and Krukow and said he always showed me what to do – he always hit the homer for me. It’s tough to do it by yourself.
It’s hard to explain the things my Dad taught me and the things he showed me. I knew Mike had a good curveball, and he could throw it consistently for a strike, and if he really wanted to miss it, he could miss it on his own. I saw him enough on the films to know he could pinpoint his curveball pretty good.
The one thing I new, I knew he couldn’t overpower me with his fastball, so I wanted to take his curveball out of play. The second at-bat I got a hit off his curve ball up the middle. I knew that I was going to have a good day hitting-wise. I didn’t know I’d hit a home run, but I knew I’d have a good day because I took his best pitch away from him.
My Dad always told me “if you can take one of their best pitches away and make then go to number two, you’ve got a better chance.” That’s what I try to do.
I have a lot of respect for him. He’s a class act guy. He came into the locker room and congratulated me. I signed him a baseball bat and told him “you deserve it, thank you for coming over here, you’re a class act. I hope you have a great career.”
When did your Mom call you?
755 – that night.
What did you say on the field? I know you talked about your father…
On the field? I don’t remember all that. I’m pretty sure they will have a tape of it for you.
Barry, there’s a lot of people here tonight who helped you get here, but one who is not able to be here is Greg Anderson. If he’s watching TV now, is there a message you’d like to send to him?
Why are we in that conversation? It’s another negative question. I’m not going to get into that.
I know they kept the clubhouse closed for a while so you could celebrate with your teammates. What was that like?
It was great – they congratulated me, we had a toast, champagne, normal team stuff.
Did you see the fan who caught it has a Mets jersey?
I just hope he wasn’t hurt.
Do you want the ball?
I don’t want the ball. I never, ever believed that a home run ball belongs to a player. He caught it, it’s his.
What does it mean that the Giants brought you back in uniform to set this record?
I think they brought me back to help this team win, not just to do a record. I haven’t quit yet. We’ll see what happens next year.
Barry, as you crossed home plate, you looked up and pointed to the sky. What words did you express from your heart at that moment?
I was just thanking my Dad. I was thanking my Dad for all the things he’s taught me, all the things he’s done for me. That was all.
About 10 or 11 years ago, in the Hank Aaron documentary, you said this record could never be broken, and now it has been. Can you sit back and really marvel at what you’ve accomplished?
I can’t right at this moment. Everything’s so brand new right now, I don’t know. I’ll be able to take some time and reflect on everything and sit down and tell you what I really fell, how I really feel, and be able to put my words together a little bit better than today.
Barry, ask 10 people about Barry Bonds there will be 10 different opinions. You once said “if people really want to get to know me, they will have to come home with me.” Now that you are on your biggest stage, are there any misconceptions you’d like to correct?
Yeah. Don’t believe you guys. That’s the worst thing you can do.
Barry – I’m just wondering, when you hit 755 in San Diego – the reaction of the Padres players was pretty muted.
That’s not true. The Padre players did applaud me on their side, yes they did, that’s not true.
But the reaction here – the Nationals players seemed to go out of their way, Nook Logan was applauding you, were you aware of that as you went around the bases?
Yeah, I was aware of them, we are playing against them.
It’s our home field, it’s a little different than on someone else’s ball field. I have a lot of respect for the Nationals. I thank them for their patience through all this, as well. This is our house, and we can have any party we want in our house.
Barry, you mention the ring – I know it’s early, but do you want to come back next year, have the Giants talked about you coming back next year?
Me and the Giants usually talk about this in the winter time. When I hit 73 home runs, I didn’t talk to them until the winter time. I’ll put it to you this way – I’ll leave my family of fans out here, and we’ll figure it out.
Barry, the tribute from Hank was nice. Would you hope to some day sit down with him and maybe swap war stories about this whole experience, talk about what you went through and what he went through, have a heart-to-heart with him?
I’m pretty sure we will come across each other at one point. We see each other every once in a while. Throughout my career, Hank and I only saw each other every once in a while, and I’m sure we will sit down and talk and reminisce on everything.
For Japanese baseball – only Sadaharu Oh’s 868 are more than you.
Yeah, but that’s like Josh Gibson’s 800 – did we forget about him, or didn’t he exist.
What are your thoughts?
Congratulations, Sadaharu Oh.
Take care, guys, than you very much.
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