Barry Bonds had plenty of epic at-bats in his career as the greatest slugger the baseball world has ever seen.
In a video for the San Francisco Giants YouTube channel, Bonds sat down with commentator Duane Kuiper to share memories of some of his most iconic moments at the plate at Oracle Park.
One of those battles was a matchup against Dodgers closer Eric Gagne in April of 2004. At the time, Bonds was the three-time reigning NL MVP, and Gagne was the reigning NL Cy Young winner. This was the type of battle that lives in the dreams of baseball fans.
According to Bonds, he was able to get the pitch he was looking for thanks to a clever bit of gamesmanship. The drama started when Gagne delivered a heater inside that nearly clipped Bonds.
“I thought he broke my rib cage, because he came in tight. That was like 101 [mph]. When he cut me inside I was like, ‘Oh no.’ I knew it was on,” Bonds explained. “You’ll see me stare him down going, ‘That wasn’t the deal brother, but if you want to play the game, we’re going to play the game.’ I just wanted to send a message, don’t do that.”
Bonds then broke out a trick that his father taught him for dealing with a flamethrower.
“My dad always told me that if a guy throws that hard, send him a message and pull it very, very hard foul, and I guarantee you the next pitch is away.”
Bonds pulled one very, very hard. And when the next pitch was delivered away, he smacked it out of the park.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Barry Bonds Explains How He Cleverly Led Eric Gagne to Throw Him the Pitch He Wanted .
