Revisiting Barry Bonds’ Ownage of McCovey Cove (with Video)

For the fourth time, Barry Bonds is on the Hall of Fame ballot, and with voting going hot and heavy, now is the perfect time to revisit some of Bonds’ incredible accomplishments.

McCovey Cove may be named after Hall of Famer Willie McCovey, but Barry Bonds owned the Cove. He visited the cold waters with fascinating regularity, and it never got old. Bonds hit 35 home runs into the water, and some of the stats and facts behind the splashes are just as amazing. Below is a list of some of those Bonds facts, and a video of each and every one of Bonds’ water shots.

• Bonds hit the first Splash Hit at AT&T Park (then known a Pacific Bell Park) on May 1st, 2000 during the ninth game at the park.
• On May 10th, 2000, Bonds hit the second and third Splash Hits, becoming the first player to hit multiple splashdowns in a single game. He repeated the feat on May 18th, 2002. No other player, Giant or visiting, has been able to do that.

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• The first visiting player to reach McCovey Cove was Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Todd Hundley, who did so on June 30th, 2000. By that time, Bonds had already hit water five times.
• Bonds hit the first nine Splash Hits at the park by a Giant. On May 28th, 2001, Felipe Crespo hit the 10th wet home run, and the first by a Giant not named Bonds. Crespo hit 10 career home runs, and two reached the water.
• Bonds is one of two Giants to hit multiple splashes against one pitcher. He got to Colorado Rockies’ hurler John Thomson twice in 2001 (on May 24th and August 31st). Pablo Sandoval is also in this club, victimizing Rodrigo Lopez on July 31st, 2009 and August 31st, 2011. Lopez is the only pitcher to give up two Splash hits as a visitor with two different teams.
• On October 12th, 2002, Bonds hit the first Splash Hit during the postseason, hitting a three-run shot off the St. Louis Cardinals’ Chuck Finley that tied the game at four in the fifth. It was Bonds’ fourth home run of that October run, and he would add four more. No other Giant has replicated that feat, but two visitors have splashed down during postseason play (Rick Ankiel on October 8th, 2010, and Bryce Harper on October 7th, 2010).
• Bonds reached quite a few milestones by reaching the Cove. On April 17th, 2001, he hit his 500th career longball into the water. The very next day, he hit number 501. On April 12th, 2004, he matched his godfather Willie Mays’ career mark by hitting his 660th home run and tying him for third all-time. Again the very next day, he hit the 661st to surpass Mays and move to third all alone.
• Bonds has the five most prolific Splash Hit seasons in AT&T Park history. He hit nine into the Cove in 2001, his historic 73-home run season. He visited the water six times in 2000, 2002, and 2004, all tied for the second-wettest season, and added four more in 2004. No other player has reached three in a single season, but eight have hit two in one year (including Bonds once). Sandoval is the only other player with multiple seasons of multiples splashes (2009, 2010, 2011).

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• The all-time Home Run King hit at least one Splash every year from 2000 to 2007, the first eight years of play in the parl. That is, by far, the longest streak of seasons with a water shot, beating Sandoval’s three-year stretch from 2009 to 2011.
• When Bond hit his 35th Splash Hit on August 8th, 2007, there had only been 10 other Splash Hits by Giants’ batters. In the 754 games (postseason included) at AT&T Park since the 2008 season started (the first seasons without Bonds), there have only been 26 Splash Hits by Giants’ batters.
• For a very long time after his “retirement”, Bonds owned more than half of the Giants’ home runs into the water. It wasn’t until Denard Span dampened the baseball on June 13th, 2016, that Bonds’ Splash Hit percentage fell to 50. Span also hit the 71st Splash Hit on Augut 20th, 2016, dropping Bonds’ percentage to 49.3. It was the first time that Bonds had ever hit less than half the Giants’ home runs into the water.
• Obviously, Bonds is the all-time splashdown leader, but the margin in astonishing. The closest player to Bonds is Sandoval, who went swimming seven times. The closest current Giant is Brandon Belt, with five waterlogged balls to his resume.

Next: Who is Jae-gyun Hwang?

Hopefully this is the year Bonds finally enters the hallowed halls in Cooperstown, New York.