2001 San Francisco Giants

2001 San Francisco Giants / Franchise: San Francisco Giants / BR Team Page[edit]

Record: 90-72, Finished 2nd in NL Western Division (2001 NL)

Coaches: Gene Clines, Sonny Jackson, Juan Lopez, Dave Righetti, Robby Thompson and Ron Wotus

History, Comments, Contributions[edit]

The 2001 San Francisco Giants are better known as the team for which Barry Bonds set the all-time record for most homers in a season with 73, destroying the previous record of 70 set by Mark McGwire in 1998. Bonds set the mark in spite of drawing an astounding 177 walks, as teams were wary of giving him pitches to hit, especially towards the end of the year. Bonds's record-breaking year was one of the factors that led the Giants to set a new major league mark for most home runs hit on the road, with 138. The mark would stand until beaten by the 2019 Minnesota Twins. It is an indication of how tough a home park PacBell Park was for Bonds that as a team, the Giants hit 41 more homers on the road than they did at home. Their team total of 235 led the National League easily (the Colorado Rockies were second with 213, but for all the homers, they scored just 799 runs, lacing them 5th in the league. Given their pitching was mediocre, with a 4.18 ERA in a pitcher's park, they missed the postseason, finishing 2 games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NL West, and 3 behind the St. Louis Cardinals in the wild card race.