Shohei Ohtani came to the plate five times with a chance to win the baseball game with a walk-off home run on Monday night.
Five times, the Toronto Blue Jays walked the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ superstar.
The first four were intentional, and the fifth was about as intentional as an “unintentional” walk could be. Ohtani set a World Series record with those intentional walks in one game, but it brought to mind another legend, San Francisco Giants great Barry Bonds.
Bonds is the intentional walks king.
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What is Barry Bonds’ intentional walks record?
Barry Bonds holds the single-season and all-time record for intentional walks.
His age-39 season in 2004 featured 120 intentional walks, by far the all-time mark, as he walked 232 times in total that season.
Bonds was walked intentionally 688 times in his career. He led the league in the stat 12 times.
Was Barry Bonds intentionally walked with the bases loaded?
Yes, Bonds was once walked intentionally with the bases loaded.
It was May 28, 1998. The Diamondbacks led the Giants by two runs with the bases loaded, and Arizona manager Buck Showalter opted to walk Bonds and make it a one-run game rather than giving Bonds a chance to win it.
It worked. The next hitter, Brett Mayne, lined out. The Diamondbacks won by a run.