Little Hoopla as Bonds Chases Mark

Some of the sights and sounds are strikingly familiar: Another very large man, wearing No. 25 on his back, is stepping up to the plate in late September and pounding the baseball relentlessly, clearing the stadium fences at a record pace.

Only this time, there are jeers and boos as he grinds his cleats into the dirt of the batter’s box.

With every move Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants makes, it is a reminder that it isn’t 1998 anymore. Three years ago, Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals and Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs captivated a country and salvaged a slumping national pastime with their friendly home run derby--racing against the calendar, and each other, as they chased what had been America’s most hallowed sports record for nearly four decades, Roger Maris’ single-season mark of 61 home runs set in 1961.

McGwire got there first, Sosa rallied past him, McGwire pushed forward again and by the time the last baseball landed, McGwire had seemingly driven the record into no man’s land: 70 home runs in a 162-game baseball season.

It was supposed to be the sporting achievement of a lifetime, or at least a generation, not a speed bump to be run over within 36 months. But as the Giants open a weekend series tonight at Pacific Bell Park in San Francisco, there Bonds is, with 67 home runs in 153 games so far, four home runs ahead of McGwire’s supposedly untouchable pace of 1998.

This Time, No Bounce, Reunions or Tears

Yet there is no bounce to Bonds’ step as he circles the bases, no Sosa salsa. There are no family reunions inside the ballpark, no McGwire hugging his bat-boy son, no Maris relatives blinking away tears in the field boxes.

Bonds, 37, is having a spectacular season, batting .319 and driving in 128 runs while leading the National League in extra-base hits (100), slugging percentage (.837), on-base percentage (.502) and walks (162). It is a season to celebrate, yet no one appears to be in the mood.

Part of this falls on Bonds, a 16-year veteran who is one of the game’s leading anti-heroes, a longtime media adversary and the visiting player fans most love to hate. For years, he has been booed in ballparks across the country.

But part of it is due to circumstances. Televisions that were split-screen focused on McGwire and Sosa in 1998 are now tuned to news footage of disasters at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and updates about America bracing for war.

“No doubt, with the events of Sept. 11, everything has taken a back seat,” Angel catcher Jorge Fabregas said. “People care, but they don’t care as much as they did when it was Sept. 10.

“I think a lot of people don’t want him to break this record, and I don’t know why. Whether it’s because he’s a bad guy--or people have that perception of him. [But] he’s a complete player. He deserves the record.

“As much as he hates the media, this guy is what you measure a Hall of Fame player by. So why there’s a lack of excitement, I really don’t know. As players, we’re excited. We look at the TV and say, ‘Damn, he hit another.’ ”

Major league baseball spokesman Pat Courtney, who was at Dodger Stadium this week to help coordinate media credentialing for the final stages of Bonds’ pursuit, said media interest in this home run chase is down 50% from 1998.

“We’ve got half the number of credentials [for Bonds] as we had for McGwire,” Courtney said. “Our office had received requests from newspapers interested to see what would happen after Bonds hit his 60th. But that was before the events of Sept. 11. I’m actually surprised we didn’t get any calls canceling those credential requests.”

Even the credentials themselves are indicative of the sentiment this time around. At Dodger Stadium, where the Giants stopped by for a three-game series that ended Wednesday, reporters were given a round plastic badge bearing the inscription, “Race For The Record II.”

The implication: McGwire and Sosa starred in the smash-hit original screenplay; this, for anyone interested, is the sequel.

“It was really special in ‘98,” Dodger relief pitcher Jesse Orosco said. “Now it seems like somebody’s going to break it every year.”

In fact, McGwire and Sosa almost did in 1999. Maris’ record stood in the books for 37 years. McGwire and No. 70 barely withstood the following summer, with McGwire and Sosa hitting 65 and 63 home runs, respectively, in ’99.

Two years later, Bonds is threatening 70. For many, it is simply a case of long ball overload. Too much too soon.

“I think a lot of people figured that this was only a once-in-a-lifetime event,” said Jon Miller, a broadcaster for ESPN and the Giants. “You had 1927 [when Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs], 1961 and then ’98 and ’99. It was the same two guys the next year, but it didn’t captivate the country the same way.”

The same thing is happening with Bonds, Miller believes.

“Now, if Barry waited to do this until he was 72,” Miller added with a grin, “maybe it would be different.”

Baseball was also in a different place in 1998. Many fans remained embittered over the long work stoppage of 1994, which resulted in the unprecedented cancellation of the World Series. The game was suffering at the gate and on television, acceding its standing as “national pastime” to pro football, before McGwire and Sosa mounted their rallying home-run campaign.

“Baseball, at that time, was having a tough time,” said Dodger senior vice president Tom Lasorda. “And then, all of a sudden, this home run derby got the fans involved again.

“I remember little kids coming up to me asking, ‘Did McGwire hit one today?’ Those two guys got fans really interested in baseball again. I think people are less interested now because of the fact we really needed it more than we did now.”

McGwire and Sosa were also more media-savvy than Bonds, whose frosty relationship with sportswriters is legendary.

“Bonds has spent his entire career not playing ‘the game,’ ” says San Francisco Chronicle sports columnist Ray Ratto. “He’s never been popular with his teammates. A lot of media people don’t like him. . . .

“Barry has never tried to be charming. As hypocritical as it is, people respond to that. People root for the number, but they are also rooting for the guy.

“Remember, in ‘98, McGwire hated [the media scrutiny] for five months until Sosa shamed him into being charming. Sosa is a guy so attuned to public relations and he was saying, ‘Look, it’s supposed to be fun.’ McGwire finally said to himself, ‘You know what, I do not have the stomach to be America’s villain.’ People want to see you smiling out there, looking like you’re enjoying yourself.

“McGwire figured it out. But if he’d been out there alone, without someone like Sosa, I think the [public] reaction, while maybe not the same as Bonds’, would be close.”

Unlike McGwire, who also wears No. 25, Bonds doesn’t mind the antipathy. Just the opposite: He seems to be driven by it. He knows that he is not the popular choice to own so hallowed a record, that there are people in the stands and the press box hoping that his quest falls short of 70.

‘I’ve Been Booed My Whole Life’

Rather than a feel-good crusade, Bonds has turned this home-run pursuit into a summer-long act of defiance.

“That’s all right, boo me,” a smiling Bonds said at a pregame news conference at Dodger Stadium on Monday. “I’ve been booed my whole life.”

The news conferences, Bonds can live without. He has grudgingly agreed to these sessions on the first day of each series in a new city and after games in which he hits a home run.

“There’s a point where you don’t have a choice,” Bonds said. He prefers these group gatherings to one-on-one interviews, he said, “because none of you can lie.”

To Bonds, the boos he hears on the road are a sign of respect. As Jim Moorehead, the Giants’ director of media relations, put it, “If you’re the enemy, they’re only going to boo you because you’re so good. If you’re beating him and he’s no good, why would you bother?”

Bonds also relishes turning those jeers into appreciative cheers. It happened Sunday in San Diego after Bonds delivered Nos. 65 and 66 and again Monday night at Dodger Stadium after he hit No. 67.

Tony Gwynn, the San Diego Padres’ retiring All-Star outfielder, marveled at Bonds and his imperious assault on the record.

“At times you all get on his nerves,” Gwynn told a group of reporters. Then, noting how Bonds had actually finished a postgame news conference and answered all questions, he added, “For Barry Bonds, he’s been really good. I think he’s handled it really well.

“I told him he should have some fun with it. But, he doesn’t really care what people think.”

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Times staff writers Mike DiGiovanna, Bill Plaschke and Bill Shaikin contributed to this story.