Barry Bonds (2004)
With baseball relying on the long ball more and more each year, perhaps one day a slugger could approach Bonds’ single-season home run record. In 2001, Bonds smashed a league-record 73 home runs, shattering the previous record set by Mark McGwire (70) three years prior. Perhaps 73 is too high of a number to match, but obviously McGwire wasn’t too far off. Recently we’ve seen Aaron Judge (62) and Giancarlo Stanton (59) put up big home run totals over the last few years. Instead, the one Bonds season that absolutely no other player has a chance to replicate is his 2004 campaign. The patient hitter drew an absurd 232 base on-balls.
Following the 73-HR season, teams were absolutely terrified of the Giants outfielder. Often times, pitchers refused to throw him any strikes. As a result, Bonds was walked 232 times — 120 of which were intentional. In a four-year span, Bonds recorded the three highest single-season BB marks in league history. You have to go back to the Babe Ruth’s 1923 season to find a player who even walked 170 times.
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