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Sunday, July 01, 2001

This goes back a few years, to when Jim Leyland still was managing the Pirates and Barry Bonds was in his fourth season with the San Francisco Giants.

"If he keeps doing what he's doing," Leyland said of Bonds, "he might end up being the greatest player ever."

People laughed at Leyland, ridiculed him. How can Bonds be so great? After those miserable failures in the playoffs? He couldn't even throw out Sid Bream.

Not so many people are laughing and ridiculing now.

"Maybe they still are in Pittsburgh, but not around baseball," Leyland said. "A lot of people don't like Barry Bonds here. It doesn't matter what he does, they won't give him credit. But that doesn't change things. He has to be one of the best ever. What he's done during his career is unbelievable."

The latest for Bonds is the fastest home run start in major-league history. He has 39 despite failing to hit one in the Giants' previous six games. That's the most before the All-Star break.

The Giants will honor Bonds today at Pacific Bell Park for hitting his 500th home run earlier this season. The team invited Leyland to speak at the ceremony and paid for his trip to San Francisco. Hall of Famers and former Giants greats Willie Mays and Willie McCovey also will take part.

"There's no question Barry can hit 70 home runs," Leyland said. "He's so locked in at the plate. He's such a smart hitter. He's so strong. He definitely can do it."

Leyland doesn't buy the argument that Bonds' playoff failures means he will fade under the pressure of chasing Mark McGwire's single-season home run record.

"If he doesn't do it, it won't be because of the pressure. It will be because teams won't pitch to him enough. He already has been walked more than anybody. He might not get many chances to hit home runs, especially if the Giants are in the chase."

Leyland knows about Bonds' postseason flops, remembers his three with the Pirates all too well. "That's why I was hoping he would have a big playoffs last year. That's the only way people will get off his back."

What puzzles Leyland is why Pirates fans seem to blame only Bonds for the team's failure to make it to the World Series in the early 1990s. He pointed out Andy Van Slyke and Bobby Bonilla didn't hit much, either, although he gave everyone a free pass for their failures in '91 because "we ran into Steve Avery and John Smoltz in Game 6 and Game 7 and they pitched two of the greatest games I've ever seen ...

"I guess they blame Barry more because they're always going to measure him against Clemente. Clemente came through big time in the playoffs and World Series. People here still remember that."

One thing -- maybe the only thing -- Clemente could do better than Bonds was throw. Bonds' critics will never let him forget the slower-than-molasses Bream scoring the winning run from second base on Francisco Cabrera's single to left field in Game 7 of the 1992 playoffs.

"That wasn't a bad throw," Leyland said. "Barry is left-handed, and he had to come in at an angle, then throw across his body.

"That's not what beat us. The first fly ball of that inning should have been caught [by Cecil Espy]. Chico Lind booted a ground ball. We probably had Damon Berryhill struck out twice and didn't get the calls. If Cabrera hits his ball two feet more to the right, Jay Bell makes the play and we go to the World Series.

"It wasn't all Barry. We just didn't get it done as a team, which is a shame because no one wanted to win a championship for Pittsburgh more than we did."

No one can dispute the enormity of Bonds' regular-season accomplishments. With 533 home runs, he has a decent chance to pass Mays (660) and finish in third place on the all-time list. That would be an amazing achievement, especially considering he also could break Rickey Henderson's record of 2,101 walks. He has 1,625. And if he doesn't get the 23 stolen bases he needs for 500, so what? He's already baseball's only 400-home run, 400-stolen base man. Only Mays, Hank Aaron and Mickey Mantle had his combination of power and speed.

"People can say he's doing it against bad pitching," Leyland said. "But you know what? Everyone else is hitting against that same pitching. No one else is doing what he's doing."

That's why Leyland is "honored" to be included in the festivities today. It's interesting the Giants invited him. A lot of people remember his celebrated run-in with Bonds during spring training in 1991 and think they had a bad relationship.

"We had and still have a great relationship," Leyland said. "I had players get in my face several times, but it happened behind closed doors. That one just happened to be in front of everyone. But that doesn't mean we weren't friends the day after it happened. We're always going to be friends."

It's easy to think Leyland would love to see Bonds break McGwire's home run record even though he works as a scout for the St. Louis Cardinals. But more than that, Leyland would love to see Bonds get one more crack at the postseason.

"I don't know how he would do. But I do know one thing. He's still the one guy I wouldn't want to face in October."

Ron Cook can be reached at rcook@post-gazette.com.