Some thoughts from Barry’s last (Giants) game

I don’t know what the reaction is like elsewhere in the country, but the buzz on local sports radio last night and today is all about Barry Bonds’ last game as a Giant.

I’m not a Giants fan, but if you watched the game last night as any kind of a sports fan, you couldn’t help but get a bit emotional, even with all of the controversy the past few years. For several years, watching Barry Bonds was watching a baseball circus: amazing and, at times, absurd. Unfortunately over the years, it just became more absurd.

I think my overwhelming reaction to last night is, "What might have been." I wrote about this last year when ‘Game of Shadows’ came out, but I don’t think it’s been possible for me to watch Barry in the last year or two without thinking that he missed out on a great opportunity. As I look back on the memorable exits of so many baseball stars in my lifetime, it’s impossible not to note that Barry’s should have been the most triumphant.

He is the greatest baseball player of my lifetime. He (pretty much single-handedly) saved baseball in San Francisco. He is synonymous with Pacbell Park. He has 7 MVP awards. He was the second man to go 40-40 in a season. He has the single-season and career home run records (that, 15 years ago, seemed unbreakable).

But more than that, he was dominant like no baseball player since, probably, Babe Ruth. There is statistical dominance and then there is real live "Whoa, watch this because something insane will probably happen" dominance.

It was a bizarre ending for Barry and the Giants. McGowan was forced into shuffling Barry out the door by the team’s horrid play and the city’s increasing lack of appetite for Barry the villain. In many ways, it says a lot for McGowan that he would make it known before the season ended, so that Barry could get his last goodbye - when you compare that to, for example, how Emmitt Smith left Dallas, it leaves a decent taste in your mouth.

But Barry’s 15 years in San Francisco deserved better. From him, from the team, and from the Giants management. He deserved a triumphant exit that was fitting of one of the 5 greatest baseball players of all time - last night was nice, but it wasn’t enough. What might have been indeed…