Bonds Notches His 2,191st Walk

San Francisco’s slugger Barry Bonds (40) set a new major league record for walks.

Bonds acquired his 2,190th walk off Oakland pitcher Mark Mulder in the 6th inning of a home game against the Oakland Athletics as he matched Rickey Henderson for the record of most walks in the major leagues. In the 8th inning, Bonds broke the record with his 2,191st walk of off opposing pitcher Chad Bradford and performed a celebration ceremony by pulling out first base amid a big round of applause from the crowd. It is a meaningful record in his 19th year career after his debut in 1986 in the big leagues.

Bonds has recorded 121 walks this season, including 63 intentional walks in 82 games. If he keeps up this pace, Bonds will probably reach the 200-walk mark, which would break his record for most walks in a season of 198 in 2002. In the national league, SK’s Kim Gi-Tae holds the record of most walks with 906 in his active 14-year career.

Meanwhile, New York Mets pitcher Seo Jae-Weong started for his team against the powerhouse New York Yankees and failed to capture victory by a narrow margin. Seo threw well in five and two-thirds innings with 8 hits, 2 walks and 2 runs. With the team leading 4-2, he stepped down from the mound in the 6th inning with a count of 2 outs and a runner on third. Just as Seo was ready to be a winning pitcher meeting the conditions, however, reliever Mike Stanton allowed 2 runs in the 7th to make the score tied 5-5, and Seo failed to capture his 5th victory of the season.

Seo threw 58 strikes out of his 92 total pitches and has an overall record of four wins and five losses with an ERA of 4.79. The New York Mets won 6-5, and swept the three-game series against the New York Yankees.

Jong-Seok Kim kjs0123@donga.com