San Francisco Giants Legend Barry Bonds Set To Lose Two MLB Records

San Francisco Giants legend Barry Bonds will lose his status as record holder for two very impressive single-season MLB statistics on Wednesday.

Dylan Sanders | May 28, 2024

San Francisco Giants' Barry Bonds hits home run number 756 off Washington Nationals pitcher Mike Bacsik breaking Hank Aaron's all-time Major League Baseball career home run record of 755 on Aug. 7, 2007 at AT&T Park in San Francisco, Calif. becoming the career all-time home run record holder. / Jack Gruber / USA TODAY NETWORK

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San Francisco Giants

Major League Baseball is set to make a major move by making Negro Leagues statistics official in their database on Wednesday.

Bob Nightengale was the first to report the news.

With the move, San Francisco Giants legend Barry Bonds will lose his status as the record holder for both single-season slugging and single-season OPS to Hall of Famer Josh Gibson.

Bonds set the slugging record back in 2001 with a .863 mark, which was almost .02 higher than the second-place Babe Ruth. He set the OPS record in 2004 at 1.421 as he traded a bit of that slugging for average.

The closest anyone had gotten to breaking either of those records in the past 20 years was Juan Soto in 2020 with .695 and 1.185. Both of those marks were very impressive, but goes to show how unbreakable those records could feel.

Bonds is not the only person set to lose records to Gibson as Ruth, Ty Cobb and Hugh Duffy will also be eclipsed.

Gibson will become the single-season batting average leader in addition to holding all three career records as well. Bonds will still have him beat for single-season on-base percentage, while also keeping his walk and home run records in tact.

Overall, all players that played in the NLB from 1920-1948 will have their statistics become official.

“We are proud that the official historical record now includes the players of the Negro Leagues,” Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement, per Nightengale. “This initiative is focused on ensuring that future generations of fans have access to the statistics and milestones of all those who made the Negro Leagues possible. Their accomplishments on the field will be a gateway to broader learning about this triumph in American history and the path that led to Jackie Robinson’s 1947 Dodger debut.”

San Francisco will take on the St. Louis Cardinals in a tribute game to the Negro Leagues on June 20. They'll play at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, AL.

Published May 28, 2024

DYLAN SANDERS

Dylan Sanders graduated from Louisiana State University with a degree from the Manship School of Mass Communication in 2023. He was born in raised in Baton Rouge, LA but has also lived in Buffalo, NY. Though he is a recent graduate, he has been writing about sports since he was in high school, covering different sports from baseball to football. While in college, he wrote for the school paper The Reveille and for 247Sports. He was able cover championships in football, baseball and women's basketball during his time at LSU. He has also spent a few years covering the NFL draft and every day activities of the New Orleans Saints. He is a Senior Writer at Inside the Marlins and will also be found across Sports Illustrated's baseball sites as a contributing writer. You can follow him on Twitter or Instagram @dillysanders