Royals OF Sanders in selected club with Bonds
07/24/2007 -
By Alan Eskew
Special to PA SportsTicker KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- Reggie Sanders is among the
elite major league players that can be mentioned in the same
paragraph with Barry Bonds as a blend of power and speed. Sanders, a 39-year-old outfielder with the Kansas City Royals,
is one of six players with 300 home runs and 300 stolen bases.
The others are Barry and Bobby Bonds, Willie Mays, Andre Dawson
and Steve Finley. Sanders is gratified to be in the 300-300 category with Bonds,
who is the only player in history with more than 700 home runs
and 500 stolen bases. "It's very nice to be mentioned with him, shoot all the guys in
that group just to be mentioned with any of them is an honor,"
Sanders said. "It is pretty rare company, so nonetheless it was
a lot of fun to go out there and do it, to be part of it." Sanders, who has played for eight teams, was a teammate of Bonds
in 2002 when the San Francisco Giants won the National League
pennant and lost to the Anaheim Angels in the World Series. "Overall, yes he's the best player I've ever played with,"
Sanders said of Bonds. "Day in and day out, any given time, he
can go up there and win the game for you. He's legit." Sanders also played with Tony Gwynn, who is going into the Hall
of Fame this year, in 1999 in San Diego. "Tony Gwynn is quite different," Sanders said. "Tony is very
precise. He knows who he is as a player and doesn't alter from
that. He stays true to his conviction, sticking to that. I was
hitting right behind him in San Diego, hitting No. 4, when he
got his 3,000th hit in Montreal." The year Sanders played with Bonds was the year after he broke
the single-season home run record with 73. Sanders watched
Bonds draw 148 walks, including 61 intentionally, in 2002,
although those numbers were actually down from 2001. "They pitched around him," Sanders said. "They were notorious
for that." Sanders said Jeff Kent hit mostly cleanup that season, while he
hit seventh. "Kent got hurt and they flip flopped back and forth
with me and Benito Santiago hitting fourth," said Sanders, who
hit .250 with 23 home runs, 23 doubles, six triples, 75 runs and
85 RBI that season. He said the most amazing thing he saw Bonds do was a monstrous
home run off Troy Percival in the World Series. "They are still trying to find it in Anaheim," Sanders said.
"It's going to come down any day now in San Francisco, in
McCovey Cove I think. It went into the twilight zone." Sanders said he has never seen a power hitter like Bonds with
such a compressed stroke. "He hits those unbelievable home runs," Sanders said. "He really
does it with distance, with height and really lack of effort.
He's so strong and he has great balance." Sanders said fans are not in the concession line for a hot dog
or headed to the bath room when they know Bonds is coming to the
plate because they might miss witnessing history. "When you're in the stands, you can hear the uproar and you know
he's about to come up," Sanders said. Players, like the fans, pay attention when Bonds is at the
plate. "They come out to watch him in batting practice," Sanders said.
"You always want to see what he is going to do at the plate.
You get on that top step of the dugout just to see. He's
definitely one of those players that you would pay to watch if
you're a baseball fan." Sanders said he "absolutely" discussed hitting with Bonds when
he was with the Giants. "I talked to him, his father and Willie Mays," Sanders said.
"Basically, it is about staying balanced and letting the ball
come to you because a lot of the times we end up trying to catch
up and end up pulling off. Stay up and it will come to you,
just stay up. "What he means by that is just staying strong and reacting to it
as versus of going to get it. You look at the Bond swing and
it's like that - compact. He stays up. He's on the plate. He
does a toe tap, drops the head and that's it. And it's
lightning." Sanders said another Bonds' trait is his excellent eye and
knowledge of the strike zone. "What he and Tony Gwynn are so good at are knowing what they
want to swing at," Sanders said. "They are true to what their
plan is, their attack every single day. It is very rare that he
will swing at a pitch out of his zone. It is very hard to do,
absolutely." Sanders wants Bonds to break Hank Aaron's home run record of
755. "Why not?" Sanders said. "It is what it is. Hank Aaron is
another great guy. I played in Atlanta. For him to have the
opportunity to do that I think is a great thing. Alex
(Rodriguez) could surpass that. He's not that far behind that."
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