Bonds Becomes New IAL Homerun King!

Over the summer, Northside Hitmen outfielder Barry Bonds made history by hitting surpassing Mark McGwire as the all-time homerun leader.  Bonds currently has 597 career IAL homeruns.  McGwire retired with 591 round-trippers.

Barry "Sledgehammer" Bonds was drafted in 1987 and has played a big part of the Hitmen’s traditionally tough offense.  He has hit over 30 homers 11 times and is sure to do it again this year.  He hit highs in 1995 and 2002 when he hit 52 and 50 respectively.  He scored more than 100 runs twelve times and drove in 100 nine times.Career-wise, Bonds finds himself on a lot of all-time lists.  In addition to being numero uno in home runs, his 2345 hits puts him 7th all-time among all Illowa batsmen.  He has 1906 runs which puts him first on the list and 1588 rbis which is 3rd.  He is also first in walks (1622), third in doubles (521), 7th in stolen bases (509) and ninth in slugging percentage (.563).

Most importantly, Bonds has helped the Hitmen win.  During his 17-year tenure with the team, the Northside crew have garnered 4 World Championships and 8 first place finishes.

This year is no different as the Hitmen are in first place by a sizable margin and Barry has a lot to with it.  He currently is hitting .316 with 28 homeruns.

originally published Summer 2004

Clemens Notches 300!

originally posted summer 2006

Maddux not far behind with 298

Roger Clemens has reached the pinnacle of pitching domination.  He has won his 300th game.  In seven innings against the Aurora Gamblers, he allowed 2 runs and struck out nine to get the milestone win. 

Unlike most older players who crawl and limp their way to a significant milestone, the Rocket is having the best year of his career.  Some say the best season by an IAL pitcher ever.  In 18 starts, he is 15-1 with a 1.56 ERA.  Not only that, he threw a no-hitter in June.  He is leading his Chicago Highlanders to another playoff bid.

In addition to leading all IAL pitchers in career wins, Clemens has the all-time mark in strikeouts (4220), games started (653) and innings pitched (4607 2/3).  Before the season started, Clemens wasn’t even among the top 15 in career ERA.  Through half the season though, he has lowered it to 3.70, good for 13th on the list.

Not far behind Clemens is Chicago Champions starter Greg Maddux.  The two of them have been neck and neck all season.  Right now, Maddux has 298 career wins.

The Race to 300

(IAL career wins among active pitchers)

All-Time Leaders: Home Runs

It’s been a while since I ran a list of the all-time leaders in various categories, and with the blog coming online, I thought this would be a great time to do so!  So without further ado, here are the top 10 home run hitters of the Illowa League, current and retired. Read more »