ORG XMIT: NY213 ** FILE ** After signing a six-year, $43,75 million contract with the San Francisco Giants, Barry Bonds is helped by his wife Sun as he tries on the uniform of his new club, at Candlestick Park, San Francisco, Calif., in this Dec. 11, 1992 file photo. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
The Giants just missed out on the biggest free agent available this winter, as the Yankees retained Aaron Judge with a reported nine-year, $360-million contract Tuesday, 30 years and one day after they signed Barry Bonds.
There were plenty of parallels between the two monster free agent deals: Both players had ties to Northern California, both were reigning MVPs coming off league championship-series runs, and Judge was expected to usher in a new era of Giants baseball, like Bonds did.
The main difference was, well, the final result.
In the offseason following the 1992 season, the teams expected to pursue Bonds included the Yankees and the Braves. It was widely assumed that the Giants wouldn’t even be on the West Coast for the next season, as then-owner Bob Lurie had agreed to sell the team to a group that planned to move the franchise to Tampa.
But after the National League owners rejected the sale, a last-ditch effort by a local ownership group, led by Peter Magowan and Baer, swooped in to buy the Giants and keep them in San Francisco.
Before Magowan and Baer’s ownership group had even been approved, the two went to work, calling Bonds’ agent Dennis Gilbert and planting the homecoming idea in Bonds’ brain. After negotiating, they presented the offer to make Bonds the highest-paid player in Major League history: six years, $43.2 million.
It took a week, but by the time Magowan and Baer were heading to the 1992 winter meetings in Louisville on Dec. 6, 1992, Bonds had decided to sign with the Giants. And they were ready to make some big noise about it, scheduling a 5 p.m. press conference that evening.
It was then that Major League Baseball and acting commissioner Bud Selig stopped Magowan and Baer in their tracks, saying they couldn’t leave Bonds’ contract in Lurie’s hands if the sale of the team fell through. It took the rest of Sunday and most of Monday, but the agreement came into place: if Magowan and Baer weren’t approved, Bonds would be a free agent again and Magowan would cover any shortfall he had in free agency.
It never got to that point, of course. Bonds officially signed at 4 p.m. on Dec. 8, 1992 in Louisville. Magowan and Baer got their sale approved five weeks later. Bonds would wear the orange and black at Candlestick, just like his father Bobby and grandfather Willie Mays.
Bonds patrolled left field in San Francisco, first at Candlestick and then at 24 Willie Mays Plaza, for 15 seasons. He inspired a young slugger from Linden in the process, though it was slugging shortstop Rich Aurilia who was Judge’s favorite player growing up.
Judge proceeded to grow up into a baseball star of his own volition, hitting a record 52 home runs as a rookie in 2017 and continuing to shine for the Yankees in the four seasons leading up to 2022. Before the season, Judge turned down a seven-year, $213 million extension, which New York general manager Brian Cashman disclosed to the media against Judge’s wish, starting the speculation about what Judge would do once free agency began.
That speculation only grew bigger as Judge proceeded to smash homers all across the country, eventually breaking the American League record with 62 home runs in a single season. He even earned plaudits from Bonds for doing so — who also added he wanted Judge to sign with the Giants.
That message was received by the Giants and president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi, who made it clear they were willing to spend top dollar in free agency after a disappointing 81-81 season. And the top target was, undoubtedly, Judge.
Judge was spotted in the San Francisco airport on Nov. 21, having come to the Bay to meet with the Giants for two days before heading home to Linden for Thanksgiving. Judge’s next public sighting came two weeks later in Tampa — where the Yankees’ spring training facility is — at a Buccaneers game, where he said hello to quarterback (and Bay Area native) Tom Brady.
Thirty years to the day after news broke that Bonds was going to sign with the Giants, Judge’s free agency got its own false finish. Respected MLB insider Jon Heyman sent social media into a frenzy with a three-tweet saga that began with a typo and ended seven minutes later with an apology for “jumping the gun”.
Giants pitcher Logan Webb, like many fans, had his heartbeat raised by the reports. The right-hander replied to Heyman’s apology tweet with: “Not cool, man.”
Not cool man
— Logan Webb (@LoganWebb1053) December 6, 2022
Tuesday’s chaos would have been the final chapter to complete the mirroring of Bonds’ path. Wednesday morning, the paths diverged. The modern-day Yankees had payroll flexibility that the early-’90s Pirates – or anyone in 1992, for that matter – couldn’t match.
But the broad lines are clear: A sensational start to each player’s major league career, coming off an MVP campaign. Big free agent buzz. Some chaos in getting the signing to the finish line.
In the end, each player made his own decision: Bonds came home, and Judge didn’t.
Originally published at Alex Simon