Pittsburgh outfielder moves from Pirates to Giants exactly 25 years after Barry Bonds

Baseball’s career home run leader changed teams for the only time during the winter of 1993, leaving the Pirates to sign a free agent contract with the Giants. Of course, he would remain there on his way to not only single-season and career home run records, but also the record for Most Valuable Player awards.

Now, 25 years later, another MVP-winning outfielder is leaving the Pirates and heading to the Giants. Pittsburgh this week traded All-Star slugger Andrew McCutcheon to San Francisco.

McCutcheon, who unlike Bonds is past his prime, should still be a significant upgrade for the Giants, whose outfielders ranked last in the NL in home runs last year. He hit 28 home runs with 88 RBIs, while finishing with a .278 batting average.

Those numbers are solid, but they pale in comparison to the numbers Bonds put up before and after leaving Pittsburgh. In fact, he was the reigning National League Most Valuable Player, earning his second award in the 1992 season.

His impact on the Giants was immediate, as the fifth-place team suddenly became serious contenders. After acquiring Bonds, San Francisco improved by thirty wins, finishing with 103 wins in 1993.

A few seasons later, Bonds led the Giants to their first NL West championship in nearly ten years, when Kevin Mitchell and company won the 1998 pennant before falling to the Oakland Athletics in the interrupted Bay Series. by an earthquake.

Bonds would win successive MVP awards over the next several seasons, and San Francisco would make the postseason three more times before finally claiming another pennant. In the year 2000 they owned the NL West but fell short in the Championship Series against the New York Mets.

Finally, in 2003, Bonds led the Giants to the Fall Classic. In one of the most memorable World Series in baseball history, San Francisco fell to the Anaheim Angels in seven games.

In less than ten years, Barry Bonds had given the Giants their first pennant in more than a decade. His impact remained even after he retired as his career home run leader, as San Francisco has been able to capture three pennants since then.

If McCutcheon can repeat his same production from last season, the Giants, who just a month earlier acquired All-Star third baseman Evan Longoria from the Tampa Bay Rays, should be favorites to claim their fourth World Series title of the current decade. .