As just shown on the Giants broadcast Bobby Bonds hit a grand slam (it came off John Purdin) in his first MLB game on June 25, 1968.

I was there (guess that means I'm really old).

Ray Sadecki shut the Dodgers out. Of course we know who we traded to get him.

Bonds nearly beat out a routine grounder to short in the same game. And this was during an era when AAA players didn't come up until they proved themselves. We all had heard about Bonds' power and speed, and we saw it all in that first game.

Bobby Bonds was one of my favorite Giants of all-time. His kid wasn't so bad either.

I'll second all of that. I have the Giants program with Bonds and Mays running into each other going after the ball at the fence on the cover. Mays made the catch.

mh

was at that game. what a catch that was. i thought they killed each other.

Might have been the most talked about outfield catch in Candstik history. If I'm not mistaken it came on a Saturday afternoon against Cincy. Trivia question is, who hit that ball

They showed that photo on starts and stripes..I was overseas when that happened..

bsk;

for the love of god i cannot remeber who hit it. of course i was a tad bit younger. still searching my brain.

I think I have a program with the catch on the cover. I'll see if I can dig it up and see if there's any details.

that would be great. i bought the program (but i do not have it where i live now), for i remeber writing on it that was a great catch by the greatest.

The program is from the 1971 season. I'm not sure the catch is though. There's no reference that I could find to it inside. I did find a discussion about it and one of the folks agreed with you that it was the Reds and thought Bobby Tolan hit the Ball.

you WERE THERE??? jeez maybe you are old... j/k no offense. i was born three days later at st. mary's hospital on a friday. we played the reds that night and gaylord perry got the win. jeez I'M OLD!

Hey bc,

I saw that game on TV while at my grandparents house in Diamond Springs. It was an amazing catch by Willie, over the MUCH younger Bonds.

Ever since, that one play has defined the relationship between Mays and Bobby Bonds for me. Bonds might have made the catch, but Willie went out and made it happen.

Thanks for bringing back the memory. For the longest time, I thought it was only special to ME...didn't realize everyone else saw and remembered it....;+)......

LoneStar

It just dawned on me I have that highlight on tape. It was called by Lon Simmons. I'm going to dig it up, but I really do think it was hit by Tolan. Tolan's career essentially ended at a game at the stick when he tore his achilles heel while sprinting to first base and was never the same player again.

I used to tape games galore the morning after on KSFO. Some of my tapes would bring tears to your eyes. They're nothing but Russ Hodges and Lon Simmons highlights. I even have the tape when Hodges announced his retirement and was interviewed on KSFO the next morning. It got to be pretty funny when Russ started to talk about his secret recipe for chili.

bsket;

keeping searching, please. been racking my brain, calling a couple of buddies asking them if they can remember. sounds like tolan could have been the guy. i do remember when it was hit, i thought it was going to be a triple. so, since tolan was a rabbit, it just might have been him.

thanks for the work.