By Maura Biedron
This interactive graphic shows the number of home runs made by Barry Bonds each year from 1986-2007.
Throughout Barry’s career, he played for two major league teams. The first being the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1986-1992. Then he was traded to the San Fransisco Giants where he spent the rest of his career as a major league baseball player.
In 2001 Barry beat Mark McGwire’s record with the highest home runs in a season with 73 home runs. Overall, Barry holds the record for highest home runs with a total of 762 followed by Hank Aaron who has 755 runs.
In 2005 when Barry had his all time low of 5 home runs in a season, it was due to a knee injury that lead to numerous surgeries and ample recovery time.
After his record breaking career, and a widespread scandal in the baseball community he was investigated for steroid use. In 2007 he was indited for lying in front of the grand jury.
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By Maura Biedron
This interactive chart shows attendance at Chicago White Sox games from 1980-2016.
In more recent years, after their success in the 2005 world series bringing home the championship, we can see that attendance is steadily declining with a stagnation the last two seasons 2015 and 2016.
Prior to this steady decline in attendance there are a few notable seasons with very high attendance. The first being 1991, which was when the new Comiskey Park opened its doors. Attendance jumped from roughly 2 million to 2.9 million in one season due to the opening of Comiskey. Not only did the team have a new stadium to play in, but in 1991 the former White Sox owner, Bill Veeck was inducted into the baseball hall of fame.
The second year that stands out is 2006 with a total of 3 million attendees for the season. In 2005 they had won the world series for first time since 1917. This success in the 2005 season spilled over into their attendance for 2006 when fan loyalty was at an all time high.
Now, the Chicago White Sox have their steadily declining attendance in addition to constant stadium name changes. Their lack of attendance and money has forced the team to rename Comiskey Park a few times in hopes to gain some profit from the contracts. The stadium’s most current name was changed from U.S. Cellular Field, to Guaranteed Rate Field . The team needs to see some major improvements to keep and regain their fan loyalty, especially after the Cubs world series championship this past 2016 season.
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