Barry Bonds was nothing short of a beast. From 1997 through 2002, he lit the baseball world on fire by bashing 279 home runs. As his body quickly swelled from well-built to bulky to monstrous, the public spent less time thinking about who was coaching him and more about what was being injected into his body. So who was his hitting coach? Richmond's own Gene Clines.
The Early Years
Eugene Anthony "Gene" Clines was born on October 6, 1946 in San Pablo, California. He was a natural athlete at Richmond's Ells High School, starring in football and track. However, his first lovfe was baseball. As a sophomore in 1964, he was named an Honorable Mention for the Alameda County Athletic League All-Star Team.
The following year, he made first team as a utility player. Arguably his greatest achievement as a high schooler was when he was named Prep of the Week that same year after pitching two one-run win while simultaneously driving in the winning runs for both contests. The Pittsburgh Pirates loved his skillset and drafted him in the sixth round of the 1966 Major League Draft. It was just the second year of its existence. In his mind, the sky was the limit for Gene Clines.
The Pirates
Gene Clines spent all of 1966 learning the finer points of hitting with the Appalachian League's Salem Rebels and quickly demonstrated his knew-found knowledge by leading the team with a .356 average. In that time, he also demonstrated speed he had honed on the track by stealing 15 bases while being caught just three times. Although he spent much of his early minor league career as a third baseman, by the time the Pirates decided to call him up in 1970, Clines' days as an infielder were over as the club saw his great speed much more useful in the outfield.
This began a very unfortunate trend for the young outfielder as the Pirates were loaded with talented outfielders. Along with the legendary Roberto Clemente, Clines also had to compete with Willie Stargell, Matty Alou and Al Oliver for playing time. As a result, he spent much of his time serving as a fourth outfielder. While his role was critical at times, it didn't offer much playing time.
Meanwhile, Clines bat proved to be useful for the Pirates as they scrapped and clawed their way to the baseball's pinnacle. While he only scored four runs as a rookie, he managed to average .405 in 15 hits. The following year, Cline's play increased as he collected 84 hits and 24 RBI while posting an impressive .308 average. Gene Clines was a part of something truly significant on September 1 of that year.
That day, the Pirates featured the first all minority lineup in baseball history. Along with Clines at centerfield, the team also had Rennie Stennett at second base, Roberto Clemente at right field, Willie Stargell at left field, Jackie Hernandez at short stop, Al Oliver at first base, Rennie Stennett at second base, Dave Cash at third base, Manny Sanguillen at catcher and Dock Ellis at pitcher. To top off the momentous occasion, the Pirates beat the interstate rival Philadelphia Phillies 10-7 as icing on the cake.
Ever since losing to the Reds in the NLCS the year before, the Pirates had made it their mission to make it and win the 1971 World Series. After beating the San Francisco Giants in the NLCS, they beat the powerful Baltimore Orioles in seven hard-fought games to win it all. For his part, Gene Clines had a single hit -a two-run triple- in the Fall Classic.
Later Career
As the years sped on by, Gene Clines realized that he was never going to truly crack the Pirates' deep lineup and by 1975 had had enough. So the Pirates traded him to the Mets for Duffy Dyer in 1975. Unfortunately, his ability to play every position in the outfield continued to haunt him in the outfield and Clines failed to crack the starting lineup there as well. In fact, he played less.
After that miserable year, he was traded to the Texas Rangers for Joe Lovitto where he finally became an everyday starter. He played in a career best 116 games that year while driving in 38 runs and averaging .276.
However, that year was just a blip on his otherwise forgettable playing career. Clines was traded to the Cubs in 1977 where his batting average slowly declined from .293 to .200 in his last three years as his game appearances became less frequent. Gene Clines retired as a player following the 1979 season, but he was hardly done with the national pastime.
The Coach
After stepping down as a player, Gene Clines stepped into the esteemed role of bullpen/first base coach for the Cubs. After coaching in Chicago for three years, Clines spent much of the early 1980's in the Houston Astros minor league system, coaching young hitters until the big club called him up in 1988 to be their hitting instructor.
The next year he was hired in the same capacity for the Seattle Mariners, charged with teaching a young slugger named Ken Griffey Jr and Clines quickly learned how best to motivate him. In those days, Griffey and Pittsburgh's Barry Bonds had a bit of a rivalry and Clines had a friend send him a t-shirt depicting all of Bonds's accomplishments. Whenever he felt that Griffey needed to be motivated, he would wear the shirt all over Seattle's Kingdome, making sure that Griffey was plenty motivated.
After he helped Edgar Martinez win the batting title in 1992 (he led the majors wit ha. .343 average and 46 doubles) Gene Clines spent two years with the Brewers before joining the Giants farm system in 1995 as a roving hitting instructor.
San Francisco
After spending two years toiling in the minors, Gene Clines was called up to the major leagues to oversee Barry Bonds and his big bat. That first year, Bonds blasted 40 home runs, averaged .291 and led the majors with 145 walks. It was a trend that would never die.
But apart from Barry Bonds, both J.T. Snow and Jeff Kent fared well at the plate that year too, respectively hitting 28 and 29 homers. The next year, Kent blasted 31 home runs while Bonds crushed 37 to go along with his .303 average.
The 1999 season might have been Gene Cline's best coaching job as four of his players hit more than 20 home runs. Still, the team itself ranked just 13th in the majors with 188 home runs and a .271 average, thus tamping down the enthusiasm of Bonds (34), Snow (24), Kent (23) and Rich Aurilia (22, .281).
The Giants ranked in the top six in the majors for home runs (226), RBI's (889), average (.278) and walks (709) in 2000 while Jeff Kent began a five year streak for the Giants, winning the NL MVP award after hitting 33 home runs, driving in 125 and averaging .334.
From then on, the Giants were basically Barry Bonds and his posse. For the next four years, Bonds would crush homers as his body exploded with muscle, earning the league MVP in each of those very dominant campaigns.
Still, the Giants had Jeff Kent's 22 homers and .298 batting average as well as Rich Aurilia's 37 home runs and .324 average to compliment Bonds as he crushed a major league record 73 home runs. Amazingly, the Giants fell just shy of the Rangers for the home run lead that year.
Something special was brewing in the Bay in 2002. That year, four Giants hit 20 or more home runs with Bonds leading the charge with. a sizzling .370 average and David Bell's .333 close behind. The Giants made it all the way to the World Series that year where they averaged .281, blasted 14 home runs and drove in 42 scores. But alas, it was all for naught as the Anaheim Angels prevailed in seven heart-wrenching games. It was the last game of Gene Clines's stay in San Francisco.
Later Years
After losing the 2002 World Series, manager Dusty Baker was hired away by the Chicago Cubs and decided to take Gene Clines with him. Clines spent the next four years in Chicago and came within a game from returning to the World Series in 2003. In 2007, he joined the Dodgers as an outfield and base-running instructor.
After the 2011 season, he was named as a senior advisor for player development within the Dodger organization. Gene Clines died on January 27, 2022.
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