From Henry Schullman's column in today's San Francisco Chronicle:
This winter, the suits at ESPN suggested a radical idea. The network would assign a crew for all of spring training and the regular season to cover Barry Bonds--all Barry, all the time.
"My jaw dropped," producer Charlie Moynihan said. "Then I said, 'Let's go.'"
The San Francisco-based producer will join Phoenix-based reporter Pedro Gomez and a camera operator for all 81 games in San Francisco plus all road games within the National League West. When the Giants travel to the Midwest and East, another reporting crew will be dispatched, which means Bonds will be under more national scrutiny than ever.
"In ESPN's 26-year history they've never put the manpower, the financial commitment, to do something like this," Moynihan said.
Gomez likened this to the Japanese press covering Ichiro Suzuki or Hideki Matsui. The former baseball writer for the Sacramento Bee, San Jose Mercury News and Arizona republic called this a unique opportunity to chronicle one of greatest pursuits in sports, Bonds' quest for Hank Aaron's all-time home-run record.
"Think about everything Aaron went through when he was chasing Babe Ruth," Gomez said. "If there was a way to have that documented, can you imagine how amazing that would have been?"
