Bobby Bonds, who blended power at the plate with speed on the bases to become one of baseball's top players of the 1970's and who combined with his son Barry to form the game's leading father-and-son home run twosome, died Saturday morning in the San Francisco Bay area. He was 57.

He had been treated for a brain tumor and lung cancer. He also had heart surgery in July.

In a career spanning 14 major league seasons — his first seven years as the San Francisco Giants' right fielder — Bobby Bonds gained renown as a "30-30" player. He hit at least 30 home runs and stole at least 30 bases in five seasons — with the Giants in 1969 and 1973, the Yankees in 1975, the California Angels in 1977, and the Chicago White and the Texas Rangers in 1978.

He hit 332 home runs and stole 461 bases and was a three-time All-Star and three-time Gold Glove winner. A right-handed batter, he combined for 984 career home runs with his left-handed-hitting son Barry, whose 73 home runs in 2001 set the single-season home-run record. Bobby's 35 homers batting leadoff set a major league record, broken by Rickey Henderson in 1988.

But Bobby Bonds's career carried a sense of disappointment. He could hardly fulfill expectations by some that he would eventually approach the superstar status of Willie Mays, who played alongside him in Bobby's early years with the Giants. His career batting average was only .268 and he struck out 1,757 times.

Sonny Jackson, a longtime major league infielder-outfielder who watched Bobby play for the Giants, then coached for Barry Bonds's Giants teams, marveled at Bobby's talent.

"Bobby had that world-class speed," Jackson told The Press-Enterprise of Riverside, Calif., in 2001. "With his quick acceleration, he was going full speed in a heartbeat. He was as fast as anyone I've ever seen. He had great power, and he was a terrific outfielder with better arm strength than Barry."

Bobby Lee Bonds was born in Riverside, Calif., and was a high school star there in baseball, football and track and field.

In his major league debut, on June 25, 1968, against the Los Angeles Dodgers at San Francisco's Candlestick Park, he became the first player since the 19th century with a grand slam as his first hit. Bonds emerged as a star in 1969, hitting 32 home runs and stealing 45 bases, only the fourth time the 30-30 mark had been reached in major league history. (Mays, Barry Bonds's godfather, had done it twice.) Bobby Bonds also led the National League in runs scored in 1969, with 120. But he set a major league strikeout record with 187 that season, then struck out 189 times in 1970.

Bonds remained a premier player for the Giants through the 1974 season, then was traded to the Yankees for outfielder Bobby Murcer, who, like Bonds, had once been touted for greatness, in Murcer's case prompting anticipation he could be another Mickey Mantle. Bonds hit 32 homers and stole 30 bases for the Yankees, but he was hobbled by a knee injury and was traded to the Angels after the season. He later played for the White Sox, the Rangers, the Cleveland Indians, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs, then retired after the 1981 season.

He was a batting coach for the Indians from 1984 to 1987 and a first-base and batting coach for the Giants from 1993 to 1996, with son Barry as a pupil. When Bobby was fired along with two other coaches after the 1996 season, Barry was angered and reportedly asked to be traded.

Bonds is survived by his mother, Elizabeth; his wife, Pat; his daughter, Cheryl Dugan; three sons: Barry, Ricky and Bobby Jr.; and a sister, Rosie.

Barry Bonds, who had been around major league clubhouses since age 3, resented comparisons to his father that he faced while a young player. Bobby Bonds, discussing those burdens on his son, knew all too well the toll they had taken.

"They said I was supposed to be the next Willie Mays," Bobby told The Los Angeles Times in 1990. "When they told me that, it was an honor. You're talking about a guy who I considered the greatest player to ever wear shoes.

"I probably had more success than anyone they ever put that label on. You show me another guy who's going to do 30-30 five times. But all the writers kept talking about was potential. You haven't reached your potential yet, they say. Well, unless you win a Pulitzer Prize, you're not living up to your potential either, are you?"

Bobby L Bonds