As a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants from 1986 to 2007, Barry Bonds proved himself as a generational talent, one of the greatest players to step on the field during his era or any other.
Bonds holds two of Major League Baseball’s most famous records: the most career home runs (762) and the most home runs in a single season (73).
But many remember Bonds as a controversial figure and for his part in baseball’s notorious steroid scandal that started in the late 1990s. That controversy has kept him out of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
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Barry Bonds’ Early Life
Barry Bonds was born July 24, 1964, in Riverside, Calif., the son of professional baseball player Bobby Bonds and Patricia Howard. His godfather is baseball legend Willie Mays. He played baseball, basketball and football in high school. He became an All-American his senior year, hitting .467 with 14 homers and 42 RBI. He attended Junipero Serra High School, the same school later attended by NFL quarterback Tom Brady.
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Although a star, he rarely studied in school and became known for arriving late at practice, according to Jeff Pearlman’s “Love Me, Hate Me: Barry Bonds and the Making of an Antihero.” Pearlman writes that scouts at the time were put off by Bonds’ attitude, including his tendency to show up opponents (like watching his home runs, something he continued into his MLB career).
Barry Bonds in College
Bonds also excelled playing college baseball at Arizona State University. However, Bonds was so unpopular with teammates that at one point the coach held a team vote and a majority voted to kick him off the team. The coach eventually decided not to, but only because the vote was not unanimous. Bonds later set a College World Series record, getting hits in seven straight at-bats.
Bonds did not finish college. After his junior year, he entered the draft, where the Pittsburgh Pirates drafted him in the first round. After spending a short stint in the minors, the struggling Pirates called up Bonds on May 30, 1986. Because of his great speed, the Pirates used him in the leadoff spot. He stayed there for the next four seasons.
Barry Bonds’ MLB Career Through 1998
Today, many people look at Bonds’ career in two separate sections. The first covers the first years of his career from 1986 to 1998. After the 1998 is when his body seemed to change and he became a bulky power hitter. That era later became the focus of controversy.
Through 1998, Bonds’ put up amazing numbers. He hit 16 home runs and stole 36 bases in his rookie season in 1986. In 10 of the next 12 seasons, he hit at least 20 home runs and stole at least 29 bases.
In many of those seasons, he went far beyond those numbers: For example, in 1990 he hit 33 homerun and stole 52 bases, while driving in 114 runs. For Barry Bonds between 1990 and 1998, that was a typical season. For another example, in 1993 he led the league with 46 home runs while stealing 29 bases and driving in 123 runs.
Between 1986 and 1998, Bonds won three MVP awards and played on eight All-Star teams. The Pirates won three National League East Division titles, but never went to the World Series.
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Barry Bonds’ Career After 1998
In 1999, Bonds spent the offseason working out and in the company of a trainer known as a steroids user and dealer. He showed up for spring training in 1999 much bigger and bulkier. That was not unusual during that time period – behemoths Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa had battled to beat Babe Ruth’s home run record the season before.
Bonds hit only 34 home runs in 1999 because of an injury. But, for the next five seasons, Bonds – who turned 35 in 2000 – hit more than 45 home runs each year, including the record-making 73 in 2001.
He retired with the most career home runs, the most single-season home runs, and the most walks (2,558).
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Controversies and Life After Baseball
Bonds became a target for investigators in what is known as the BALCO scandal. BALCO stands for Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative, which marketed a steroid that drug tests could not detect. Victor Conte ran the lab, and federal investigators said under questioning that he admitted he had given steroids to Bonds.
By the time the Giants released Bonds in 2006, no team would sign him even though he said he wanted to play in 2007. Part of the reason was an indictment that claimed he had committed perjury and obstruction of justice in relation to his grand jury testimony (he was later found guilty of obstruction of justice, but the conviction was overturned in 2015). He never played in MLB again.
Since retirement, he worked for the Miami Marlins as a hitting coach for one season (2015) and became a special advisor to the Giants in 2017. He has been eligible for the Hall of Fame nine times. Getting in requires 75 percent of the vote. The highest he has received as of writing this article is 61.8 percent in 2021.
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