Barry Bonds

1964—

Professional baseball player

On August 7, 2007, outfielder Barry Bonds became professional baseball's greatest home run hitter of all time, yet he is often slighted as one of the game's great heroes. Bonds holds the game's two great power records: he topped Hank Aaron's lifetime home run record midway through the 2007 season with his 756th blast, and he set the single-season home run record with 73 in 2001. Bonds is more than a slugger, of course; he's a seven-time Most Valuable Player and the only baseball player to have won the MVP award for his league more than three times. Bonds won all his MVP honors in the National League, for the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants. Despite these accolades, controversy dogged Bonds as he approached Aaron's record, thanks to an ongoing scandal in which a federal grand jury indicted his longtime trainer for providing steroids to pro athletes. Many baseball purists allege that Bond's slugging prowess is the result of steroid use and that any of his records should be marked with the dreaded asterisk to call into question the legitimacy of his feats.

Bonds, the son of former major leaguer Bobby Bonds, has been around the big leagues most of his life. He approaches baseball as a job—with its own pitfalls and pleasures—and does little to enhance his personal image. He has been called uncooperative, arrogant, and selfish. He has quarreled openly with teammates, managers, and especially reporters who try to corner him for interviews. His image, particularly after steroid use made big headlines in 2005, has suffered to such an extent that he has become a favorite target for fan abuse on the road—and an occasional target of scolding from fellow players. Nothing has swayed Bonds to become more tolerant or easygoing. He points to his offensive numbers, eight Gold Glove awards for fielding, and MVP honors, saying they speak for themselves. "I'm not a media person," he told the San Francisco Examiner. "I don't like to answer the same questions. I just like to play baseball. I'm not into the other stuff. I turn down a lot of interviews. It's the United States of America. I have freedom of choice. It's two different jobs—keeping the media happy, and keeping yourself and your family happy. It's too much for one man."

If Bonds is unpopular elsewhere, he is popular in San Francisco. Since joining the Giants in 1993, he has helped turn the ballclub around. In 2002, the Giants made their first World Series appearance since 1990, losing to the Anaheim Angels in seven games. Philadelphia Inquirer correspondent Sam Carchidi wrote that Bonds has helped to energize a franchise that nearly moved out of town.

Destined for the Big Leagues

You might say that Barry Lamar Bonds inherited a family business. Born on July 24, 1964, in Riverside, California, he is the oldest son of baseball star Bobby Bonds and the godson of Hall of Famer Willie Mays. While other boys his age watched longingly from the bleachers, he used to shag fly balls in the Candlestick Park outfield with his dad and Mays. "I was too young to bat with them," Bonds told Sports Illustrated, "but I could compete with them in the field."

Bonds's father joined the Giants in 1968 and played there until 1974. Early in his career, Bobby Bonds was heralded as the successor to Willie Mays, especially since the two men were such good friends. Unfortunately, Bobby could never live up to expectations from fans and media. Even though he hit 30 home runs and stole 30 bases the same season five times, his performance never satisfied the critics. His other teams included the New York Yankees, California Angels, Chicago White Sox, Texas Rangers, and Cleveland Indians.

In the San Francisco Examiner, Larry Stone wrote: "The Bonds' … know what it's like to never do quite enough to satisfy the fans and the media. Bobby was supposed to be the next Willie Mays. Barry was supposed to be the next Bobby Bonds.With both, the story line was always potential, and how it wasn't being fulfilled." Barry Bonds seemed to echo these sentiments when asked about his father by Sports Illustrated. "No one gives my dad credit for what he did, and they want to put me in the same category," he said. "He did 30-30 five times, and they say he never became the ballplayer he should have become. Ain't nobody else done 30-30 five times. Nobody. Zero. So I don't care whether they like me or they don't like me. I don't care."

The elder Bonds was an all-out competitor who liked to push his children to excel. Before he even attended school, young Barry could hit a Wiffle ball so hard it could break glass. He took to baseball naturally and learned from his father as well as his high school and college coaches. As a student at Serra High School in San Mateo, California, he played baseball, basketball, and football. When he graduated in 1982, he was offered a contract with his father's former team, the San Francisco Giants. The money was significant—$75,000—but Bonds asked for more. The offer was withdrawn, and Bonds went to college instead.

At Arizona State University, Bonds played baseball for coach Jim Brock. The young outfielder's talent was evident from the outset, and by his junior year he had been named to the All-Pac 10 team three consecutive years. He hit 23 home runs as a junior and compiled a career .347 average, and he was chosen for the Sporting News All-American Team in 1985. Brock recalled his years coaching Bonds in Sports Illustrated: "I liked the hell out of Barry Bonds. Unfortunately, I never saw a teammate care about him. Part of it would be his being rude, inconsiderate and self-centered. He bragged about the money he turned down, and he popped off about his dad. I don't think he ever figured out what to do to get people to like him."

At a Glance …

Born Barry Lamar Bonds on July 24, 1964, in Riverside, CA; son of Bobby (a professional baseball player and coach) and Patricia (Howard) Bonds; married Sun (divorced); married Liz; children: (with Sun) Nikolai, Shikari, (with Liz) Aisha Lynn. Education: Attended Arizona State University, 1982-85.

Career : Professional baseball player, 1985-. Pittsburgh Pirates, outfielder, 1986-92; San Francisco Giants, outfielder, 1993-.

Awards : Named National League Most Valuable Player, 1990, 1992, 1993, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004; Rawlings Gold Glove Awards, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998; Jim Thorpe Pro Sports Award, 1993; Silver Slugger Award, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004; AP Male Athlete of the Year, 2001; Hank Aaron Award, 2001, 2002, 2004.

Addresses: Office—c/o San Francisco Giants, AT&T Park, 24 Willie Mays Plaza, San Francisco, CA 94107.

Drafted by the Pirates

Bonds was drafted again in 1985 when the Pittsburgh Pirates made him the sixth pick in the first round. Bonds was sent to the minor leagues, where he played for the Prince William (Virginia) Pirates of the Carolina League. There he batted .299, hit 13 home runs, and was named league player of the month for July. The following season found him in Hawaii, where he batted .311 in just 44 games before being called up to Pittsburgh. All told, Bonds spent less than two years in the minor leagues. He was just 21 when he became a Pittsburgh Pirate.

Bonds quickly became the starting center fielder and leadoff hitter for the Pirates. On his second day with the team he smacked a double, and less than a week later he had his first home run. By year's end he led the National League rookies in home runs, runs batted in, stolen bases, and walks. The Pittsburgh front office rejoiced—it was hoped that Bonds could help the team back into playoff contention.

In 1987 Bonds was switched to left field and moved to fifth in the batting order because he could hit to all fields. His batting average shot to .261, he hit 25 home runs, and he stole 32 bases. The following year a knee injury kept his stolen base total down but did nothing to his average (.283) or home run total (24).

Bonds came into his own in 1990, the year he won his first National League Most Valuable Player award. He hit 32 home runs and stole 52 bases—prompting further comparisons with his father—and he led the National League in slugging percentage with .565. Largely due to Bonds, the Pirates finished first in the National League East, though the Cincinnati Reds defeated them in the National League Championship Series.

Personality Alienated Allies

In 1990 Pirate manager Jim Leyland told Sports Illustrated: "Barry's at the point in his career where he should be. If he handles himself the way he is capable of, he's going to be a consistent star for years." The "if" in Leyland's comment was important. Leyland recognized Bonds's talent but also found the young star temperamental and insensitive toward teammates. After he won the MVP award, Bonds asked for salary arbitration. He wanted a bigger raise than the Pirates were willing to give him. He lost.

Matters took a turn for the worse after the Pirates lost the 1990 NLCS. Bonds joined a group of other star players for a goodwill tour of Japan. Associated Press reporter Alan Robinson claimed that Bonds quit early in an exhibition game and then insulted his Japanese hosts by tossing aside a token gift during a post-game ceremony. Trouble followed Bonds back to the United States. During 1991 spring training in Florida, he engaged in a heated swearing match with Leyland and Pirates coach Bill Virdon after he refused to pose for photographs.

Bonds and Leyland reconciled, and once again the team advanced to the league championship series—this time losing to the Atlanta Braves—and Bonds hit .292 for the 1991 season. Bonds narrowly missed being voted League MVP again, finishing second to Atlanta's Terry Pendleton. In 1992 Bonds captured his second MVP award and a .311, 34-home run year, though the Pirates missed the World Series yet again in an NLCS rematch with the Braves, when Atlanta rallied for three runs in the ninth inning.

Joined Father with the Giants

It is especially rare for a team to trade a Most Valuable Player. Almost any club will try every avenue to keep such a star happy. The Pirates made little effort to court Bonds when he became a free agent at the end of the 1992 season. It was essentially a foregone conclusion that Bonds would leave the team, and everyone acted accordingly. For some time in the fall of 1992 it looked as though Bonds would sign with the New York Yankees. Then, in December, he received a more tempting offer.

The San Francisco Giants had narrowly escaped being sold and sent to St. Petersburg, Florida. New ownership surfaced in San Francisco, one that wanted to make a fifth-place team a serious contender. The new owner/president, Peter Magowan, eyed Bonds as the most desirable free agent on the marketplace. Magowan offered Bonds a deal that would make him the highest-paid player in baseball. Then the president sweetened the deal by adding Bonds's father, Bobby, as a Giants hitting coach. Recognizing Barry's solitary personality, Magowan even offered the star private hotel suite accommodations on the road. Bonds's average salary for one year of the six-year deal came to more money than his father and godfather earned in their entire careers.

Together, Bobby and Barry Bonds hold the major league record for home runs from fathers and sons. Until the elder Bonds died in August of 2003, they worked side-by-side on the Giants, and were closer than ever. If anyone understood Barry's unwillingness to talk to reporters and sign autographs, it was Bobby. "For them to say my son is moody is not right," the elder Bonds once told the San Francisco Examiner. "How many days have they spent with my son? How many nights? They've met him for a couple of minutes, and because he might be busy that day, or they don't know his business-like attitude at the ballpark, they say, ‘My god, he's got an attitude.’ And that's wrong."

Fans and critics were not the only people that Bonds was having difficulties with in the early 1990s. In the summer of 1994, Bonds filed for divorce from his wife, Sun, and requested joint physical and legal custody of his children. After the divorce was final in 1995, Bonds vowed to the media as well as to his teammates that he had resolved to improve both his personal and professional lives. He began a rigorous off-season workout program and began to try to curb his famous "bad" attitude toward teammates and fans. He wanted to change the impressions of people who thought he was a bad person, for according to Bonds, "I feel the press puts a stamp on certain players and once they stamp you as a ‘bad person’ then that's what they feed on and there's nothing you can do about it. I know in my heart the type of ballplayer I am and the type of person I am." This transformation by Bonds would not be easily accepted, especially by the fans, who wanted not only a nicer Barry Bonds, but a better baseball playing Barry Bonds. Defending his demeanor on and off the field, Bonds asked Sports Illustrated interviewer Richard Hoffer: "Why can't people just enjoy the show? And then let the entertainer go home and get his rest, so he can put on another show?"

Soared to Greatness

Over the next few years, Bonds made sure to live up to his title as an entertainer, continuing to improve his game and his statistics to become one of the best players of the 1990s. In 1996 he become one of only four players to ever hit 300 home runs and steal 300 bases, sharing the honor with such greats as Willie Mays and Andre Dawson. The following year, he led the Giants to a National League West Division title, but San Francisco lost to the eventual World Series champion Florida Marlins in the National League playoffs. Bonds, though, continued to rise in prominence. By the end of the 1990s, Sport magazine named him Player of the Decade and he was starting to turn his image around.

Bonds, meanwhile, was restructuring his personal life. In 1998 he married girlfriend Liz Watson and in 1999 he became a father for the third time with the birth of his daughter, Aisha Lynn. The following year, he began to step up his on-field play, becoming the first player to ever hit 400 home runs and steal 400 bases. By the end of the decade, Barry Bonds had won three MVPs and eight Golden Glove Awards.

By the middle of the 2001 season, Bonds had already hit forty-five home runs and was on pace to make a run at Mark McGuire's record of 71 home runs set back in 1998. He was also chasing after Mickey Mantle's walk record as well as the all-time MVP record. The chase for the records would last all season, coming down to the last three games of the Giants' regular season.

On September 27, 2001, Bonds lost good friend and sometimes bodyguard Franklin Bradley and many were worried that this would hamper his play. Bonds proved to everyone, including himself, that nothing was going to stop him from slugging his way into the record books. On October 5, 2001, his first day back from leave, Bonds hit home run number 70, which he dedicated to Bradley. The next day, he would bat his way into history as he hit home runs 71 and 72. Bonds finished the 2001 season with an amazing 73 home runs, 177 walks, 137 runs batted in, and an outstanding average of .328.

Bonds broke every record he had been chasing all season, including the coveted MVP award. The Giants re-signed Bonds to a five-year, $90-million contract, ensuring them a powerful clean-up hitter for years to come. He signed with a team of agents to win endorsements, including having his face on the Wheaties box and being named a spokesman for Kentucky Fried Chicken. As the 2002 season began, many fans and players worried that Bonds could not match the feats of the previous season. Those fears seem to be unfounded however, for Bonds began the season with five home runs in six games and maintained a .375 average. He also surpassed Mark McGwire in career home runs when he batted his 576th home run in May of 2002. It was also his 400th home run with the Giants. In a Sports Illustrated interview Bonds said, "I'm shocked, as shocked as anybody." Barry Bonds had developed from a rough and tumble outfielder and outsider to one of the greatest players baseball has ever seen, on and off the field. Reggie Jackson said of Bonds during the awarding of the MVP award, "Bonds's burgeoning legacy is almost palpable in the air. Babe Ruth. Ted Williams. Henry Aaron. Sooner or later they'll have to end that list with Barry Bonds."

Bonds played in his lone World Series in 2002. The Anaheim Angels, intent on not letting Bonds beat them, walked the slugger 13 times in a seven-game series. Bonds did homer four times and had eight hits in 17 at-bats for a .471 average but the Giants, on the cusp of their first World Series title since 1954, blew a 5-0 lead late in the sixth game and dropped the seventh game as well. Anaheim came away with the championship.

Pursued the Ultimate Record

Bonds captured his sixth and seventh MVP awards in 2003 and 2004, respectively, but endured injuries and controversy the following year. After the 2004 season, he underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee. In December of that year, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Bonds testified to a Bay Area grand jury that he used a clear substance and a cream given to him by his trainer, Greg Anderson, who was indicted in a steroid-distribution ring. Bonds insister, however, that he did not know they were steroids. The controversy did not die there, however, as a federal grand jury was convened to investigate amid widespread suspicion that professional baseball was permeated by steroid abuse. Anderson and Victor Conte, founder of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (BALCO) that allegedly supplied the steroids, received prison sentences of less than six months for their roles in providing athletes with undetectable banned substances. Anderson was imprisoned again in 2006 and 2007 after refusing to testify before the grand jury.

Despite the near-continuous controversy that followed the 2003 BALCO case—controversy that included U.S. Congressional hearings that featured ballplayers past and present admitting to or denying their own steroid abuse—Bonds kept right on slugging. In 2004, he smacked another 45 home runs. In 2005, after having three operations on his right knee, Bonds played in 14 games for the Giants near the end of the season. He homered five times and batted .286. By the end of the season, he had 708 regular-season homers and trailed Aaron by 47 on the all-time list. On May 28, 2006, Bonds hit his 715th home run, off Byung-Hyun Kim of the Colorado Rockies. With this blast he passed pass Babe Ruth and reach second place behind Hank Aaron on the all-time home run list.

Pursued by Scandal

As the 2007 season opened, all of baseball awaited the day when Bonds would break Hank Aaron's record. Bonds's pursuit of the record was sporadic, with a flurry of towering home runs followed by several days of rest for his aching legs. News stations across the country kept the nation posted on every homer Bonds hit, and sports radio and TV programs buzzed with speculation as to when Bonds would hit the record, whether baseball commissioner Bud Selig would even recognize the achievement by attending games as the time drew near, and whether an asterisk should be placed next to Bonds's name in the record books.

Meanwhile, lawyers continued their pursuit of the slugger. In July of 2006 a federal grand jury had declined to indict Bonds on tax evasion and perjury charges related to his alleged steroid use, but prosecutors were not yet through. On July 21, 2007, the grand jury investigating Bonds's alleged steroid use was extended, and the U.S. Attorney's office claimed that it would soon have enough evidence to indict baseball's greatest slugger, perhaps as early as September. Bonds and his lawyers dismissed the extension, with lawyer Michael Rains calling it a "perjury trap."

On August 7, 2007, Bonds's chase came to a close. After tying Aaron's record two days before with a blast against the San Diego Padres, Bonds faced Washington Nationals pitcher Mike Bacsik with one out in the fifth inning. Bonds pounded Bacsik's 84-mile-per-hour pitch deep to right field as San Francisco fans erupted in applause. Bonds jogged around the bases, soaking in the adulation, and greeted his son and his teammates at the plate. Though commissioner Selig wasn't at the game, former home run champ Hank Aaron appeared in a taped message played on the massive center field video display, lauding Bonds for an accomplishment which required "skill, longevity, and determination."

While Bonds's chase of the mark was over, the media's pursuit of Bonds continued. Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci summed up the opinions of many sportswriters when he claimed that "756 settled nothing. It invited interpretation more than it provided certainty, making for an awkward kind of history. Bonds still faces the possibility of a federal perjury indictment as well as repercussions from the Mitchell report," an ongoing investigation by former Senator George Mitchell. Bonds, as ever, resisted the attempts to diminish his performance, telling reporters after the big game, "This record is not tainted. At all. At all. Period. You guys can say whatever you want."

As Bonds and the Giants continued their season—Bonds had hit number 761 at the time of this writing—speculation resumed as to what would come next in Bonds's tumultuous career. Would the aging slugger announce his retirement, or would he continue, perhaps reaching the 3,000-hit milestone to add yet another argument for his induction into the Hall of Fame? Would a grand jury finally provide compelling evidence that Bonds's pursuit of the ultimate baseball record was tainted by steroids—or driven by Bonds's undeniable drive and physical talent? Though Bonds holds the home run record, the jury is not yet in on how he will be regarded by fans of America's pastime.

Sources

Books

Bernstein, Ross, Barry Bonds, LernerSports, 2004.

Bloom, John, Barry Bonds: A Biography, Greenwood Press, 2004.

Fainaru-Wada, Mark, Game of Shadows: Barry Bonds, BALCO, and the Steroids Scandal that Rocked Professional Sports, Gotham Books, 2006.

Pearlman, Jeff, Love Me, Hate Me: Barry Bonds and the Making of an Antihero, HarperCollins, 2006.

Periodicals

Atlanta Constitution, May 28, 1993, p. H6.

Dallas Morning News, November 27, 2001.

Jet, December 10, 1990; August 17, 1992; December 28, January 4, 1993; June 20, 1994; February 4, 2002.

Los Angeles Times, November 19, 1992.

New York Daily News, March 5, 1991.

Newsday (Long Island, NY), April 4, 1993.

Newsweek, May 31, 1993, p. 64; September 20, 1993, p. 53.

Philadelphia Daily News, February 25, 1993.

Philadelphia Inquirer, April 28, 1993.

San Francisco Chronicle, May 5, 2002, p. B4.

San Francisco Examiner, October 8, 1990.

Sporting News, July 12, 1999, pp. 12-20; August 20, 2007, pp. 12-16.

Sports Illustrated, June 25, 1990; December 14, 1992, p. 9; April 26, 1993, pp. 19-21; May 24, 1993, pp. 13-21; October 11, 1993, p. 20; June 4, 2001, pp. 8-11; October 15, 2001, pp. 46-50; April 15, 2002, pp. 42-45; August 13, 2007, p. 44; August 20, 2007, p. 46.

Time, August 20, 2007, p. 20.

USA Today, June 19, 1991.

Washington Post, June 6, 1993, p. D1.

On-line

"Barry Bonds," Baseball-reference.com,www.baseballreference.com/b/bondsba01.shtml (July 23, 2007).

"Barry Bonds," ESPN.com,http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=3918 (July 23, 2007).

"BALCO Boss Conte to Serve Eight Months in Prison," USA Today, www.usatoday.com/sports/2005-10-18-balco-conte-sentencing_x.htm (August 31, 2007).

"Bonds Returns, Giants Win," Washington Post, www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/13/AR2005091300089.html (August 31, 2007).

"The Official Barry Bonds.com Site," www.barrybonds.com (August 31, 2007).