Bonds, Barry (1964-…), is a former professional baseball player. A powerful left-handed hitter, Bonds played 22 Major League Baseball (MLB) seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants from 1986 through 2007. Bonds was one of the greatest players in baseball history, but persistent suspicions of performance-enhancing drug (PED) use darkened his career. Bonds has more home runs (762) than anyone in MLB history, and he won a record seven Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards in the National League (NL). He was a 14-time NL All-Star, won 8 Gold Gloves as an outfielder, won 2 batting titles, had 2,935 hits, stole 514 bases, and holds career records for walks (2,558) and intentional walks (688). Despite these remarkable achievements, Bonds has received little support for entering the National Baseball Hall of Fame .
Barry Lamar Bonds was born in Riverside, California , on July 24, 1964. His father, Bobby Bonds, was also a star MLB outfielder. Barry was a terrific baseball player in high school and at Arizona State University . The Pirates drafted Bonds in 1985, and he spent a short time in the minor leagues before debuting for Pittsburgh in 1986. A speedy outfielder, Bonds steadily improved and enjoyed a breakout season in 1990 when he hit .301 with 33 home runs, 114 runs batted in (RBI’s), and 52 stolen bases. That year, he first made the NL All-Star team, won his first Gold Glove and also his first MVP award.
After a repeat as NL MVP in 1992, Bonds signed as a free agent with the Giants. From 1993 through 1999, Bonds averaged 38 home runs and 106 RBI’s and won another MVP. His home runs jumped to 49 in 2000 and an MLB-record 73 in 2001. His batting average jumped too, to a league-best .370 in 2002 and .362 in 2004 at age 39. He also won his fourth-consecutive NL MVP award in 2004. Injury cut short his 2005 season, but he returned in 2006, hitting his 715th home run to pass Babe Ruth for second on the all-time list. On Aug. 7, 2007, he hit number 756, surpassing Hank Aaron as the all-time home run king. The Giants did not re-sign Bonds after that season, and no other teams responded to Bonds’s interest in continuing his career. In 2018, the Giants retired his uniform number 25.
In 2003, a controversy developed over the possibility that Bonds had taken illegal drugs called anabolic steroids to enhance his performance. Anabolic steroids are chemical compounds that enable athletes to add muscle mass and increase their strength. Bonds’s personal trainer was convicted of distributing steroids to athletes. Bonds appeared before a federal grand jury and stated that he used a clear substance and a cream supplied by his trainer but never thought they were steroids. In 2007, he was indicted for lying under oath about his alleged use of steroids. In 2011, a jury found Bonds guilty of obstruction of justice. Later that year, a judge sentenced Bonds to two years of probation, community service, a fine, and 30 days of home confinement. In 2015, an appeals court reversed the conviction, and the federal government announced it would take no further steps to legally link Bonds to the use of steroids.
MLB did not officially ban steroids until 2001 and the league did not begin testing for all performance-enhancing drug use until 2003. PED’s can include steroids, human growth hormone , testosterone , or a variety of stimulants. Many players have admitted using PED’s during the 1990’s and early 2000’s.
