Happy Belated Birthday to Barry Bonds, one of the greatest Left-fielders and all-around ballplayers of all time. Over his twenty-two-year career in the major leagues with the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants, his play on the field was excellent but controversial. He was born to the son of All-Star Bobby Bonds and the godson of Willie Mays; at a young age, Bonds was destined to be a big-time ballplayer one day.

Career Statistics/Accolades (1986-2007):

.298 BA, 2,935 HITS, 762 HR*, 1,996 RBI, 2,227 RUNS, .444 OBP

  • 14x All-Star
  • 12x Silver Slugger
  • 8x Gold Glove
  • 7x MVP
  • 2x Batting Champion  

Bonds became an all-around great player when he came up with the Pittsburgh Pirates. While he had power, for contact, and drew a lot of Walks. He was an excellent baserunner for a big guy, scoring over 100 Runs a year and stealing 35-40 bases yearly. During his time in Pittsburgh, he won the MVP twice. After 1992, he left for San Francisco, his childhood team, where his father and godfather played. He’d win an MVP in his first season and go on to be the best all-around hitter in baseball. Also noteworthy, Bonds was a good fielder in Left Field, winning eight Gold Gloves and a lifetime .984 Fielding Percentage.

You can’t talk about Barry Bonds without mentioning PEDs; while he is the Home Run king, I have an asterisk beside it. I’m an advocate for Bonds being in the Hall of Fame. It’s assumed that he started getting involved with PEDs after the 1998 season, so let’s say his career ended after 1998. 

Bonds would’ve made the Hall of Fame point-blank. Three MVPs, and as well as being considered the greatest all-around player for an 8-9 year period, that’s a Hall of Famer. There is no way Bonds would’ve broken Hank Aaron’s all-time Home Run record or set the single-season Home Run record without using PEDs. The PEDs kicked in when Bonds was 34, which is considered the end of your prime; I doubt someone without Steroids could hit 351 more Home Runs during their age 34-42 seasons. However, Bonds would have eclipsed easily without Steroids, with 500 Home Runs and 1,500 Runs Batted In. 

While Bonds have yet to be enshrined into Cooperstown, he is still considered one of the pure all-time greats to have ever played. He’s ranked #6 on The Sporting News 100 Greatest Players. While Bonds did indeed damage his image by getting involved with PEDs, no one should ever forget how good he was during his career before PEDs.

References:

  1. Barry Bonds via Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Bonds#
  2. Barry Bonds Career Statistics via Baseball-Reference: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bondsba01.shtml