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Barry
Bonds is one of those players that sharply divides baseball fans. There is
little doubt that he is one of the greatest sluggers that the game has ever
produced. His stats are mind-boggling and even Hank Aaron has endorsed Bonds as
his official heir to the all-time home run throne. However, there are those who
point out that Bonds is in the middle of a court case. The fact remains, Bonds
holds the record for All time Home Runs and most home runs in a single season.
 Regardless of what anyone thinks
about Bonds as a person, there is no doubt that the man can hit the ball out of
the park. He has 762 home runs, earning him the all-time career home run title.
Bonds also has 2,935 hits and 1,996 RBI. He also has 514 stolen bases, proving
that he was a threat even without a bat in his hand. Like a lot of powerful
home run hitters, he also amassed a huge amount of walks including 2,558
overall and of those, 688 were intentional. Alex Rodriquez is the only player
close enough to surpass Bonds Home Run record needing 118 Home Runs to tie the
mark.
Bonds was no stranger to the All
Star Game. He was elected to represent his team a whopping 14 times. He played
in the Home Run Derby in 1992 when the event was at Jack Murphy Stadium in San
Diego. Bonds was back in the Home Run Derby in 1993 when the event was at
Camden Yards in Baltimore. Juan Gonzalez won that year with seven homers. Bonds
gave him a run for his money with five homers. Bonds would finally have his day
at the plate during the Home Run Derby in 1996. This time the place was
Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, the home of the Phillies. Bonds was, of
course, representing the San Francisco Giants. He was facing off against some
of the biggest hitters in the majors including Mark McGwire, Jeff Bagwell,
Ellis Burks, Gary Sheffield and more. It was a close match-up, particularly
between Bonds and Mark McGwire, but Bonds would end up with the championship.
 Bonds would eventually end up with
a number of records. He would break the single-season home run record, once
again beating Mark McGwire’s record. He would also break the record many felt
could never be broken when he hit more than 700 home runs for his entire
career, and break Hank Aaron’s previous record.
Those kind of records and
impressive numbers have definitely earned Bonds entry into the 500 Club. However,
it may not be enough to get him into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. That’s
because, despite those impressive numbers, Bonds has been embroiled in steroid
and performance-enhancing drug controversies for years. Bonds was even
investigated and questioned by the federal government when they looked into the
steroid usage in the game during the early 2000s. He was later accused of lying
about not taking the drugs, which led to a perjury investigation and that ended
up in a conviction on obstruction of justice charges in 2011. Since then, Bonds
has remained largely out of the spotlight.
Despite this, there are those in the game who
have endorsed what Bonds has done. For example, Hank Aaron, whose all-time
career record was broken by Bonds, has endorsed Bonds and thrown his support
behind the controversial player. For many fans, Bonds is one of the greatest
players that has ever held a bat and they discard the accusations against him
for the drug use. For some fans however, Barry Bonds has been so surrounded by
controversy and accusations that his accomplishments may forever be tarnished. |
