Background

Barry Bonds was born on July 24, 1964 in Riverside, California, United States. He was the first of three sons of Bobby Lee Bonds, a major league baseball player, and Patricia Ann Howard, a homemaker. He is also the godson of the Hall of Fame outfielder Willie Mays and a cousin on his mother's side of the Hall of Fame slugger Reggie Jackson.

Education

Bonds attended Serra High School, an all-boys Catholic school in San Mateo, California, starring not only in baseball but in football and basketball as well. Upon Bonds's graduation in 1982, the San Francisco Giants selected him in the second round of the amateur draft. When the Giants' $70,000 offer to Bonds fell short of what he desired, he decided to attend college at Arizona State University.

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. Bonds graduated from Arizona State in 1986 with a degree in criminology.

Career

Bonds began his major league career with the Pirates on May 31, 1986. He quickly became the starting centerfielder 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 the 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. Thanks in part to his outstanding season, the Pirates finished first in the National League East but could not win the league championship series.

Matters took a turn for the worse after the Pirates lost the 1990 National League Championship Series.

The following year Bonds finished second to Terry Pendleton of the Atlanta Braves in the National League Most Valuable Player award voting. The Pirates, however, finished first in the National League East again. The team lost in the League Championship Series, this time to Pendleton's Braves. Bonds finished with a .148 batting average in postseason play with no runs batted in.

In 1992 the Pirates again lost to the Braves in the National League Championship Series after winning their third straight division crown. While Bonds finished the postseason with better statistics than in the previous two seasons, his .261 batting average and 2 runs batted in still were disappointing. Nevertheless, for his 1992 season Bonds collected his second National League Most Valuable Player award.

On December 8, 1992 Bonds left Pittsburgh Pirates as a free agent and signed a six-year, $43.75 million contract with the San Francisco Giants. At the time of its signing, the contract made Bonds the highest-paid player in baseball. In Bonds's first year with the Giants, the team won 103 games under the first-year manager Dusty Baker. However, an incredible second-half surge by the Atlanta Braves left the Giants one game short of the National League West division crown at the end of the season.

Between 1994 and 2000, while with the Giants, Bonds continued to provide both speed and power, averaging more than 30 home runs and almost 30 stolen bases per season. Along the way he achieved some career highlights. In 1996 Bonds became only the second major league player, following Jose Canseco in 1988, to steal 40 or more bases and hit 40 or more home runs in the same season. In 1997 Bonds recorded the fifth season of his career in which he hit at least 30 home runs and stole at least 30 bases, tying his father for the most such seasons in major league history. In 1998 Bonds became the first player in major league history to steal 400 bases and hit 400 home runs in his career. Only Bonds, his father Bobby, his godfather Willie Mays, and the long-time Expo and Cub player Andre Dawson have stolen more than 300 bases and hit more than 300 home runs in their careers.

In 2001 Bonds had one of the most spectacular seasons in baseball history. In the first month of the season, he became the seventeenth player in major league history to surpass the 500 home run mark for his career. By the All-Star break, Bonds had hit 39 home runs, which broke the previous record of 37 held by Mark McGwire and Reggie Jackson. Bonds continued to hit balls out of the park, tying McGwire's record of 70 for the entire season with a home run on October 4. The next day, Bonds broke the record with two more home runs before finishing with one more two days later to set a new mark of 73. Bonds's record was made all the more remarkable by the lack of hittable pitches that he received. Unlike McGwire's Cardinals, who were out of playoff contention with plenty of time still left in the season, Bonds's Giants were in a pennant race until the season's final week. That season, Bonds also broke Babe Ruth's 78-year-old record for walks in a season, establishing a new mark of 177.

As the 2002 season began, many fans and players worried that Bonds would not be able to 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 maintaining 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.

The 2003 season brought more milestones and heartache. Barry celebrated when he became the sole member of the 500-500 club. But this accomplishment was overshadowed by the death of his father, who passed away from brain cancer. He ended the year with fine numbers (45 homers, 90 RBIs, .341 average, .749 slugging and .529 on-base percentage).

The beginning of the 2004 season was filled with controversy for Barry. Investigators reported that he was one of several athletes, who had received illegal performance-enhancing drugs from personal trainer Greg Anderson. This information was obtained by federal agents in a sting that led to the indictment of Anderson and Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative owner Victor Conte. Barry finished the season with MVP numbers - a .362 batting average, 45 home runs, 101 RBIs, and a .812 slugging percentage. He shattered the record for walks with 232, had an on-base percentage of .609, and struck out only 41 times.

In 2005 Barry had his knee scoped. He finally returned to the San Francisco lineup on September 13th. He doubled in his first game back and quickly rediscovered his power stroke, cracking five homers in 14 games. After Barry twisted his knee in the outfield, the team shut him down for the year. The Giants finished with just 75 wins. In 2006, Bonds played only sporadically. He hit .400 in the final five weeks and brought the Giants back to respectability.

On August 7, 2007, Bonds hit his 756th home run - off Washington Nationals' pitcher Mike Bacsik in San Francisco - to surpass Hank Aaron's career record. At the end of the season, however, Bonds became a free agent after the Giants elected not to offer him a new contract, and, although he did not officially retire in the following years, his professional baseball career was over.

In 2015 Bonds became the hitting coach for the Miami Marlins but was fired after spending one season with the team. He later served as special adviser to the CEO of the Giants.

Achievements

• Barry Lamar Bonds is a former American Major League left fielder. His career has been decorated with numerous distinctions and records, including the all-time Major League career record of 762 home runs, 2,558 walks and 688 international walks. Furthermore, he has an on-base percentage of .444, 2,227 runs, 1,440 extra-base hits, 5,976 total bases and 12.92 at-bats per home run. Barry is the fourth player in baseball history to rank in the 40-40 club with 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases in the same season.
  
  Bonds' exceptional talent, skilled power play and a deep acumen for the game won him numerous achievements throughout his over two decades of playing career. He has been a 5-time SF Giants Player of the Year, 7 times Baseball America NL All-Star, 3 times each Major League Player of the Year and Baseball America MLB Player of the Year.
  
  He became a proud 8-time Gold Glove winner for NL Outfielder, 12-time Silver Slugger winner for NL Outfielder, 14-time All-Star and 3-time NL Hank Aaron Award winner. He further was bestowed with the Babe Ruth Home Run Award.

Works

More photos

• movie

  • Rookie of the Year

    (The worst Little League ball player in town breaks his ar...)

    1993

Views

In 1993 Barry with his family founded The Barry Bonds Family Foundation. Its mission is to encourage, promote and fund programs designed to improve the educational achievements, standards of living and quality of conditions for African-American youth within Bay Area communities.

Barry has dedicated himself to assisting underprivileged children reach higher academic achievements and promote the general welfare of underprivileged children and their families.

Quotations: "I like to be against the odds. I'm not afraid to be lonely at the top. With me, it's just the satisfaction of the game. Just performance."

"Young players need to know how to take care of themselves for life after baseball."

"Age is how you feel. If you take care of yourself, you'll be able to do the same things. You may not do it as often. But you can still do it."

"My life is in shambles. It is crazy. It couldn't get any crazier. I'm just trying to stay sane."

"If you want to be on top, you've got to have broad shoulders, because as fast as you get there, the faster they try to knock you down."

"I think everyone needs to be a role model, period."

"It's called talent. I just have it. I can't explain it. You either have it or you don't."

"Those boos really motivate me to make something happen."

"I don't know what you guys say, but at home, life is way different from baseball."

"I don't ever remember having any bad times here in Pittsburgh."

"As an athlete, you only have so much time. The window only has so much time and then it closes. You have to take care of yourself the best you can."

"I could learn how to press 'Record' on a tape recorder and write for a newspaper or a magazine."

"I'm a very private person. My life story isn't for everybody."

"There's not too many rich black people in this world."

"I'm clean, I've always been clean."

"Everyone in society should be a role model, not only for their own self-respect, but for respect from others."

"But to be the best, you must face the best. And to overcome your fear, you must deal with the best."

"It's not the name that makes the player. It's the player."

"I never stop looking for things to try and make myself better."

"I was born to hit a baseball. I can hit a baseball."

"I don't know if the record is going to happen. I don't really think about the record. There are other things I worry about."

"I don't know if steroids are going to help you in baseball. I just don't believe it. I don't believe steroids can help eye-hand coordination [and] technically hit a baseball."

"Every pitcher can beat you, it doesn't matter how good you are."

"I don't know what my future is."

"I have a chef who makes sure that I'm getting the right amounts of carbs, proteins and fats throughout the day to keep me at my max performance level."

"I think some of the pressure comes from the expectations of other people. Like if your father played baseball, they expect you to be the big lifesaver or something when you play a sport."

"I'm not afraid to be lonely at the top."

Personality

Bonds 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 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.

Physical Characteristics: Barry Bonds is 188 cm (6'2") tall and weighs 103 kg (227 lbs). He has brown eyes.

Interests

• running, cycling

• Sport & Clubs

  football, basketball

Connections

Bonds met Susann Margreth Branco in August 1987. They gave birth to two children - Nikolai and Shikari. The couple separated in June 1994 and divorced in December 1994.

After the end of his first marriage, Bonds had a relationship with Kimberly Bell for nine years.

On January 10, 1998, Bonds married his second wife, Liz Watson. The couple produced the daughter Aisha. Watson formally filed for divorce in Los Angeles on February 26, 2010.

Father:

Bobby Lee Bonds

(March 15, 1946 - August 23, 2003)

Bobby Lee Bonds was an American right fielder in Major League Baseball from 1968 to 1981, primarily with the San Francisco Giants.

Mother:

Patricia Ann Howard

ex-spouse:

Susann Margreth Branco

ex-partner:

Kimberly Bell

ex-spouse:

Liz Watson

Son:

Nikolai Bonds

(born December 18, 1989)

Daughter:

Shikari Bonds

Daughter:

Aisha Bonds

References

• Love Me, Hate Me: Barry Bonds and the Making of an Antihero In Love Me, Hate Me, author Jeff Pearlman offers a searing and insightful look into one of the most divisive athletes of present time. Drawing on more than five hundred interviews with teammates, opponents, managers, trainers, friends, and outspoken critics and unapologetic supporters alike, Pearlman reveals, for the first time, a wonderfully nuanced portrait of a prodigiously talented and immensely flawed American icon whose controversial run at baseball immortality forever changed the way people look at their sports heroes.
  2006
• Game of Shadows Game of Shadows: Barry Bonds, BALCO, and the Steroid Scandal That Rocked Professional by award-winning investigative journalists Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, is a riveting narrative about the biggest doping scandal in the history of sports, and how baseball's home run king, Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants, came to use steroids.
  2006
• Barry Bonds: Baseball's Superman Barry Bonds: Baseball's Superman is the biography of the game's first four-time Most Valuable Player.
  2002
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• Bonds' Twitter
• Barry Bonds' Official Website