Barry Bonds is widely considered to be one of the greatest baseball players of all-time and certainly one of the best to play in the modern era. The son of major leaguer Bobby Bonds and godson of Willie Mays, Bonds seemed destined for greatness before he ever made it to the major leagues. A high school standout, Bonds was initially drafted in 1982 by the San Francisco Giants, but when their initial offer was too low, he opted to play college ball instead. Two strong years at Arizona State University made him one of the top prospects in the nation and he was drafted second overall by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 1985 draft. He continued to attend Arizona State while in the minor leagues, graduating in 1986 and proving himself ready for the big leagues.
He had a solid rookie year as a lanky twenty-two year old fielder for the Brewers, hitting .310 with 17 home runs, as he acclimated to the major leagues. Bonds' sophomore season of 1987, on the other hand, would mark the beginning of the Bonds era in Milwaukee- he crushed 39 home runs and drove in 132 runs while stealing 47 bases. The 1988 season would see Bonds return to form, hitting 34 home runs and stealing 46 bases, winning his first MVP award. With Wally Joyner, Paul Molitor and Mike Schmidt, Bonds led the Brewers to the World Series, where they fell to the Montreal Expos in five games. Bonds would break 40 home runs for the first time in 1989, hitting 45 and winning his first home run title.
A fractured wrist hurt Bonds' performance in 1990 and poor late-season performance by Milwaukee in 1991 and 1992 caused them to miss the playoffs. In 1993, however, would see things fire on all cylinders for the Brew Crew; alongside John Olerud and fellow slugger Salvador Soto, Bonds' 39 home runs, 37 steals and 126 runs batted in led the Brewers to coast through the season and meet the Houston Astros in the World Series. The 1993 series was a slugfest between the two evenly-matched teams and in the end, Milwaukee's superior bats won out, giving Bonds his only World Series ring.
Joined by Kirby Puckett and John Smoltz in 1994, Bonds went on a tear, chasing Roger Maris' home run record throughout the season before falling short at 58. The best team Bonds would ever find himself on, however, fell apart in the World Series, getting dispatched by the San Diego Padres 4 games to 1. The late 1990s were the denouement of the terrifying Bonds Brewers- Olerud and Puckett were traded, in part to offer Bonds a hefty new contract, and Soto became a free agent in 1996. Despite losing most of his major support, Bonds continued to perform at high levels, hitting 41 home runs in 1996 and bringing the Brewers to the fourth World Series with him in the club, where they were again beaten by Montreal in five games.
The 2000 season would be one of the most well-remembered in baseball history. Fueled by competition with Texas slugger Mark McGwire, whose 54 home runs in 1999 to Bonds' 39 had given the beefy first baseman a larger media profile than Bonds, who had a better performance except for his home run total, Bonds began to increasingly work on his power hitting- and soon, it became clear that the two were on pace to meet Maris' record. The race consumed baseball fans and returned waning American interest (due to the growth of both football and basketball in previous decades) to the national past-time. McGwire would fall one short of the record with 60. Bonds, however, cleared the record with plenty to spare, ending with 66 and becoming the new single-season home run champion.
The new millennium brought another season derailed midway by injury and, in his final stint in a Brewers uniform, another excellent season at the plate, with 53 home runs as he led the Brewers to the World Series yet again, where they fell to the Texas Rangers 4 games to 2. With the small-market Brewers unable to pay for another contract after his expired at the end of the 2002 season, Bonds signed with the Toronto Blue Jays. His 2003 season, like 2001, was interrupted by injury. At age 40, Bonds would put on a show in 2004, showcasing his danger to hitters even as he neared the end of his career. Hitting a career-high .378 and coming close to his single-season home run record at 64 homers, Bonds won the American League batting Triple Crown and his fifth and final MVP award. A preseason back injury left Bonds out for the entire 2005 season, the final one in his three-year contract with the Blue Jays.
Like San Francisco, Toronto could not afford to offer Bonds another contract and the aging superstar signed with the high-rolling New York Yankees. Bonds was in pinstripes when he hit his 773rd home run in 2007 to pass Hank Aaron as the all-time leading home run hitter, which the New York media played up as a virtue of civic pride in returning the title to the Big Apple, which was viciously mocked by the rest of the sports world, noting that Bonds had hit more home runs in one season in Toronto than he ever had (or would) for the Yankees. His final season, in 2008 at age 44, was when his body reached its breaking point- back and wrist injuries reduced his performance to such an extent that he was traded before the All-Star break to the Orlando Rays for two middle relievers. It would be in a Rays jersey that Bonds would make his 19th and final All-Star appearance and hit his final three home runs, retiring at the end of the season.
Despite his eye-popping statistics, Bonds' arrogance and egotism did not lend him personal popularity with the fans in any of the cities he played in and questionable business associations in the twilight years of his career resulted in his personal reputation getting tarnished even more. However, he easily was voted into the Hall of Fame on the first year of his eligibility. In 2015, Bonds joined the Texas Rangers as a hitting coach, one of many new additions to the Rangers organization in Texas owner George W. Bush (son of the former president)'s efforts to get the struggling franchise back on track.
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