Barry Bonds Baseball
The success of Barry Bonds’ baseball career was really just the beginning of a story that may eventually overshadow his achievements. As an outfielder, Bonds racked up four MVP awards, each one of them in consecutive years. He was a player in the 2007 World Series, and has become one of the most well known baseball players of his time. In 2006, he was busy slugging homeruns and passed Ruth and Aaron to land in first place for the most homers of any ball player.
Sadly, there may be an asterisk next to all of these records. Bonds has admitted to steroid usage (although he denies having willingly or knowingly taken the drug), something which was long rumored. Bonds did not exactly have a rapport with the fans, despite his performance on the diamond. Many hated him and he gladly returned the favor. Bonds burned so many bridges that no team was willing to sign him on for the 2008 season (and he has no contracts lined up for the 2009 season at the time of this writing), despite his holding the record for career home runs at 762 and most home runs in a single season at 73.
With an accomplished career and his financial security already assured, Bonds became a target of investigation in connection to the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative case and was charged with perjury for having lied about his steroid use.
This has cast a pall over his entire career. Fans questioned the validity of his MVP awards and his achievements within the game – and the league itself has also expressed concern. Achievements which came through the use of steroids, the reasoning goes, are not to be valued as highly as those accomplished solely through an athlete’s natural faculties.
This overshadowed an impressive baseball career that started out in high school. As he was finishing his final term in high school, Bonds was approached by the Giants. As he finished his high school career, the negotiations between Bonds and the Giants were not going as well as projected, and college seemed like a better choice. He continued to play baseball in college and excelled during this time, including seven consecutive hits during the College World Series. He was then named the All American selection that year by Sporting News.
Barry Bonds is still facing obstruction of justice charges that will not be heard in court until March of 2009. The federal prosecutor had submitted paperwork with a typo, alleging that the steroid use, which Bonds still argues he did not take knowingly, was tested for, and found positive in 2001 rather than the year 2000. This year makes a difference due to testing laws that were not implemented until a later date.
Bonds has been spending his time away from the diamond by working with children’s hospitals, a public service which has comforted many sick and even terminally ill children. Bonds holds an honorary chairmanship from the Macy’s Tree Lighting committee – this committee raises money for UCSF Children’s Hospital Palliative Care Program, a children’s hospice.