Copyright, Jake Miller
Late Saturday night, Barry Bonds used his arm torque to drive a ball off his bat over the reach of an outfielder for the 755th time in his career, tying Hank Aaron for the most prolific and exciting record in sports the career home run title.
On Tuesday, Aug. 7 Bonds crushed another pitch out of the park, to a sellout crowd that was equally mixed with jeers and cheers to break the record. It is interesting to find our love for Barry Bonds is so ambiguous, given his history in the sport.
Barry Bonds was a very productive young player. With a .467 batting average, Bonds was easily selected to the All-American high school team. He then went to Arizona State University, where he proved himself as a demon on the base paths (in 1984 he batted .360 and stole 30 bases) and as a power hitter (.368 BA, 23 HRs, and 66 RBIs in 1985). Bonds was named to the All-American college team, and drafted 6th overall by the Pittsburgh Pirates.
But since Barry Bonds crushed his first homer off of Braves pitcher Greg McMutry on June 4th, 1986, America has had a love-hate relationship with arguably the greatest player in baseball history.
Some of the "loves" include many unbelievable single-season achievements, leading the NL in the following categories: batting average (twice), on base percentage (nine times), slugging percentage (seven times), extra base hits (three times), runs (once), RBIs (once), walks (eleven times), intentional walks (eleven times), and runs created (five times). Bonds also holds the single-season record for on-base percentage (.609), slugging (.863), and is one of only four members of the 40-40 (homeruns and stolen bases) Club.
While America grieved in 2001, they turned to the hard-swinging lefty in San Francisco for solace. Bonds responded by blasting 73 homeruns that season, a remarkable achievement. The mark is more incredible when one realizes Bonds walked a record 177 times that season (He later broke that mark with 232 in 2004).
Throughout his career Bonds has an unprecedented amount of MVP awards (7), including the most consecutive (4, from 2001-2004). He also holds the record for most walks (2,539), has been named to 14 All-Star games, earned 8 Gold Gloves, and 12 Silver Slugger Awards. Bonds is the only member of the 400-400 (Homeruns & Stolen bases) Club and may be the only member ever to reach the plateau of the 500-500 club. Bonds is also in the top 5 of many crucial lifetime categories, such as runs (3rd), RBIs (5th), extra-base hits (2nd), times on base (2nd), total bases (4th), and, of course, home runs (1st).
On stats alone, to say Bonds is Hall of Fame worthy is an understatement.
But there has always been a darker side to this slugger. According to "Love Me Hate Me" by Jeff Pearlman, Bonds was voted off his college team by his teammates by a margin of 22-2 (which was overruled by Coach Brock). Bonds is also one of the few players to have withdrawn from the MLB Players' Association, and most kids playing video games won't find a Barry Bonds player in the Giants outfield.
Bonds has also been subject to countless accusations of perjury in regards to the BALCO scandal of 2003 (where Bonds was accused of taking two prohibited steroids dubbed "the cream" and "the clear"). He was also chastised by former MLB player Jose Canseco for his role along with many others in steroid abuse during the 1990s.
Steroids even appeared during his 755th home run. Ironically, the shot was hit off Padres' pitcher Clay Hensley, a former teammate of Bonds who was suspended from MLB in 2005 for violating the league's substance abuse policy.
When Bonds hit his record breaking 756th on Tuesday, a majority of people were rooting against him (52 percent, according to an ESPN poll). Countless current Hall of Famers were rooting against him, and more than a handful of fans were holding asterisks in the air like pints of beer during a cheers.
And somewhere out there, there are plenty of Bonds fans most of all, Bonds himself.
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