Bonds, Barry

in full Barry Lamar Bonds

(born July 24, 1964, Riverside, California, U.S.) professional baseball player, a great all-around player who broke the single-season home run record by hitting 73 in 2001. See Researcher's Note: Baseball's problematic single-season home run record.

Bonds was born into a baseball family. His father, Bobby Bonds, was an outfielder for the San Francisco Giants. His cousin was baseball great Reggie Jackson. His godfather was the legendary Willie Mays, who was a teammate of Bobby Bonds. Barry Bonds excelled at baseball from early childhood. The San Francisco Giants drafted him out of high school, but he turned down the contract the team offered him and instead chose to play college baseball for Arizona State University. Bonds was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1985 and joined the Pirates' major league roster in 1986.

Bonds garnered numerous Gold Glove awards for his play in left field but was best known as an extremely productive hitter. In 2004 he became only the third major leaguer to hit more than 700 home runs in his career, and he became the major league all-time walks leader. He compiled a career batting average of .300 and was such a dangerous hitter that opposing managers routinely walked him intentionally when men were on base. Bonds was also an excellent base runner, reaching the plateau of 500 career stolen bases in 2003. He was voted the National League's Most Valuable Player (MVP) seven times (1990, 1992, 1993, 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004), the first player in either league to win the award more than three times.

Bonds became a free agent in 1992 and signed with the San Francisco Giants, with whom he continued to have record-breaking seasons. At the beginning of the 2001 season, Bonds achieved a historic mark by hitting his 500th career home run on April 17. He completed the season with 73 home runs, breaking Mark McGwire's 1998 record of 70 home runs on October 5, 2001. Despite his success on the field, Bonds had a contentious relationship with the press and many fans who viewed him as arrogant and rude. In 2004 Bond's personal trainer was indicted by federal authorities for distribution of banned steroids, leading to speculation that Bonds may have used the performance-enhancing drugs.