Barry Bonds
Barry Bonds: MLB home run king and controversial legend.
Barry Lamar Bonds was born on July 24, 1964, in Riverside, California, to Patricia and Bobby Bonds, a future Major League right fielder. He grew up in San Carlos, California, on the San Francisco Peninsula, and attended Arundel Elementary School. His father spent the first seven seasons of his Major League career with the San Francisco Giants, playing alongside Hall of Famers Willie Mays, Gaylord Perry, Willie McCovey, and Juan Marichal. Mays became Barry’s godfather. As a child, Bonds spent time in the Giants’ clubhouse and dugout at Candlestick Park; he had to choke up on his bat because it was too heavy, a habit he maintained throughout his career. He later attended the Carey School and then Junípero Serra High School in San Mateo, where he excelled in baseball, basketball, and football. He played junior varsity as a freshman and varsity thereafter. One teacher, frustrated with his progress in junior biology, told him baseball would never get him anywhere. Bonds batted .467 as a senior and was named a prep All-American. The Giants drafted him in the second round of the 1982 MLB draft, but he declined their $70,000 offer, holding out for $75,000. With Mays’s advice, he chose college instead. Bonds attended Arizona State University, where his distant cousin Reggie Jackson had played. He hit .347 with 45 home runs and 175 RBIs over his college career. In 1984, he batted .360 with 30 stolen bases; in 1985, he hit 23 home runs with 66 RBIs and a .368 average, earning Sporting News All-American honors. He tied an NCAA record with seven consecutive hits in the College World Series as a sophomore and was named to the All-Time College World Series Team in 1996. Bonds was not well-liked by his Sun Devil teammates; coach Jim Brock described him as rude, inconsiderate, and self-centered. When suspended for breaking curfew, teammates initially voted against his return despite his talent. He graduated in 1986 with a degree in criminology and was inducted into the Sun Devil Hall of Fame in 1999.
- born
- July 24, 1964, Riverside, California
- field
- Left fielder
- nationality
- American
- known_for
- MLB career home run record (762), single-season home run record (73), seven National League MVP Awards
Quick Facts
- Position
- Left fielder
- Bats
- Left
- Birth Date
- mf=yes · 1964 · 7 · 24
- Birth Place
- Riverside, California, U.S.
- Debutleague
- MLB
- Debutdate
- May 30
- Debutyear
- 1986
- Debutteam
- Pittsburgh Pirates
- Finaldate
- September 26
- Finalyear
- 2007
- Finalteam
- San Francisco Giants
- Stat1Label
- Batting average
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Recognized as an all-around player, Bonds received a record seven National League (NL) Most Valuable Player Awards and 12 Silver Slugger Awards, along with 14 All-Star selections. He holds many MLB hitting records, including most career home runs (762), most home runs in a single season (73, set in 2001), and the records for the most walks and intentional walks in a career, season, and in consecutive games. Bonds led MLB in on-base plus slugging six times and placed within the top five hitters in 12 of his 17 qualifying seasons. For his defensive play in the outfield, he won eight Gold Glove Awards. He also had 514 stolen bases, becoming the first and only MLB player to date with at least 500 home runs and 500 stolen bases. Bonds is ranked first in career Wins Above Replacement among all Major League position players by Baseball Reference and second by FanGraphs, behind only Babe Ruth. Despite his accolades, Bonds led a controversial career, notably as a central figure in baseball's steroids scandal. He was indicted in 2007 on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice for allegedly lying to a grand jury during the federal government's investigation of BALCO. After the perjury charges were dropped, Bonds was convicted of obstruction of justice in 2011, but was exonerated on appeal in 2015. During his 10 years of eligibility, he did not receive the 75% of the vote needed to be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Reader's Guide
Barry Lamar Bonds was born on July 24, 1964, in Riverside, California, to Patricia (née Howard) and then-future Major League right fielder Bobby Bonds. Bonds grew up on the San Francisco Peninsula in San Carlos, California, where he attended Arundel Elementary School. He attended the Carey School before attending Junípero Serra High School in San Mateo, California. He excelled in baseball, basketball, and football. Bonds garnered a .467 batting average his senior year, and was named prep All-American. The Giants drafted Bonds in the second round (39th overall) of the 1982 MLB draft as a high school senior, but the Giants and Bonds were unable to agree on contract terms. Bonds attended Arizona State University, where he hit .347 with 45 home runs and 175 runs batted in (RBI). He graduated from Arizona State in 1986 with a degree in criminology. The Pittsburgh Pirates drafted Bonds with the sixth overall pick of the 1985 Major League Baseball draft. He made his Major League debut on May 30, 1986, at Three Rivers Stadium. Bonds won his first career Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award in 1990.
Did You Know?
- Bonds is the first and only MLB player to date with at least 500 home runs and 500 stolen bases.
- He hit his first career home run at Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium, the same ballpark where Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run.
- Bonds was convicted of obstruction of justice in 2011 but exonerated on appeal in 2015.
More in Sports Figures
Elsewhere in the Historical Figures universe
Spotted an error? Know more?
This is a living reference — every entry is fact-audited, and reader corrections feed straight into our audit queue. Suggest an edit · See this site's audit record