MIKE BURKE
Allegany Communications Sports
Everybody hates Barry Bonds, right?
Don’t tell that to anybody in Pittsburgh anymore, unless you’re looking for a busted lip, because on Saturday the prodigal son was welcomed back with open arms to his original home as a major-league baseball player, as Bonds and his former manager and longtime friend Jim Leyland were inducted into the Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Fame along with the beloved former catcher Manny Sanguillen.
Frankly, I thought it was the coolest thing I saw all weekend, Bonds donning his new gold Pirates Hall of Fame blazer and very comfortably enjoying the day with the fans and, yes, the media at PNC Park after being away from Pittsburgh as a Pirate for 32 years.
He’s forever a Pirate now, as he should be, for in spite of how hard too many of us try, you cannot change or ignore history, and a significant part of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ history includes Barry Bonds beginning his career in Pittsburgh and becoming one of the greatest players in franchise history before leaving for the San Francisco Giants and becoming one of the greatest players in baseball history – with or without the help he seems to have picked up along the way.
Bonds and Leyland both arrived in Pittsburgh in 1986 and together helped the Pirates to three divisional titles before Bonds left as a free agent following the 1992 season and the heartbreaking Sid Bream slide.
From a distance, their relationship is remembered for Leyland famously chewing out Bonds for talking back to a coach during spring training in 1991, but Leyland was always clear in that every player on his teams would be treated the same.
Bonds and Leyland both said they have talked about the incident many times through the years and agree that it’s just something that happens between the best of friends.
“I’ve often heard that sometimes 38 years of friendship is disrupted by a two-minute argument,” Leyland said on Saturday. “But I think that’s pretty good.”
So does Bonds, who said during his speech on Saturday that playing for Leyland is “probably the best thing that’s ever happened to me. It all came together. I was 21 years old. We were a young team. He allowed us to mature and grow, and I will always appreciate that. He allowed us to see the man in the mirror.”
Bonds had planned to attend Leyland’s enshrinement into the National Baseball Hall of Fame last month in Cooperstown, but as did so many others, his flight plans were impacted by a computer glitch that became national news.
Whether Bonds will ever experience an enshrinement of his own in Cooperstown remains to be seen, but seems less likely with each passing year. Personally, it bothers me that David Oritz, who did test positive for steroids use, is in the Hall of Fame, but Bonds isn’t even considered.
For the longest time, Bonds was an angry man, frankly, with good reason to be, dating back to the foul treatment he believes his father, the great Bobby Bonds, received during his time in the major leagues. Yet, while Barry Bonds remains the poster child for PED (performance-enhancing drugs/steroids) he never tested positive for PED use.
Bonds was, according to former Atlanta Braves pitching coach Leo Mazzone, “steroids or no steroids, the best (bleeping) hitter I ever saw.” He was, according to the former great player and manager Felipe Alou, “the reincarnation of Ted Williams with more power.”
A five-tool perennial All-Star, Bonds hit more home runs in a career and in a season than anybody who ever lived. He was also a record seven-time National League Most Valuable Player.
It also bothers me that former commissioner Bud Selig, who enabled and presided over baseball’s notorious steroids era, is in the Hall of Fame, which seems to be nothing more than a thanks from previous owners for ending the 1994 season and canceling the World Series for the first time in history.
Until Congress became involved with the steroids issue, Major League Baseball was content to look the other way in enabling steroids use because it was an enormous impetus in creating higher revenue and television ratings, not to mention brand new ballparks and stadiums that were financed by taxpayer dollars.
Neither did it help Bonds’ case that he surpassed the home-run record held by Selig’s very close friend Henry Aaron.
But it’s like this – Barry Bonds happened, whether you like it or not.
Many times so many years ago, Pittsburgh liked it very much; other times, particularly at the very end, not so much, which lasted for much of the 32 years that followed.
That was until Saturday, when Pittsburgh and the Pirates welcomed home the prodigal son. And the coolest thing of it all was the prodigal son seemed genuinely happy to be welcomed home.
Mike Burke writes about sports and other stuff for Allegany Communications. He began covering sports for the Prince George’s Sentinel in 1981 and joined the Cumberland Times-News sports staff in 1984, serving as sports editor for over 30 years. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on X at @MikeBurkeMDT