Poor Barry Bonds

[Taylor]

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28871060/barry-bonds-says-feels-mlb-given-death-sentence

Quote

Barry Bonds says Major League Baseball has given him a "death sentence," telling The Athletic that he feels exiled by the sport since retiring in 2007.

Bonds' comments, published Sunday, were part of a wide-ranging interview with The Athletic, which originally intended to discuss modern hitting trends with baseball's home run king.

But Bonds, whose career accomplishments have been tarnished by allegations of steroid use, also discussed his complicated legacy. The former San Francisco Giants star told The Athletic that his heart has been "really broken" by MLB, which he says has essentially banished him.

"A death sentence. That's what they've given me," Bonds said.

 

I feel so sad for him.

[kevinb]

Interesting that A Rod is in the same book in terms of cheating and was caught with a suspension but MLB has embraced him back. Wonder why the "death sentence" for Bonds. Even Mcgwire got a batting coach job after retirement. Curious very curious...

[Taylor]

1 minute ago, Kevinb said:

Interesting that A Rod is in the same book in terms of cheating and was caught with a suspension but MLB has embraced him back. Wonder why the "death sentence" for Bonds. Even Mcgwire got a batting coach job after retirement. Curious very curious...

As much as I disliked A-Rod during his playing days, he's owned up to his cheating. Meanwhile, Bonds continues to play the victim.

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/alex-rodriguez-rips-astros-for-showing-no-remorse-over-cheating-scandal/

[kevinb]

2 minutes ago, Taylor said:

As much as I disliked A-Rod during his playing days, he's owned up to his cheating. Meanwhile, Bonds continues to play the victim.

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/alex-rodriguez-rips-astros-for-showing-no-remorse-over-cheating-scandal/

He definitely has and I think that plays a big part in it. I think being able to be on tv and do the analysis plays a big part as well. Fans seeing someone and seeing someone constantly and them being entertaining shows himself in a different light. I am curious if Bonds will ever own up to different stuff and if he will ever want to show case himself on a broadcast like A Rod has. 

[Catwhoshatinthehat]

I think it was Giambi who owned up to it after getting caught and fans moved on pretty quickly.  The guys who constantly denied it are still paying the price and I feel zero sympathy for them.

[Vegas Halo Fan]

17 minutes ago, Kevinb said:

Interesting that A Rod is in the same book in terms of cheating and was caught with a suspension but MLB has embraced him back. Wonder why the "death sentence" for Bonds. Even Mcgwire got a batting coach job after retirement. Curious very curious...

Bonds is an insufferable ass, and he denied taking steroids when it was plain that he was. He has never owned up to anything.

[kevinb]

1 minute ago, Vegas Halo Fan said:

Bonds is an insufferable ass, and he denied taking steroids when it was plain that he was. He has never owned up to anything.

I don't deny any of that. 

[GregAlso]

If you haven’t read the athletic piece it is really good and much more about hitting than about a poor me Barry Bonds. Baggerly is very even handed about the legacy thing. it is subscription only but honestly the Athletic is completely worth it. I don’t have many subs, but for baseball it is Athletic and OC Register(really mostly just @Jeff Fletcher) for me. 
 

 

[ukyah]

4 hours ago, Vegas Halo Fan said:

Bonds is an insufferable ass, and he denied taking steroids when it was plain that he was. He has never owned up to anything.

...and he treated everybody like they were fucking morons for "questioning" him. that dude can ride the bench for eternity as far as i'm concerned. he gets no quarter from me, but neither does Arod.

[Angelsjunky]

I've always liked Barry Bonds, mainly because he was one hell of a player - the best player of the 90s, and that was before he started taking steroids. But I found his "fuck you, media" attitude kind of fun. I'm not saying he was a good guy, but he was larger than life.

I generally don't like to reduce things to racism unless it is blatant, and there are other factors, but in his case I think it is relevant. Or rather, it is a combination of his personalilty, never cozying up to the media, and because he's a "black man with an attitude." We saw similar treatment of Albert Belle. White assholes are often interpreted as being "characters" or "scrappy," but black assholes are seen more negatively, like they're not playing their proper role and appreciative for being able to play major league baseball.

 

[Fish Oil]

15 minutes ago, Angelsjunky said:

I've always liked Barry Bonds, mainly because he was one hell of a player - the best player of the 90s, and that was before he started taking steroids. But I found his "fuck you, media" attitude kind of fun. I'm not saying he was a good guy, but he was larger than life.

I generally don't like to reduce things to racism unless it is blatant, and there are other factors, but in his case I think it is relevant. Or rather, it is a combination of his personalilty, never cozying up to the media, and because he's a "black man with an attitude." We saw similar treatment of Albert Belle. White assholes are often interpreted as being "characters" or "scrappy," but black assholes are seen more negatively, like they're not playing their proper role and appreciative for being able to play major league baseball.

 

I prefer to think this is not the case, but I often wondered if this didn't have something to do with the treatment of Albert Belle.

No doubt Belle was an ass and deserved to be treated like one. I just always had a funny feeling about it.

[Dtwncbad]

I am sure I have probably shared this before but it fits here too.

Bonds, completely independent of the steroids angle, was a selfish, rude, obnoxious epic jerk as a player.

My very good friend worked for the Giants for years in a marketing capacity.  His job was to help promote the team and players (Making the players more popular, so to the financial benefit of the players).

Bonds would deliberately jerk Jim around just to watch him worry as squirm.  He thought it was very funny to upset him and make him stress out.  Basically Bonds would agree to a media commitment and then do everything in his power to then make my friend worry about whether Bonds would actually show up.  Some times he would and sometimes he wouldn’t.  No other player did this to him.
 

And, as I said, it was not an accident or misunderstanding.  Bonds genuinely enjoyed making my friend sweat and worry and was entertained by the professional embarrassment my friend suffered from being at the center of a broken engagement.

Bonds is just flat out a dick.

[T.G.]

I would like to start a GoFundMe page to help him get through this difficult time. It must be hard being a victim.

[kevinb]

1 hour ago, Angelsjunky said:

I've always liked Barry Bonds, mainly because he was one hell of a player - the best player of the 90s, and that was before he started taking steroids. But I found his "fuck you, media" attitude kind of fun. I'm not saying he was a good guy, but he was larger than life.

I generally don't like to reduce things to racism unless it is blatant, and there are other factors, but in his case I think it is relevant. Or rather, it is a combination of his personalilty, never cozying up to the media, and because he's a "black man with an attitude." We saw similar treatment of Albert Belle. White assholes are often interpreted as being "characters" or "scrappy," but black assholes are seen more negatively, like they're not playing their proper role and appreciative for being able to play major league baseball.

 

I am not usually the person who blames things on race. But I do find it interesting about the Bonds situation, does he want to get back into baseball but baseball doesn't want him? Or does he just like pretending he wants to be back in baseball. As a pure baseball mind I can't imagine a team not at least sort of interested in him as a hitting coach, or some kind of special assistant somewhere in an organization. 

But to play devils advocate because well I do enjoy that from time to time. In the race thing why do you think Bonds is blackballed or Albert Belle but A Rod and Papi are around a lot? Or were embraced A Rod more now and Papi when he played? 

[Ray McKigney]

[Angelsjunky]

1 hour ago, Kevinb said:

I am not usually the person who blames things on race. But I do find it interesting about the Bonds situation, does he want to get back into baseball but baseball doesn't want him? Or does he just like pretending he wants to be back in baseball. As a pure baseball mind I can't imagine a team not at least sort of interested in him as a hitting coach, or some kind of special assistant somewhere in an organization. 

But to play devils advocate because well I do enjoy that from time to time. In the race thing why do you think Bonds is blackballed or Albert Belle but A Rod and Papi are around a lot? Or were embraced A Rod more now and Papi when he played? 

I don't claim to be an expert, but racism still runs deep in this country, especially in "old boys" associations like MLB. My guess is that it has a lot to do with an attitude of contrition, or the lack thereof. The old white guy clubs don't like "uppity" black guys. There might be a type of entitlement, like "We let you into  our sport, our club, so be grateful that you're here and behave properly."

 

 

[Make Angels Great Again]

4 hours ago, Angelsjunky said:

I've always liked Barry Bonds, mainly because he was one hell of a player - the best player of the 90s, and that was before he started taking steroids. But I found his "fuck you, media" attitude kind of fun. I'm not saying he was a good guy, but he was larger than life.

I generally don't like to reduce things to racism unless it is blatant, and there are other factors, but in his case I think it is relevant. Or rather, it is a combination of his personalilty, never cozying up to the media, and because he's a "black man with an attitude." We saw similar treatment of Albert Belle. White assholes are often interpreted as being "characters" or "scrappy," but black assholes are seen more negatively, like they're not playing their proper role and appreciative for being able to play major league baseball.

 

I can think of plenty of white dudes that are seen as assholes and treated as such. Papelbon immediately comes to mind. Clemens is another.

[Taylor]

3 hours ago, True Grich said:

I would like to start a GoFundMe page to help him get through this difficult time. It must be hard being a victim.

Maybe we could do a joint GoFundMe for Barry and for Bobby Grich, to help the latter in his golf thief investigation.

[Make Angels Great Again]

Bonds was the hitting coach for the Marlins just a couple of years ago by the way.

[Docwaukee]

you reap what you sow.  

[arch stanton]

Even in the early 90's his teammates didn't really like him. The Pirates called him Statman because he kept daily track of his numbers

[Make Angels Great Again]

Is "I'm not one to call everything racist, but..."

The new "I'm not racist, but..."

?

[Angelsjunky]

16 minutes ago, Make Angels Great Again said:

Is "I'm not one to call everything racist, but..."

The new "I'm not racist, but..."

?

I love how saying that racism is still a thing equates with saying it is everything.

Especially from a guy  touting MAGA as a viable ideology.

[ten ocho recon scout]

10 hours ago, Angelsjunky said:

I don't claim to be an expert, but racism still runs deep in this country, especially in "old boys" associations like MLB. My guess is that it has a lot to do with an attitude of contrition, or the lack thereof. The old white guy clubs don't like "uppity" black guys. There might be a type of entitlement, like "We let you into  our sport, our club, so be grateful that you're here and behave properly."

 

 

When you say racism runs deep in this country, you should change it to say every country. There literally is no society out there that doesnt have some people better off than another group, who are trying to keep it that way. 

As far as the bonds situation, i have no idea. But plenty of other black dickhead types like reggie jackson have done just fine in their post playing careers.

Bonds strikes me as the type who burned too many bridges, and now nobody is really interested in him. Not to mention, hes rich enough that he likely wouldnt be interested in too many jobs MLB has to offer him. And as far as being a broadcaster, hes not really likeable enough to have fans want to hear him speak.

Aside from Bonds fans themselves, how much of a draw do you think he would be at a speaking engagement? Dont answer as yourself, a baseball junky who recognizes how good he was. Think of it in common man terms. 

The guy was an asshole. Brilliant at his craft, but an asshole. 

[ten ocho recon scout]

Its the same as kareem. Kareem is in the argument for goat. And aside from basketball talent, hes actually pretty brilliant. (#bruin, @Lou)

But he was a bonafide dickbag for 20 years to just about everyone around him. Burned way too many bridges that nobody wants to give him a job.

And funny enough, kareem is probably a hell of a lot more liked than bonds as far as the general public goes.