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Barry Bonds Joins Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Fame
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Barry Bonds was moved in a way he didn’t expect when the Pittsburgh Pirates called to inform him he was being inducted into the club’s Hall of Fame.
So when the moment arrived on Saturday, Bonds jumped at it.
He donned a gold jacket alongside fellow members Jim Leyland and Manny Sanguillen. He posed for photos in front of the sign bearing his name within the plaza just outside the left-center field gates at PNC Park.
And Major League Baseball’s home run king insisted he wasn’t fascinated with one other Hall of Fame, one which has proven elusive nearly twenty years after Bonds hit the last of his record-breaking 762 home runs.
“I don’t have to worry about those things in my life anymore,” Bonds said. “(I want) to be with my grandchildren and my kids. Those hopes (of getting into the Hall of Fame) are gone. Hopefully, I can breathe tomorrow (and see) if I can make it to 61.”
Bonds, who turned 60 last month, arrived in Pittsburgh in 1986 as a raw 21-year-old and was a catalyst for the franchise’s turnaround. The Pirates won three straight NL East titles from 1990-92, a span during which the skin hitter won the primary two of his seven NL MVP awards.
He left for San Francisco before the 1993 season, a return home seemingly a foregone conclusion given his ties to the Bay Area. But Bonds called his seven seasons in Pittsburgh “the biggest stop for me” since it prepared him for what was to return.
“It was a lot of fun,” he said. “Those were good times. I can’t thank you enough. It’s a great honor. It’s been a great journey for me.”
Bonds stays in the highest 10 in several categories for the Pirates, including home runs (175) and stolen bases (251). His combination of speed and power made him, as Leyland usually put it, “the best player I’ve ever coached.”
The Pirates never advanced beyond the NL Championship Series within the early Nineties, with their most notorious loss coming in Game 7 of the 1992 NLCS to Atlanta when Sid Bream scored the winning run on Francisco Cabrera’s single to Bonds in left field in the underside of the ninth inning.
More than 30 years later, that scar still stings somewhat, although any resentment Bonds felt when he left for San Francisco — where his father, Bobby Bonds, and godfather, Willie Mays, played — has softened. Bonds said he was “shocked” when owner Bob Nutting told him he was going to the Hall of Fame, which incorporates franchise icons Robert Clemente, Honus Wagner and Willie Stargell.
That trio can also be honored in Cooperstown. Bonds shouldn’t be. He failed to succeed in the required 75 percent mark during his 10 years on the Baseball Writers Association of America’s Hall of Fame roster, largely because of the steroid allegations that dogged him in his final years with the Giants.
The Modern Players Committee also made a call to pick Bonds in 2022, though the committee could consider changing Bonds’ status in 2025.
Bond, who serves as a special adviser to the Giants — who retired his No. 25 in 2018 — seems resigned to what may or may not occur. His only hope is that any honors he may receive will come while his mother, Patricia, continues to be alive. Patricia Bonds attended Saturday’s ceremony, as did Bonds’ daughters, Shikari and Aisha.
While achieving a particular piece of baseball immortality stays elusive, Bonds — who responded, “I don’t have to answer that question anymore” when asked why he believes he’s not within the Baseball Hall of Fame — understands that the Pirates’ recognition could help educate fans and future players concerning the impact black players have had on the sport.
“Frank Robinson, Joe Morgan, my father, Mays, (Willie) McCovey, all my black icons are gone,” he said. “That’s it. Technically it’s just me, and we have Rickey Henderson, we have others. … I just hope my mom is still there for me if anything else comes into my life. Big if.”