Barry Bonds will return to Pittsburgh on Aug. 24 to be inducted into the Pirates Hall of Fame via a pregame ceremony at PNC Park.
Don’t boo.
There is no reason for Pittsburgh to hate Barry Bonds. You should love him.
OK, so he left the Pirates to cash in elsewhere. Given the chance, Roberto Clemente would have done the same.
OK, so he couldn’t throw out Sid Bream. That wasn’t the only thing that lost the 1992 National League Championship series vs. Atlanta.
Bonds didn’t use PEDs in Pittsburgh. No evidence of that, visual or otherwise.
Only one Pirate ever won two MVPs. That’s Bonds.
Bonds always gave 100% as a Pirate.
OK, so he was surly. Big deal. Lots of athletes are. It depends what the media reports.
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Manager Jim Leyland famously chewed out Bonds during spring training. You can see it on YouTube. Leyland will also be honored Aug. 24. Maybe Leyland will yell at Bonds again.
Bonds’ return to Pittsburgh is long overdue. It smacks of Jaromir Jagr coming back to have his number retired. Rifts were imagined where none really existed.
OK, so Pittsburgh fans booed both Jagr and Bonds when they played with other teams. Pittsburgh fans are jerks. The evidence is overwhelming.
OK, so the Pittsburgh media disliked Bonds. Pittsburgh media are jerks. Heck, I’m a one-man gang in that department. (But I always gave Bonds his due.)
Anyway, when a Hall of Fame is properly executed — unlike the one in Cooperstown, N.Y. — it’s about greatness.
There’s no denying Bonds’ greatness. Bonds was on a trajectory for immortality when he left Pittsburgh, then skyrocketed in San Francisco.
I’ve never been anti-steroids. I want to see performance enhanced. When used under a physician’s supervision, the danger is minimal.
Anyway, Bonds just felt the need to keep up with players like Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. Bonds didn’t fire the first shot in that war. Far from it.
As far as the local perception of Bonds, crackpots babble about Bonds not throwing out Bream. Andy Van Slyke threw Bonds under the bus when he said he told Bonds to play closer against hitter Francisco Cabrera, but Bonds didn’t. Bonds said that if he’d played any shallower, the ball would have gotten past him. That was a hard throw to make. Across Bonds’ body.
Sometimes you just lose. Bonds’ playoff stats for the Pirates weren’t great, but he helped get them three NL East championships.
Willie Stargell hit .208 with no home runs in the 1971 World Series. It’s about who you’re predisposed to like or hate. (Stargell did much better in the ’79 World Series.)
Bonds is one of the five greatest Pirates ever, likely No. 2 behind Roberto Clemente.
Bonds was a slightly better hitter, though not necessarily during his Pirates tenure. Clemente was better at everything else.
Clemente was a true Pirate, having stayed in Pittsburgh for his entire career. (Because baseball made him.)
Clemente also had an inarguable grace and majesty. Bonds had a touch of gloom.
Spare me the arguments about Honus Wagner. There’s nobody left alive who saw him play. He’s just a statue.
The happiest I ever saw Bonds was when he talked about Willie Mays, his godfather, for an HBO documentary. Bonds was positively glowing when he spoke about Mays.
I hope Bonds can be that happy when he returns to Pittsburgh. I hope we let him.