Barry Being Barry

Barry Bonds made an appearance at Pacbell/SBC Park in San Francisco a couple days ago for the 10 year anniversary of the ballpark. As a result of the appearance, I began to think again about the man who set the all time home run record, caused a lot of off field controversy, and helped the San Francisco Giants win a lot during the time he was with the team. During my reflection of Barry, I thought about him in two ways. The first way, is Barry as a baseball player; the second way, is Barry as a human being (looking into his human interactions/relationships). In this article, I am going to first talk about how I felt about Barry as ballplayer, and then reflect on him as human and some contemporary comments he has made since his post (not “retired”) playing days.

Barry as a ballplayer was amazing. So amazing, that there are people that I know that will not say a bad word about the man outside of how he played. The guy would see one good pitch in an at bat (sometime in a full game) and he would crush the ball. His plate discipline was unmatched to anyone in the past 3 decades (and possibly ever). The guy was a true G. He not only hit for average and power, but he also fielded very well (minus the last couple years of his career). I used to love watching players on the opposing team hit what they thought to be a standup double one bouncer off the wall to leftfield, only to have Barry field the ball with his bare left hand and one hop a dart to second base and get the man out. The guy was amazing. I don’t know another word to describe him on the field. As a fan, when one guy has the power to help his team win it translates to thousands of people in the ballpark and outside the park having a good time watching and supporting the home team. It felt like every time he came to the plate, something great was going to happen. It is so rare to have that one guy, that many who were around during these years will continue to treasure his value to the team forever.

Now, to the flip side of Barry, the side that some refuse to discuss because of wins and excitement he brought to the team and the city. The guy was not/is not good with some people. From what I have read and seen (I got to see him firsthand working as a 18 year- old usher for the squad), he does not trust people (specifically media people). From what my dad and others have told me, this is as result of Barry’s dad’s perspective on the media and the harm they caused his life. My Dad, who is part of Bobby Bond’s generation, recounted how they expected Bobby to play like Willie Mays. Even though Bobby did some tremendous things on the ball field (steal 30 bases and hit 30 home runs in the same season), he was not comparable to Willie Mays. But then again, and in the pro Basketball analogy world, that’s like saying James Worthy was good, but he was no Michael Jordan. Point is, Bonds does not trust certain people and part of that is due to the way his dad was treated as a ballplayer. I also think he is overtly arrogant and highlights that character trait too often. Exhibit A would be his recent comments about what he did over the past summer. He helped out Ryan Howard on his hitting and plate discipline. For some, being able to work with and provide service to one of the most powerful current hitting individuals in the game would be enough, not to Barry. Barry was quoted as saying he would like Howard to talk about how he helped him. His exact words were “hasn’t said anything about me yet”. While Bonds did laugh after saying this, to me it says Barry needs the notoriety; and to me, that notoriety is not necessary of even being joked about. While it is difficult to not have someone recognize you and the work you have put in, for some people putting in the work is enough, from the example just given it shows BARRY is not one of those guys. Exhibit B is his refusal to retire. While Barry may be able to come back and hit some home runs, he is refusing to accept his age (45 years old) and that no team wants an arrogant man who is being indicted for perjury at the moment. Exhibit C would be how he handled the steroid situation in its entirety, but I’m not writing a book only an article, therefore I will end it right here.

Even after his post playing days BARRY IS CONTINUING TO BE BARRY. While there are some who won’t say one thing negative about the guy, my job is to write it as I see it; from what I see, there is a lot more personal growth that I would like to see out of a man who has the potential to be a valued role model and citizen.