Barry Bonds Says He 'Wasn't The Best Clubhouse Guy'
Barry Bonds isn't exactly killing it in the reputation department.
MLB's home run record holder still isn't in the Hall of Fame. That's partly because of his ties to performance enhancing drugs. But voters also aren't crazy about his character.
And Bonds himself admits he's not the friendliest guy in the world.
"I wasn't the best clubhouse guy, that's for damn sure," Bonds said on the R2C2 podcast Friday. "But on the baseball field, I took my walks, I took my hits. I did everything I could for my teammates to have the opportunity to do his job."
(Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
Co-hosts Ryan Ruocco and CC Sabathia pressed him to explain.
"Because it's a business, and people don't understand that I took it as a business," Bonds said. "Most teams, everyone thought I was being a d-ck, but I really — I wasn't at all. I love you, I respect you, I would help you in any aspect."
But he certainly wouldn't tell you any secrets.
"I'm not gonna tell you what I do because we don't know how long we're teammates," he said. "And in a teammate factor is that you're going to another team market to be traded, and then you're gonna tell someone what I told you."
Barry Bonds is one of baseball's most polarizing characters.
"This is a business, so I protect my business. I wasn't an a--hole, I wasn't trying to be a d-ck," Bonds said. "It was just, 'Hey Barry, what do you see?' I see a pitcher. 'What does he throw?' Balls and strikes. And they're like, 'Why do you gotta be a d-ck?' And I'm like, 'Why are you taking it personal?"
So even if he had information that would help his team win, he'd "protect" his own "business" instead.
Bonds may not have been trying to be a d-ck. But he certainly succeeded in being a d-ck.
(Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
He also succeeded in being an absolute juggernaut.
Bonds won seven MVPs en route to his record 762 home runs. His 73 homers in 2001 and his 232 walks, 120 intentional passes and .609 on-base percentage in 2004, remain single-season records.
Of course, there's an asterisk on those.
It is widely speculated Bonds used PEDs, but the 58-year-old still insists he never knowingly did — aside from the BALCO cream.
He was, though, found guilty of obstructing justice in 2011 during an investigation into a steroid supplier. His conviction was overturned in 2015.