It isn’t a secret that the MLB wanted Barry Bonds out the league as soon as he collected the all-time home run record. As long as Bonds was playing it was a huge blemish on the league. I mean, there was the BALCO situation. Regardless, with a speculation hovering over Bonds, it rubbed Bud Selig and others the wrong way; and his handling of the media didn’t help, AT ALL.
Check out the report from CBSSports.com’s Jon Heyman about the entire issue below.
Bonds has said since that time he believes that there was a concerted effort to keep him out of the game by baseball powers, though he sought to wait to file suit until his legal issues related to BALCO were resolved. Last month a US Court of Appeals reversed his 2011 felony conviction for his obstruction of justice related to grand jury testimony in 2003, fully clearing him in the case, and sources said he is planning to move ahead with a suit against MLB, if he hasn’t started the suit already
It is expected the case will be heard and likely adjudicated sometime in 2015, if Bonds hasn’t already made his filing.
Bonds has said he received no offers to play after the ’07 season, when he set the all-time home run record, hitting 28 home runs for the San Francisco Giants while leading the National League with a .480 on-base percentage and 1.045 OPS. Bonds at the time suggested he’d play for the minimum salary if an offer was forthcoming, but none apparently ever came.
Bonds, who made $19.3 million in 2007, including about $5 million in incentives, has had an uneasy relationship with MLB since reports surfaced about his relationship with BALCO. While there’s been no serious thought of stripping him or any of the other players connected to PEDs of any MVP awards — he has a record seven such honors — MLB powers were obviously less than thrilled when he broke baseball’s most coveted career record, previously held by Hank Aaron with 755 home runs. Bonds, unpopular in many baseball circles due partly to his perceived cantankerous personality as well as the PED connection, received just 36.8 percent of the vote in the2015 Hall of Fame balloting. That represents just less than half the votes needed for enshrinement for one of baseball’s all-time greats.
Bonds had some talks with MLB at some point in recent years about working out a deal with MLB in which he’d receive a job in the game, but it appears nothing came of those discussions. Bonds worked as a spring instructor with the Giants, to rave reviews from players, and has assisted with certain players on his own time, including controversial slugging star Alex Rodriguez and Dexter Fowler.
