Barry Lamar Bonds (born July 24, 1964) is an American former professional baseball left fielder who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Bonds was a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1986 to 1992 and the San Francisco Giants from 1993 to 2007. He is considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time.
Recognized as an all-around player, Bonds received a record seven National League (NL) Most Valuable Player Awards and 12 Silver Slugger Awards, along with 14 All-Star selections. He holds many MLB hitting records, including most career home runs (762), most home runs in a single season (73, set in 2001), and the records for the most walks and intentional walks in a career, season, and in consecutive games. Bonds led MLB in on-base plus slugging six times and placed within the top five hitters in 12 of his 17 qualifying seasons. For his defensive play in the outfield, he won eight Gold Glove Awards. He also had 514 stolen bases, becoming the first and only MLB player to date with at least 500 home runs and 500 stolen bases. Bonds is ranked first in career Wins Above Replacement among all Major League position players by Baseball Reference and second by FanGraphs, behind only Babe Ruth.
Despite his accolades, Bonds led a controversial career, notably as a central figure in baseball's steroids scandal. He was indicted in 2007 on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice for allegedly lying to a grand jury during the federal government's investigation of BALCO, a manufacturer of an undetectable steroid. After the perjury charges were dropped, Bonds was convicted of obstruction of justice in 2011, but was exonerated on appeal in 2015. During his 10 years of eligibility, he did not receive the 75% of the vote needed to be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Some voters of the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) stated they did not vote for Bonds because they believe he used performance-enhancing drugs.
Barry Lamar Bonds was born on July 24, 1964, in Riverside, California, to Patricia (née Howard) and then-future Major League right fielder Bobby Bonds. Bonds grew up on the San Francisco Peninsula in San Carlos, California, where he attended Arundel Elementary School. His father spent the first seven seasons of his Major League career with the San Francisco Giants, where he played with future National Baseball Hall of Famers Willie Mays, Gaylord Perry, Willie McCovey, and Juan Marichal. His father Bobby played in right field and with Mays playing in center field, the Giants had a venerable defensive tandem that worked together to cover a lot of ground on the field, and Mays became Barry's godfather. As a child, Bonds would spend time in the Giants home clubhouse and dugout at Candlestick Park and had to choke up on his baseball bat that he carried around because it was too heavy for him at the time, something that he would stick with for the rest of his life. Before Arundel, he attended the Carey School, which overlooks Junípero Serra High School in San Mateo, California, where he would also later attend. He excelled in baseball, basketball, and football. He played on the junior varsity team during his freshman year and on the varsity team for the remainder of his high school career. Frustrated with Bonds’ progress in junior biology, his teacher told him that baseball will never get him anywhere.
Reading level
Audio Summary
Played with your browser's voice. Studio-quality audio can be added with a text-to-speech service.
Ask about this article
📝 Quick Quiz1 / 4
What is "Barry Bonds" primarily known for?
Vocix Daily — In Your Inbox
Top stories, deep-dive articles, and "On This Day" history — one crisp digest delivered every morning.
Sources & references
Reference material for this entry is drawn from the open encyclopedic record, including Wikipedia , available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license. Images are credited individually beside each photo.
Bonds garnered a .467 batting average his senior year, and was named prep All-American. The Giants drafted Bonds in the second round (39th overall) of the 1982 MLB draft as a high school senior, but the Giants and Bonds were unable to agree on contract terms when Tom Haller's maximum offer was $70,000 ($230,000 today) and Bonds's minimum to go pro was $75,000, and Mays helped advise Bonds to instead attend college. Bonds, along with late Major League Baseball pitcher Danny Frisella, were inducted into the Serra Athletics Hall of Fame in 1992.
College career
Bonds attended Arizona State University, where his distant cousin and fellow university Hall of Fame right fielder Reggie Jackson attended and played as well. Bonds hit .347 with 45 home runs and 175 runs batted in (RBI). In 1984, he batted .360 and had 30 stolen bases. In 1985, he hit 23 home runs with 66 RBI and a .368 batting average. He was a Sporting News All-American selection that year. He tied the NCAA record with seven consecutive hits in the College World Series as a sophomore and was named to All-Time College World Series Team in 1996.
Bonds was not well-liked by his Sun Devil teammates, in part because in the words of longtime coach Jim Brock, he was "rude, inconsiderate and self-centered". When he was suspended for breaking curfew, the other players initially voted against his return even though he was easily the best player on the team. He graduated from Arizona State in 1986 with a degree in criminology. He was named ASU On Deck Circle Most Valuable Player; other winners include Dustin Pedroia, Willie Bloomquist, Paul Lo Duca, and Ike Davis. During college, he played part of one summer in the amateur Alaska Baseball League with the Alaska Goldpanners. Bonds was inducted into the Sun Devil Hall of Fame 1999 Class.
Professional career
Draft and minor leagues
The Pittsburgh Pirates drafted Bonds with the sixth overall pick of the 1985 Major League Baseball draft. He joined the Prince William Pirates of the Carolina League and was named July 1985 Player of the Month for the league. In 1986, he hit .311 with seven home runs and 37 RBI in 44 games for the Hawaii Islanders of the Pacific Coast League.
Pittsburgh Pirates (1986–1992)
1986 season
Before Bonds made it to the Major Leagues in Pittsburgh, Pirate fan attendance was low, with 1984 and 1985 attendance below 10,000 per game for the 81-game home schedule, with attendance woes being a combination of the economic problems of Western Pennsylvania in the early 1980s as well as the Pittsburgh drug trials that directly affected the Pirates going from World Series champions to nearly relocating to Denver, Colorado in only six years. On May 30, 1986, at Three Rivers Stadium, Bonds made his Major League debut, starting in center field and wearing jersey number 7. He finished the game 0-for-5 with a walk in a 6–4 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
On June 4, at Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium, in a 12–3 win over the Atlanta Braves, Bonds hit his first career Major League home run, an opposite field solo home run with two outs in the top of the fifth inning. Leading 10–2, Bonds hit a fly ball well off of pitcher Craig McMurtry to deep left field and over Gerald Perry and the fence, making the score 11–2. Bonds hit his first home run in the exact same part of the exact same ballpark where Hank Aaron hit his 715th to break the all-time career home run record, formerly held by Babe Ruth. Bonds went four for five along with the home run as well as a double and four runs batted in. "Barry Bonds remember that name you'll be hearing a lot of it," the announcer said. Looking back on the play twenty years later, McMurtry said "It was a fastball, down and away. He took it the other way. I don't know how he hit it." In 1986, Bonds led National League (NL) rookies with 16 home runs, 48 RBI, 36 stolen bases, and 65 walks, but he finished sixth in NL Rookie of the Year Award voting. He played center field in 1986, but switched to left field with the arrival of centerfielder Andy Van Slyke in 1987.
1987 season
The Pirates experienced a surge in fan enthusiasm with Bonds on the team and set the club attendance record of 52,119 in the 1987 home opener. In his early years, Bonds batted as the leadoff hitter. On May 30 at Three Rivers Stadium, against the Cincinnati Reds, after starting the season as the everyday center fielder, Bonds switched and started his first career game in left field. With Van Slyke also in the outfield, the Pirates had a venerable defensive tandem that worked together to cover a lot of ground on the field, although they were not close off of it. That year, Bonds hit .261 with 25 home runs, along with 32 stolen bases and 59 RBI in 150 games.
1988 season
The Pirates broke the record set the previous year with 54,089 attending the home opener. Bonds improved in 1988, hitting .283 with 24 home runs and 58 RBI in 144 games.
Bonds now fit into a highly respected lineup featuring Bobby Bonilla, Van Slyke, and Jay Bell. He finished with 19 homers, 58 RBI, and 14 outfield assists in 1989, which was second in the NL. Following the season, there were rumors that he would be traded to the Dodgers for Jeff Hamilton and John Wetteland, but the team denied the rumors and no such trade occurred.
1990 season
On July 12, 1990, at Three Rivers Stadium, in a 4–3 win over the San Diego Padres, Bonds hit a fly ball off of pitcher Andy Benes to deep right field for his 100th career Major League home run. Bonds won his first career Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award in 1990, hitting .301 with 33 home runs and 114 RBI in 151 games. He also stole 52 bases, which was third in the league, and joined the 30–30 and 20–50 clubs for the first time. He won his first Gold Glove Award and Silver Slugger Award. That year, the Pirates won the National League East title for their first postseason berth since winning the 1979 World Series. However, the Cincinnati Reds, whose last postseason berth had also been in 1979 when they lost to the Pirates in that year's NLCS, defeated the Pirates in the NLCS en route to winning the 1990 World Series.
1991 season
In 1991, Bonds again put up great numbers, batting .292 with 25 homers and driving in 116 runs in 153 games, earning him another Gold Glove and Silver Slugger. He finished second to the Atlanta Braves' Terry Pendleton (the NL batting champion) in the NL MVP voting.
In March 1992, Pirates general manager Ted Simmons agreed to a deal with Atlanta Braves counterpart John Schuerholz to trade Bonds, in exchange for Alejandro Peña, Keith Mitchell, and a player to be named later. Pirates manager Jim Leyland opposed the trade vehemently, and the proposal was rescinded. Bonds stayed with Pittsburgh and won his second National League MVP Award in the last three seasons, making him the only Pittsburgh Pirate with multiple regular season MVPs. While hitting .311 with 34 homers and 103 RBI, he propelled the Pirates to their third straight National League East division title. However, Pittsburgh was defeated by the Braves in a seven-game National League Championship Series. Bonds participated in the final play of Game 7 of the NLCS, whereby he fielded a base hit by Francisco Cabrera and attempted to throw out Sid Bream at home plate. The throw to Pirates catcher Mike LaValliere was late and Bream scored the winning run.
For the third consecutive season, the NL East Champion Pirates were denied a trip to the World Series. Following the loss, Bonds and star teammate Doug Drabek were expected to command salaries too high for Pittsburgh to again sign them. Following Bonds' departure, the Pittsburgh Pirates missed the playoffs for 21 straight years from 1993 until 2013, when they reached the MLB postseason as a Wild Card team. In his seven-season Pittsburgh Pirates career, Bonds amassed a .275 batting average, 984 base hits, 176 home runs, and 556 runs batted in. Bonds was never well-liked by reporters or fans while in Pittsburgh, despite winning two NL MVP awards. One paper even gave him an "award" as the "MDP" (Most Despised Pirate).
San Francisco Giants (1993–2007)
Bonds became an unrestricted free agent on October 26, 1992. During this time, he was contacted by multiple teams, including the Atlanta Braves, New York Yankees, and San Francisco Giants. On December 6, 1992, news broke that Bonds would leave the Pirates to sign a lucrative free agent contract worth a then-record $43.75 million (equivalent to $97.5 million in 2025) over six years with the Giants, with whom his father had spent the first seven years of his career, and with whom his godfather Willie Mays played 21 of his 22 Major League seasons. The deal was at that time the largest in baseball history, in terms of both total value and average annual salary.
Once he signed with the Giants, Bonds intended to wear the number 24, his number during most of his stay with the Pirates, but it was Willie Mays's old number, which the Giants had retired. After receiving Mays's blessing, the Giants were willing to unretire it until the public commotion from fans and media became too much. To honor his father, Bonds switched his jersey number to 25, as it had been Bobby's number in San Francisco. On December 8, 1992, the deal was finalized. In an emotional press conference announcing the signing, Bonds described joining the Giants as going "home" and following in the footsteps of his father and godfather as "unbelievable" and "...like a boyhood dream that comes true for me." His father joined the team as a coach in the same year.
1993 season
On April 18, 1993, at Candlestick Park, in a 13–12 win over the Atlanta Braves, Bonds had four base hits and a stolen base, with his third double of the game in the bottom of the ninth inning being his 1,000th career Major League hit. On May 12, 1993, at Mile High Stadium, in a 8–2 win over the Colorado Rockies, both Bonds and his father, along with Rockies outfielder Jerald Clark and coach Ron Hassey, were ejected for their role in an on-field fight. On July 8, 1993, at Veterans Stadium, in a 13–2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies, Bonds had three base hits, two home runs, and six runs batted in. Leading 11–2 and leading off the top of the seventh inning, Bonds bolted a line drive on the first pitch he saw from pitcher José DeLeón, a low breaking ball, to deep right-center field and into the stands for his 200th career Major League home run, making the score 12–2.
Bonds hit .336 in 1993, leading the NL with 46 home runs and 123 RBI in 159 games en route to his second consecutive NL MVP Award, and third one overall in the last four seasons. Bonds and Bryce Harper are the only MLB players to win a regular season MVP with two different teams before the age of 30. "1993 was probably the most dominant team I've ever been on," Bonds said. The Giants won 103 games, a then-San Francisco Era record that would last until 2021, when that year's team broke the all-time single season franchise record for wins by one with 107. The Atlanta Braves won 104 in what some call the last great pennant race (because the wild card was instituted the year after). "One of us has to lose. Unfortunately it's always us, or me," Bonds said.
1994 season
In the strike-shortened season of 1994, Bonds hit .312 with 37 home runs, 81 RBI and a league-leading 74 walks in 112 games. He finished fourth in NL MVP voting.
1995 season
In 1995, Bonds played in 144 games, hitting .294 with 33 homers and 104 RBI, but finished only 12th in NL MVP voting. In 1994, he appeared in a small role as himself in the television film Jane's House, starring James Woods and Anne Archer.
1996 season
In 1996, Bonds became the first National League player and second Major League player (of the current list of six) to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in the same season. The other members of the 40–40 club are José Canseco (1988), Alex Rodriguez (1998), Alfonso Soriano (2006), Ronald Acuña Jr. (2023), and Shohei Ohtani (2024). His father Bobby Bonds was one home run short in 1973 when he hit 39 home runs and stole 43 bases. Bonds hit his 300th and 301st career Major League home runs off former Giants teammate and Florida Marlins pitcher John Burkett on April 27. He became the fourth player in history to join the 300–300 club with 300 stolen bases and 300 home runs for a career, joining Willie Mays, Andre Dawson, and his father. Bonds's totals for the season included 129 runs driven in, a .308 average and a then-National League record 151 walks. He finished fifth in the NL MVP balloting.
1997 season
In 1997, Bonds hit .291, his lowest average since 1989. He hit 40 home runs for the second straight year and drove in 101 runs, leading the league in walks again with 145. He also stole 37 bases, tying his father for having the most 30–30 seasons (five), and he again placed fifth in the NL MVP balloting.
1998 season
On May 28, 1998, at 3Com Park, with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, Arizona Diamondbacks manager Buck Showalter decided to intentionally walk Bonds with the bases loaded. Nap Lajoie (1901), Del Bissonette (1928) and Bill Nicholson (1944) were three other players in the 20th century who received that rare honor. The first to receive one was Abner Dalrymple in 1881. The Diamondbacks, a 1998 Major League Baseball expansion team, were leading the Giants 8–5, when closing pitcher Gregg Olson began the inning by striking out leadoff hitter and starting center fielder Darryl Hamilton, the Giants responded by loading the bases with two walks and a hit before starting right fielder Stan Javier had an RBI grounder that made it 8–6. The Giants loaded the bases again after pinch-hitter J. T. Snow walked, and Showalter ordered Olson to intentionally walk Bonds, forcing home a run, and bringing up pinch hitting catcher Brent Mayne, who worked the count full before he lined to right field for the third out. Olson put together one of the strangest saves imaginable, working around six walks in 1+1⁄3 innings, throwing 49 pitches (not counting the bases-loaded intentional walk), and only 22 of them were for strikes.
On August 23, Bonds hit his 400th career Major League home run. By doing so, he became the first player ever to enter the 400–400 club by having career totals of 400 home runs and 400 stolen bases; he is still the only player to have achieved this feat. The milestone home run came off Kirt Ojala, who, like Burkett, was pitching for the Marlins. For the season, he hit .303 with 37 home runs and drove in 122 runs, winning his eighth Gold Glove. He finished eighth in the NL MVP voting.
1999 season
1999 marked a career-low, up to that point, for Bonds in terms of playing time. Bonds started off the 1999 season hitting well by batting .366 in the month of April with four home runs and 12 RBI in the Giants' first 12 games of the season. But on April 18, he was placed on the 15-day disabled list for only the second time in his career up to that point. Bonds had suffered a torn tendon in his biceps as well as bone spurs in his elbow, both of which required surgery and cost him the rest of April and all of May.
Upon returning to action on June 9, Bonds struggled somewhat at the plate for the remainder of the 1999 season. A series of nagging injuries including elbow pain, knee inflammation and groin issues hampered his play. On September 11, 1999, at 3Com Park, in a 3–2 win over the Atlanta Braves, leading off the top of the fourth inning, Bonds hit a fly ball double off of future National Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Glavine to deep left field for his 2,000th career Major League hit. Only hitting .248 after his return from the disabled list, he still managed to slug 34 home runs, drive in 83 runs as well as hit for a .617 slugging percentage, despite missing nearly two full months with injuries and only playing in 102 games. He finished 24th in the NL MVP voting.
Bill James ranked Bonds as the best player of the 1990s. He added that the decade's second-best player, Craig Biggio, had been closer in production to the decade's 10th-best player than to Bonds. In 1999, with statistics through 1997 being considered, Bonds ranked Number 34 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, making him the highest-ranking active player. When the Sporting News list was redone in 2005, Bonds was ranked 6th behind Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, and Hank Aaron. Bonds was omitted from 1999's Major League Baseball All-Century Team, to which Ken Griffey Jr. was elected. James wrote of Bonds, "Certainly the most unappreciated superstar of my lifetime. ... Griffey has always been more popular, but Bonds has been a far, far greater player." In 1999, he rated Bonds as the 16th-best player of all time. "When people begin to take in all of his accomplishments," he predicted, "Bonds may well be rated among the five greatest players in the history of the game."
2000 season
In 2000, Bonds hit .306 with career bests through that time in both slugging percentage (.688) and home runs (49) in just 143 games. He also drew a league-leading 117 walks. He finished second in the NL MVP voting behind future National Baseball Hall of Fame second baseman and teammate Jeff Kent.
2001 season: Single-season home run record
The next year, Bonds's offensive production reached even higher levels, breaking not only his own personal records but several Major League records. In the Giants' first 50 games in 2001, he hit 28 home runs, including 17 in May—a career high. This early stretch included his 500th career Major League home run hit on April 17 against Terry Adams of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He became the 17th member and fourth Giant to reach the milestone. Following his 500th home run, his father Bobby suggested to him that he should start collecting every game-used bat in which he hit a home run, which he did. He also hit 39 home runs by the All-star break (a Major League record), drew a Major League record 177 walks, and had a .515 on-base average, a feat not seen since Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams over forty years earlier. Bonds' slugging percentage (.863) was the fifth-highest in MLB history, and the highest since Josh Gibson's .868 in 1943.
On October 4, by homering off Wilfredo Rodríguez in the 159th game of the season, Bonds tied the previous record of 70 set by Mark McGwire—which McGwire set in the 162nd game in 1998. He then broke the record by hitting numbers 71 and 72 the following night off Chan Ho Park. Bonds added his 73rd off Dennis Springer on October 7. The ball was later sold to toy manufacturer Todd McFarlane for $450,000. He previously bought Mark McGwire's 70th home run ball from 1998. Bonds received the Babe Ruth Home Run Award for leading MLB in home runs that season. Bonds won the National League MVP in a landslide, becoming baseball's first four-time regular season MVP. He received 30 of 32 first-place votes, beating out Chicago Cubs right fielder Sammy Sosa and Arizona Diamondbacks left fielder Luis Gonzalez.
2002 season
Bonds re-signed with the Giants for a five-year, $90 million contract on January 15, 2002. He hit five home runs in the Giants' first four games of the season, tying Lou Brock's 35-year record for most home runs after four games. He won the NL batting title with a career-high .370 average, and also recorded 46 home runs, 110 RBI, and just 47 strikeouts in 403 at-bats.
Despite playing in nine fewer games than the previous season, he drew 198 walks, a Major League record; 68 of them were intentional walks, surpassing Willie McCovey's 45 in 1969 for another Major League record. He slugged .799, then the fourth-highest total all time. Bonds broke Ted Williams' Major League record for on-base average with .582. He posted a 268 OPS+, which was, somehow, higher than his record-breaking 2001 season of 259. Bonds also hit his 600th career Major League home run, less than a year and a half after hitting his 500th. The home run came on August 9 at home against his former team, the Pittsburgh Pirates, and pitcher Kip Wells.
2002 postseason
Bonds batted .322 with eight home runs, 16 RBI, and 27 walks in the postseason en route to the 2002 World Series, which the Giants lost in seven games to the Anaheim Angels. In the World Series, Bonds batted .471 with eight hits, two doubles, four home runs, six runs batted in, and scored eight runs. He was also walked 13 times (seven intentionally).
