Barry Bonds American baseball player for the San Francisco Giants of the Major League Baseball. Date of Birth: 24.07.1964 Country: USA

1. Biography of Barry Bonds
2. Early Life and Career
3. Success with the Pittsburgh Pirates
4. Record-breaking Seasons and Achievements
5. Later Career and Records

Biography of Barry Bonds

Barry Bonds (born July 24, 1964 in Riverside, California) is an American baseball player who currently plays for the Major League Baseball team, the San Francisco Giants, as a left fielder. Bonds holds several Major League Baseball records, the most notable of which is the all-time leader in home runs. On August 7, 2007, he surpassed Hank Aaron's record of 755 home runs by hitting his 756th home run in a game against the Washington Nationals. Bonds also holds the records for walks (2547) and intentional walks (681). In the 2001 season, Bonds hit 73 home runs, setting the record for the most home runs in a single season. He has been named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the year seven times, a feat that no one else has achieved. Currently, Bonds has a total of 762 home runs.

Early Life and Career

From 1980 to 1982, Bonds played for his high school team in San Mateo, California. In the 1982 MLB draft, he was selected by the San Francisco Giants in the second round, but the team and the player could not agree on contract terms, and Bonds decided to focus on his college education.

Bonds attended Arizona State University, where he began his baseball career. In 1984, he had a batting average of .360 and stole 30 bases. In 1985, he hit 23 home runs with 66 runs batted in (RBI) and had a batting average of .368. Bonds graduated from the university in 1986 with a degree in criminology. He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first round of the 1985 MLB draft. After playing in the minor leagues with the Prince William Pirates and the Hawaii Islanders, Bonds made his MLB debut on May 30, 1986. He finished his rookie season with 16 home runs, 36 stolen bases, and a sixth-place finish in the Rookie of the Year voting. In his second season, he hit 25 home runs, stole 32 bases, and had 59 RBI.

Success with the Pittsburgh Pirates

Bonds continued to improve, and in 1990, he hit .301 with 33 home runs and 114 RBI, earning his first MVP award. In the following season, he hit 25 home runs with 114 RBI and won the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Awards. However, he finished second in the MVP voting to Terry Pendleton. In 1992, Bonds hit 34 home runs, 103 RBI, and had a batting average of .311, earning his second MVP award and leading the Pittsburgh Pirates to win the National League East division. However, they were defeated by the Atlanta Braves in the playoffs. The Pirates narrowly missed the World Series for the third consecutive season.

In 1993, Bonds left the Pirates as a free agent and signed a record-breaking contract worth $43.75 million with the San Francisco Giants. Bonds' father, Bobby Bonds, played for the Giants for the first seven years of his career, and his godfather, Willie Mays, spent 22 of his 24 seasons with the team. In honor of his father who wore the number 25, Bonds changed his number to the same and continues to wear it to this day. The number 24, which Bonds wore in Pittsburgh, was retired by the Giants in honor of Mays. In his first season with the Giants, Bonds led the league in home runs (46) and RBI (123), earning his second consecutive MVP award and third overall. Despite winning 103 games that season, the Giants did not make it to the playoffs as the Atlanta Braves had one more win (at that time, only division winners made it to the playoffs, and there was no Wild Card). In the shortened 1994 season, Bonds hit .312 with 37 home runs and led the league with 74 walks. He finished fourth in the MVP voting.

Record-breaking Seasons and Achievements

In 1996, Bonds became the first player in National League history to achieve 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases in a single season. He set a National League record for walks with 151 and had a batting average of .308. That same year, Bonds became the fourth player in history to reach 300 home runs and 300 stolen bases in his career, joining Willie Mays, Andre Dawson, and his father, Bobby Bonds. In 1997, Bonds had a batting average of .291, hit 40 home runs for the second consecutive season, and led the league in walks with 145. In 1998, Bonds won his eighth Gold Glove award and became the first player to reach 400 home runs and 400 stolen bases in his career. He finished eighth in the MVP voting that year. In 1999, Bonds was ranked 31st on the "100 Greatest Baseball Players" list published by Sporting News. In 2005, he moved up to the sixth position on the list. Despite his achievements, Bonds was not included in the MLB All-Century Team, unlike Ken Griffey Jr., another active player at the time.

By the end of the 1999 season, Bonds was already considered one of the best players in the league and a likely candidate for the Hall of Fame. However, at an age when many players start to decline, Bonds continued to excel. In the 2000 season, at the age of 36, he hit .306 with a career-high 49 home runs in 143 games and led the league in walks with 117. The following year, Bonds set records not only for himself but also for the league. In the first 50 games of the season, Bonds hit 29 home runs, including 17 in May, setting a new career-high. By the end of the season, he had a total of 177 walks, a .515 on-base percentage (OBA), and a .863 slugging percentage (SLG). Most notably, he hit 73 home runs in a single season, breaking the MLB record that still stands today.

Later Career and Records

In 2002, Bonds hit 46 home runs in 403 at-bats, winning his second batting title with a career-best .370 batting average and setting a new record for walks in a season with 198. On August 9, Bonds hit his 600th career home run, reaching the milestone faster than anyone else in history. In 2003, Bonds played in only 130 games but hit 45 home runs in 390 at-bats. He became the first member of the "500-500 Club" (500 home runs and 500 stolen bases) and joined an elite group of players who have hit 40 home runs and stolen 40 bases in a single season.

In 2004, Bonds had one of his best seasons. He had a batting average of .362, won his second batting title, and broke his own record for walks with 232. In April, he surpassed Mays for third place on the all-time home run list. By the end of the season, Bonds had 45 home runs with only 41 strikeouts, a rare feat in baseball history. He won his fourth consecutive MVP award and became the player with the most MVP awards in history at that time. On July 4, 2004, Bonds broke Rickey Henderson's career walks record, reaching a total of 2191.

In March 2005, Bonds announced that he would likely miss the entire 2005 season due to ongoing knee problems, which had already required surgery. On May 4, he announced on his website that he had undergone his third knee surgery due to a bacterial infection. Bonds returned to the Giants in September and played in his first game against the San Diego Padres on September 12. In his first at-bat, he hit a home run. Bonds finished the season with five home runs in 14 games.

In January 2002, Bonds signed a new five-year contract worth $90 million with the Giants. His salary for the 2005 season was $22 million, making him the second-highest-paid player in the league behind Alex Rodriguez. By the end of the 2006 season, Bonds had earned approximately $172 million, making him the highest-paid player in baseball history. In 2007, he signed a new contract with the Giants worth $15.8 million.

Bonds currently leads all active players in home runs, walks, intentional walks, runs, games played, at-bats per home run, and statistical calculations like OBP, XBH, and TB. He ranks second in doubles, stolen bases, at-bats, hits, and SLG. He is fifth in triples, eighth in strikeouts, and SF (sacrifice flies).

Bonds is the only member of the "500-500 Club," referring to 500 home runs (760) and 500 stolen bases (514). He is also one of only four players in history to achieve the "40-40 Club," meaning 40 home runs (42) and 40 stolen bases (40) in a single season.