Few personalities in sports won almost everything in their career. It includes former San Francisco Giants star Barry Bonds. Known for his hitting skills, mastery, and dominating personality, Bonds achieved everything at the diamond. The list includes multiple Gold Glove Award awards, MVP titles, and many other accolades. Bonds enjoyed all his success but had an unconventional way when it is the other way around.
The book Love Me, Hate Me: Barry Bonds, written by Jeff Pearlman, shared one incident which showed a different side of Bonds. It also gave a detailed insight into his life and the surrounding controversies. What was that incident? Let us find out!
Barry Bonds wanted an MVP answer before leaving for a vacation!
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Barry was a star on the field. It reflected in his records and MVP nominations. Though he won many, Bonds was second to the top on many occasions. Given he was a tough guy, he was not cheerful during his snubs and that was reflected in his actions. It happened when Bonds came second to the National League MVP, Jeff Kent with 279 points in 2000. Given that Bonds had an idea about the winner, he wanted to confirm it. He sent one of his representatives with an important message.
On page 220, Jeff Kent wrote about this incident. It read, “Two days before the announcement, he had one of his representatives call the commissioner’s office to try to learn the victor’s identity. He added, “Barry’s planning a vacation, and if he’s not gonna win, he doesn’t want to bother sticking around.”
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The incident added another controversy to Bonds’s MLB career. But he was not bothered about it and continued to play his natural game, finishing as one of the best in the league. The snub did not let his morale down as he continued to play better and won the MVP title for three consecutive years from 2001 to 2004. With this, he added another chapter to his glorious career.
Bonds, a legend at the baseball field!
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Barry Bonds played in the MLB for close to two decades. While even turning out 2900 games, he scored 2227 runs, and 762 home runs with a marvelous OPS of 1.051. Apart from it, he won multiple Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Awards. He also became the part of All-Star team 14 times. Though many incidents hurt his image of the field, his accomplishments on the field put him in the league of the MLB Legends, who would continue to inspire the world forever.
Watch this Story | Barry Bonds drops a bombshell–“Yankees nearly signed me but Giants prevailed.”
