Barry Bonds has hardly ever been the easiest person for the media to decode. While always acknowledged as a player of supreme hitting quality, Bonds maintains that reputation even to date. Holding both the single season as well as an aggregate record for home runs in Major League Baseball, the smiling face has left many a journalist stunned by his behavior towards the media.

His reputation has followed him ever since he first featured in the Major Leagues. Despite always being a player with superior ability, the star was never quite able to get his equation with the media quite right. Antagonizing the fans too, Bonds built up quite a reputation. However, if both accounts are to be trusted, then it appears that Bonds was a dichotomy. Something that warrants a deeper question.

Barry Bonds’ confusing legacy

Bonds was always caught up in a quest to make his way out of the way people perceived him. The signals he lent out to the media certainly did him no good. In his book ‘Love Me Hate Me – Barry Bonds‘, author Jeff Pearlman speaks in detail about the image of Barry Bonds and the struggles that the star had with the duality of his personality.

Pearlman recalls that even the journalists of the time had a strained relationship with their understanding of the superstar. Recalling an article that had been published in USA Today by renowned journalist Had Bodley, Pearlman recalls its contents.

The headline of the article read, “Charming Superstar or Selfish Malcontent? It’s Up to Bonds.” The contents of the article were perhaps even more surprising. Bodley surmised, that it was not just the media but the player himself that had trouble characterizing himself. Wrote Bodley, “I’ve felt for years Barry Bonds has trouble figuring out who Barry Bonds is supposed to be. Is he the best player in baseball, whose talents, charisma and charm can overwhelm everyone in his company? Or is he the moody, sometimes bitter young man who detests talking with the media and who’d rather just play his game and to hell with the world?”

Barry Bonds – Always a Superstar

The 14x All-Star was a mainstay of the leagues throughout the 1990s and early 2000s and his career has undoubtedly left an indelible mark on the game. While his interactions off the diamond have needed to be somewhat moderated by the media, his on-field record remains formidable.

Read More: “Nothing He Couldn’t Do…”: Giants Legend Barry Bonds Once Received the Ultimate Praise From Iconic Two-Sport Legend as Hall of Fame Slipped Away

Even amidst the PED controversy, Bonds has always maintained the natural respect that any who play the game can afford him and has hit it out of the park with his swing. The star will forever be mired in contradictions, but its now upto the fans as to how they choose to take his playing legacy.

WATCH THIS STORY | From Unforeseen Beginnings to Unstoppable Greatness – The Story of Barry Bonds