“I Respect Him as an Athlete” – When MLB Home Run Chart Leader Barry Bonds Opened Up About Alex Rodriguez Almost Breaking His Record

Alex Rodriguez and Barry Bonds are two of the greatest players MLB has ever seen. Controversies and steroid use aside, the two contributed immensely to the sport of baseball. And yet, their PED usage taints that past. Bonds currently holds the record for all-time career home runs at 762 while A-Rod ranks 5th with 696. In addition, the two have racked up quite a list of accomplishments that not many have managed to catch up to.

What’s more, Bonds and Rodriguez are friends. Both legends of their own eras, the former left fielder and former shortstop often talk about each other in the media too. Once, Bonds addressed the claims he made about Rodriguez breaking his home run record.

Barry Bonds has nothing but respect for Alex Rodriguez

After the San Francisco Giants let him go in 2007, Bonds struggled to sign with an MLB team; eventually, he retired in December 2009. While Rodriguez served a suspension for the 2014 season, he came back for two more years before hanging up his uniform in 2016. Both ballplayers were a few numbers short of setting some truly mind-blowing statistics, but unfortunately, their time was up.

Several years ago, when it was clear that A-Rod wouldn’t be able to surpass Bonds’ 762 homers,  the latter revisited what he had said about Rodriguez possibly outdoing him. A reporter asked the former Giants player, “You said at the end of your career that you would applaud Alex Rodriguez when he passed your home run record. Looks like that’s not gonna happen obviously, so what’s your opinion on what happened with Alex? And that record probably being yours for the rest of your life?”

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Bonds honestly answered, “I think God will bless somebody else with that; he always does. But I would talk to Alex Rodriguez on a one-on-one basis, we’re friends, but I really wouldn’t talk about it in a press conference. I respect him as an athlete and always will and I will not have a press conference over that.”

A-Rod once made a hilarious request to Bonds and his home runs

A few months ago, the former pro baseballers attended a Minnesota Timberwolves game, an NBA team of which Rodriguez is part owner. The former Yankee is famously just 4 runs away from 700, which is clearly a point that still pinches him. When A-Rod posted a picture of himself and his friend from that game, his caption read, “Brought Barry to the game to see if he’d lend me four homers.” If only Bonds could!

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