Barry Bonds and American Baseball's Image

Something seemed off. How could a man entering the age of 40 be winning his fourth straight MVP award? Like my father, many questioned not Bonds’ performance on the field, but rather Bonds himself. Between 1998 and 2004, Bonds’ feet grew three and a half size, his head seemed to increase in length, and Bonds’ weight went from 185lbs. to 240lbs. Bonds’ attitude toward the media became incredibly bipolar. Many reporters began to question him on his shocking change of appearance. Sometimes Bonds would smile and answer, “Non-stop training and hard hours in the gym,” (Ken Burns Documentary) Other times though Bonds would swear at the media and even threaten them with violence. Still though, Major League baseball had started to crack down on those players using steroids or any illegal drugs. They considered the use of these drugs as cheating. Nothing more was hurtful to fans then to find out that their hero was cheating.  Some of those players that were caught taking these drugs were Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire. Was it possible, though, that the greatest player in the world was cheating?  (Medium.com)

 In early 2007, many fans believed that this would be the year that Barry Bonds would break the all time home run record of 755, set by Hank Aaron. Bonds entered the season with high hopes, after all he was only 22 home runs away from breaking the record when the season began. However, tragedy struck. In January of that year, the New York Daily News  reported that Bonds had tested positive for amphetamines. Under baseball's amphetamine policy, which had been in effect for one season, players testing positive were to submit to six additional tests and undergo treatment and counseling.  The policy also stated that players were not to be identified for a first positive test, but the New York Daily News leaked the test results. When the Players Association informed Bonds of the test results, he initially attributed it to a substance he had taken from the locker of Giants’ teammate Mark Sweeny, but would later retract this claim and publicly apologize to Sweeney. And with this, it was the beginning of the end for the legend of Barry Bonds. Fans and players alike were in fury. They believed that this was a sword to the heart of baseball and that the pride had disappeared. Fans began to “boo” Bonds everytime he stepped on the field. “They can chant Barry sucks all they want, it doesn’t affect me. In fact it makes me smile, cause all it means is that I’m that damn good,” Bonds told one Boston reporter. (Ken Burns Documentary) Despite this though, Bonds kept his word that he had never knowingly taken illegal drugs to enhance his performance. Although he continued to get support from his home crowd it had become clear, Barry Bonds was the most hated man in baseball.(Medium.com)