Barry Lamar Bonds (born July 24, 1964 in Riverside,
California) is a Major League Baseball outfielder
who is currently a free agent. He is the son of
former major league All-Star Bobby Bonds, the godson
of Hall of Famer Willie Mays, and a distant cousin
of Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson. He debuted in the
Major Leagues with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1986
and joined the San Francisco Giants in 1993, where
he stayed through 2007. Bonds filed for free agency
following the 2007 World Series.
Bonds currently holds the all-time Major League
Baseball home run record with 762, and is also the
all-time career leader in both walks (2,558) and
intentional walks (688). He holds numerous other
records, including the single-season Major League
record for home runs (73), set in 2001, and a record
seven Most Valuable Player awards.
Since 2003, Bonds has been a key figure in the Bay
Area Laboratory Co-operative (BALCO) scandal. He was
under investigation by a federal grand jury
regarding his testimony in the BALCO case, and was
indicted on perjury and obstruction of justice
charges on November 15, 2007. The indictment alleges
that Bonds lied while under oath about his alleged
use of steroids.
Bonds grew up in San Carlos, California and attended
Junípero Serra High School in San Mateo, California,
California and excelled in baseball, basketball and
football. As a freshman, he spent the baseball
season on the JV team. The next three years—1980 to
1982—he starred on the varsity team. He batted .467
his senior year, and was honored as a prep
All-American. The Giants drafted Bonds in the second
round of the 1982 MLB draft as a high school senior,
but the Giants and Bonds were unable to agree on
contract terms, so Bonds instead decided to attend
college.
Bonds attended Arizona State University, hitting
.347 with 45 home runs and 175 RBI.[5] In 1984 he
batted .360 and stole 30 bases. In 1985 he hit 23
home runs with 66 RBIs and a .368 batting average.
He was a Sporting News All-American selection that
year. He tied the NCAA record with seven consecutive
hits in the College World Series as sophomore and
was named to All-Time College World Series Team in
1996. He graduated from Arizona State in 1986 with a
degree in criminology. During college, he played
part of one summer in the amateur Alaska Baseball
League with the Alaska Goldpanners.
