Barry Bonds Career Biography and Statistics

Bio:
Barry Bonds was born on July 24, 1964, in Riverside, California. He was a multi-sport athlete at Junipero Serra High School, excelling in baseball, football, and basketball. After batting .467 his senior year, Bonds was picked by the San Francisco Giants in the 1982 MLB Draft. However, Bonds and the Giants could not come to an agreement on a contract so Bonds decided to attend Arizona State University (ASU). He had a brilliant career at ASU, posting career totals of 45 home runs, 175 RBIs, and a .347 batting average.

Bonds was drafted for a second time in 1985, this time by the Pittsburgh Pirates with the sixth overall pick. He made his major league debut in 1986 and finished the year playing in 113 games, hitting 16 home runs and stealing 36 bases. The next three seasons were pretty mediocre for Bonds, but he broke out in a big way in 1990. That season he hit .301 with 33 home runs, 114 RBIs, and 52 stolen bases. Bonds’ career with the Pirates came to an end following the 1992 season when he signed a free agent deal with the San Francisco Giants.

While with the Giants, Bonds had the best seasons of his career, winning five of his record seven MVP awards with San Francisco. He posted eight seasons with at least 40 home runs, including a major league record 73 in 2003. Bonds also holds single season records in walks (232), intentional walks (120), slugging percentage (.863), and on-base percentage (.609). In 2007 he became the all-time career home run leader (762) and also has career totals of a .298 batting average, 2,935 hits, 1,996 RBIs, 514 stolen bases, 2,558 walks, and 2,227 runs scored; many of these totals rank among baseball’s all-time leaders.

However, Bond’s career has been questioned by some due to his suspected involvement in illegal steroid use. Although Bonds has never officially tested positive for steroids, his former personal trainer has been charged with supplying steroids, and Bonds’ name consistently pops up in continued steroid investigations.