Barry Bonds Admits To Being An Asshole During His Playing Career

Barry Bonds admits he was to blame for his negative portrayal while playing. https://t.co/ae9H4pWeOT pic.twitter.com/VhlGJ8lnqI

— Baseball Tonight (@BBTN) June 1, 2016

Nothing like developing a little self awareness 10 years after your playing career is over to realize you should've treated the media better. It really shouldn't be that hard for professional athletes to do. Sure everybody has an ego and it must suck to get asked stupid questions after a tough loss or bad performance but it's part of the job and worth the millions of dollars many athletes make. All that being said give Bonds credit for acknowledging it. In his first year as hitting coach for the Marlins he has come back to baseball with a much better attitude and helped lead them to a surprising 28-25 start.

Bonds had problems with the media long before he took steroids. In the article link above he said it started early in his career with the Pirates when he was too young to handle the pressure of carrying the entire team. The negative stigma around him carried over when he went to the Giants and worsened when federal prosecutors spent nearly a decade saying he lied about never taking steroids. The case was dropped last summer, which has led to Bonds being able to reconstruct his image. 

It's a shame that Bonds' accomplishments aren't celebrated because 10 years after his retirement most fans forget how truly dominant he was. In addition to holding the home run record he won seven MVPs, including four straight from 2001-2004. He was the most feared hitter in the history of baseball. In 1998 he was intentionally walked in the ninth inning of a two run game with the bases loaded. In 2004 he was intentionally walked a record 120 times. In 2015 only two players walked a total of that many times. Bonds finished that season with 232. 

Despite the records Bonds will never be able to rid himself of the steroid use. His only chance at the Hall of Fame is if years from now society, and more importantly the voters, view PEDs differently. There's also the case that he was a HOF player before he took steroids. What people forget about Bonds was his athleticism in the 90's. He won eight gold gloves in a nine year stretch and is one of just four players to have a season hitting 40 homers and stealing 40 bases. He is also the only member of the 500 home run club to steal 500 bases.