Sports Radio around here is nothing but Bonds bashing. Since I turned my back on Baseball after the last strike I’m not sure why all the venom.
So, why is Barry Bonds so hated?
Because he’s an arrogant punk who plays for a team that deserves to be sunk in the deepest part of the ocean, never to surface!
Note: As a life-long Dodger fan, the above statement is A) my personal biased opinion, and B) true. 
You act like an ass long enough, people eventually catch on with the realization that you are one.
He’s a professional who treats the game with respect–which in part means he likes his privacy both before and after the games. He rarely gives game day interviews. In turn, sports reporters, lacking a quote, talk about how horrible it is that a professional ball player would actually like to prepare, mentally as well as physically, for an upcoming game, or would need to relax after one. Of course, they don’t say that. They say he’s arrogant. They say he doesn’t care about the fans. They say he’s a diva. Having some class, Bonds does not rush to his own defense. He is rightfully proud of his skills and talent, but he doesn’t often compare himself to others, and he always, always gives his team mates their fair credit. He cares enough about the fans to play his best in each and every game, he neither grandstands nor slacks off due to some precieved slight or salary dispute. (He also, very quietly, give generously to charity–both money and time–and to his community.) He does demand some extra attention and benefits that not all other players on the team may get, but his a valuable commodity, and the demands I have heard about ae reasonable.
He doesn’t care about being a sports personality. He cares about being the best ball player he can be. and that’s enough for this fan.
The only reason a person can be a lifetime Dodgers fan is that hot southern California sun bakes their brains, and renders them incapable of truly appreciating baseball. The only reason to go to Dodgers’ Stadium is that they serve a decent white wine.
… although he sure doesn’t knock himself out trudging to first base, does he? 
The last game I watched, in fact, there was one at-bat where he most certainly could have reached safely if he hadn’t been moving along at a gentle trot.
But I basically agree with everything you’ve said. He no doubt realizes that he could reap unbelievable public-relations benefits if he’d stop treating the press corps like dirt, but good public relations just isn’t a top priority. I can dig that.
Grounded out to right, didn’t he?
I respect what he’s done, but I can’t like his attitude, for reasons already mentioned.
To be fair, the fact that he plays for San Fransisco doesn’t help my attitude, because I’m still bitter about '89.
MHO, Sami
All who wear the Giants colors are in league with Satan.
Every Dodger fan knows this.
This was a joke, right? A parody of some sort? Barry Bonds doesn’t grandstand? Barry “Mr. Steroid” Bonds treats the game with respect? Bonds doesn’t slack off? I’ve seen some of the leisurely jogs he takes out of the box or after fly balls.
He is the greatest position player of our generation, arguably of all time. He is also the biggest jackass, a self-absorbed diva who (IMO) has tainted his record because of illegal performance-enhancing drug abuse. Honestly, your “St. Barry” description would be laughable, I’d wager, even to Bonds’ defenders. They typically employ the “Well, he’s not really as bad as his jerkish behavior suggests” strategy.
Why is Bonds so hated? You can disagree with the reasons, but they’re pretty commonly known. I got 4,510 hits on Google for “Barry Bonds jerk,” if you still need to do some research. Here’s a nice quote, if it helps:
I’m sure there are several hundred more quotes or tidbits you can find if you’re so inclined. In the realm of sports, Barry Bonds is singularly unlikable.
I got 263,000 hits for george bush genius.
What’s your point?
The steroids bit is absurd. Bonds was disliked BEFORE any of this steroids nonsense, and he is hated far, far more than other players who supposedly used steroids, like Sosa, McGwire, Canseco, Giambi, etc. It’s quite obvious it’s not steroids that caused the hatred for Bonds.
Bonds is hated for two reasons:
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He’s geniunely a surly guy.
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He interviews poorly.
Bonds has has problems relating with people since long before he played for the Giants; he got into a shoving match with Jim Leyland when he was with the Pirates, and was well known then to be a standoffish, morose person. So that’s old hat.
Of course, people like that will be well treated by the press if they interview well, which Bonds does not; he doesn’t make himself widely available for interviews, and he’s honest and doesn’t toe the party line when he does interview. By and large sportswriters will write positive stories for players who are good interviews and give them lots of info, and will write negative stories about players who do not. Fans will generally assume that whatever sportswriters tell them is true.
The perfect example of this is the column Rick Reilly wrote about Bonds in 2001, which Straocaster links to, which essentially casts Bonds as Satan mostly on the word of his teammate Jeff Kent… who as it turns out was the team’s primo jerk, but interviewed well and so got a positive review from sportswriters. The column has at least four outright lies, but what’s particularly telling is this line:
Let me translate this into English for you: “Barry Bonds pays a nutritionist to put together special meals for him to keep himself in top shape so he can stay at the top of his game. And that’s BAD!!!”
Honestly, who can read this and take it seriously?
You can debate the merits of Bonds allegedly not taking the team bus (the statement that the entire team takes the bus together except Bonds was a lie, but oh well) but let me ask you this; how often did you hear about how Cal Ripken Jr. wouldn’t even FLY with his team and often did not even stay in the same hotels, and hardly ever even associated with them? Never? I thought so. The two players were treated completely differently despite behaving the same way. One was a gregarious, well-spoken white guy, and the other was a quiet, standoffish black guy. So one was cast as The Throwback Hero, the other as The Angry Black Man. The complex nature of truth is too hard for sportswriters to deal with or some fans to bother trying to understand.
Heh heh. Good one.
First, Barry Bonds isn’t despised, he isn’t hated, and nobody really loathes him. But nobody likes him, either. When he passes Babe Ruth and Henry Aaron, he’ll get polite applause, but nothing more. And that’s as it should be.
While there’s SOME truth to the assertion that Barry Bonds gets worse press than he deserves because he’s surly and not very talkative around the media, let’s not mince words: Bonds has EARNED his bad reputation, and then some.
To use Rick Jay’s comparison as a jumping off point, I’ll compare Bonds to Eddie Murray. Now, Murray was also very surly and uncooperative with the press, and that may have cost him an award here and there. But even sensitive reporters will tell you that Eddie Murray was well-liked by his teammates, well-respected by the managers he worked for, and was invariably regarded as a good person by people who really knew him.
That has NEVER been the case with Barry Bonds, who was despised by teammates in Pittsburgh. Bonds has always been his own worst enemy (he did everything possible to alienate his fellow Pirates, but regularly sobbed to Jim Leyland that nobody liked him, and he couldn’t understand why!).
Eddie Murray has hundreds of defenders, hundreds of people who’ll swear that, “Sure, Eddie’s a tough guy to get to know, but once you know him, he’s wonderful, really.” There is NOBODY who’s ever come to Barry Bonds’ defense that way.
Now, that doesn’t make Barry unique. There have been MANY stellar ballplayers over the years who’ve been surly cusses, and who’ve been intensely disliked even by people who admired him. Millions of people respected Ted Williams as a ballplayer, but practically nobody liked him, even in Boston (which is probably one reason he famously refused a curtain call or even a tip of the hat after his career-ending homer). Millions of people respected Steve Carlton and Mike Marshall, but NOBODY liked them. And that seemed to be fine with them.
Look, there’s no law that says only pleasant, gregarious people can play baseball. Introverts or even jackasses are allowed to play, too! If you don’t WANT to interact with fans or the media, if you don’t CARE whether fans like you, feel free to ignore them or treat them with disdain. There’s no law that says you have to be nice, there’s no law that says you have to sign autographs, and there’s no law against being a jerk. But you CAN’T treat the fans and the press with disdain and still expect to be idolized.
Despite their surliness, Williams, Carlton and Murray got into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot, and rightly so. And when they were inducted, they got the polite smattering of applause their on-field accomplishments merited. But nobody loved them. And there’s no reason anybody should have. If that was okay with them, there’s no reason it should bother us.
I think it’s bizarre. I’m a Giants fan, from the Bay Area, but I live in Chicago. In the Bay Area, of course, he’s pretty well-loved. There were some rough moments at first - I think he doesn’t get on well with a couple local sportswriters - but in general, we adore him. I’ve seen him be totally friendly and cheerful at press conferences. He goes on KNBR (Giants’ flagship station, all sports radio) and talks to the talk show hosts. For a while he even did a pregame show before every game. He’s a good dad who loves his kids, he banters with the fans in the bleachers from time to time, gives to charity, whatever. He is also the best in the world at what he does, so extra bonus points for that. Who cares if he has a fancy chair by his locker?
But when I listen to sports radio here in Chicago, it’s like he’s the anti-christ or something. Give me a freaking break. Of course, it’s also possible that Chicago sports fans are completely histrionic. Hey, now that you mention it…
P.S. Dodger fans can kiss it. Go do the wave or something.
Absurd? Oh, bullshit. I never argued that Bonds was liked prior to the steroid allegations, that this charge was the turning point that changed him from a sweet guy into one perceived as a jerk. He was a prick before the steroid abuse. He is a prick after. It is just one more character deficiency we can point to, that’s all. Your point is absurd, if you’re really looking for that attribute.
Yes, it’s well esablished that Bonds is a jerk-off. Are you arguing that since this is old news that it isn’t apropos?
Oh, if only I could grasp these complex issues like you. Please! If Ripken was a prick but was somehow given a pass, that’s a discussion unto itself. It doesn’t make Bonds a good guy. He interviews poorly? He’s surly? Jesus Christ, you’re making my argument. I’m not saying he’s Hitler, I’m saying he’s a jerk–i.e., someone who is, oh, unusually surly and abusive in his communication. Read some of those “poor interviews.” He is antagonistic and insulting. That generally defines someone who is not well liked. Why anyone would rush to defend this smacked ass is beyond me.
Again, don’t let me overstate this (this is why I said in my last post “In the realm of sports”). I’m not saying he’s the anti-Christ. I’m saying he’s a self-absorbed boor. Honestly, if you met someone who interacted the way Bonds does at a party, if he was one of your co-workers, if you next door neighbor behaved that way, how would you characterize him? Honestly? You’d think he was a jerk. Why? Because he’s acting like one. Why not Bonds? Bonds is a jerk. Period. A great baseball player, but a world-class dickhead. If others are not held to this standard, that is unfair. It doesn’t make Bonds a good guy, though, not unless you accept logical fallacies.
He shot my Paw!
- ThreeLeggedDog
Jim Bouton speaks well of Mike Marshall in Ball Four… then again, it’s Bouton.
But nobody liked Bouton, either!
You mean it isn’t simply because he plays for the Giants? That is enough for me
Journalists often dislike him because he won’t talk to everybody who wants to interview him. If he did that, he’d never have time to sleep, eat, or take batting practice.
You may have a false impression because there are boos wherever he plays. These are boos for the pitchers who walk him, because fans want to see him hit. He has collected a record number of walks.
My dislike of Bonds is purely personal. I spent a good chunk of my adult life in the Bay Area, and still follow the 49ers, Raiders, As, and Giants.
Nonetheless, I find it difficult to say anything positive about a guy who asks a judge to reduce his child support payments during the 94-95 strike.