Barry Bonds had a profound impact on the sport of baseball. For the 1985 MLB Draft, Barry Bonds was drafted sixth overall, and he made it to “The Show” in just 115 games of minor league baseball.
There is still a big fat asterisk next to his name, despite the fact that he played 22 years, made 14 All-Star teams, won 12 Silver Sluggers, seven National League MVP Awards, and eight Gold Gloves, set several MLB records and blasted 762 home runs.
As a result of BALCO, elite athletes who received anabolic steroids, known as “The Cream,” were arrested. Bill Romanowski, an NFL All-Pro, Marion Jones, an Olympic gold medalist, and Barry Bonds were all in attendance.
When Bonds hired Greg Anderson as his personal trainer in 1998, things began to seem suspiciously suspicious.
Athlete Barry Bonds has admitted to doping. There are doubts about whether or not he should be considered one of the greatest players of all time because of this.
It doesn’t matter what the player did; his stats are unassailable. Because he has an unfair advantage due to his use of steroids, however, the player should be penalized.
Barry Bonds Before Steroids
Before he ever used steroids, Barry Bonds was an excellent baseball player. After hitting.290 with 411 home runs in 1998, it was clear that he was more than just mediocre.
Afraid of his rising star status, no one dared even approach him with a business proposal.
Arizona Diamondbacks intentionally walked Barry Bonds in the ninth inning of a 1998 game with the bases loaded.
In the end, the team decided they were willing to risk losing one run in order to take a chance with the next batter rather than risk losing four runs and losing the game.
Even though opponents were afraid of Barry at this point in his career, it didn’t last long as other players began to outshine him and he started to slow down in the late 1990s as other players were nipping at his heels.
There were many steroid users in baseball at this period; some of the most powerful players relied on the drug to maintain their relevance.
However, steroid use is outlawed in the vast majority of sports, and the athletes in question were dosing up on a variety of substances to avoid drug tests.
Well, it worked for a time, but eventually, cheating would be exposed, and Barry was at the forefront of the steroid-related prosecution.
Barry Bonds After Steroids
For those who don’t know, a steroid is a medicine that speeds up muscle growth and can be used indefinitely as long as it is taken in cycles.
Steroids cause the muscles on top to break down, allowing for the growth of new muscles.
Unlike the typical muscle growth process, in which the muscle’s belly is ruptured to allow new tissues to form and the muscle grows, this method does not require this.
As a result of taking steroids, a person is able to work out for longer periods of time and recover more quickly. For these reasons and others, gamers who use the substance have an unfair advantage over non-users.
Professional baseball players must be able to recuperate rapidly, and Barry Bonds took full advantage of his steroid use to do just that. Players in the sport travel a lot and play games directly after each other all the time.
Barry had grown enormously by 2002. Huge muscles and great strength allowed him to consistently hit the ball into the stands and do it again and over again.
This had never happened before, but until the BALCO controversy surfaced in 2003, everyone just chalked it up to the player’s immense talent. Because Barry lied to the grand jury, he became the focus of the inquiry.
Accusations have been made that Barry’s personal trainer, Greg Anderson, gave him steroids. It appeared that Barry’s trainer was thrown under the bus when the grand jury quizzed him about an organic oil balm that turned out to be steroid-laced.
As it turned out, the player had not used steroids since 1998. Even his greatest achievements have been clouded by drug addiction since then.
Barry Bonds Stats: Takeaways
Before the age of performance-enhancing drugs, Barry Bonds was a prodigious home run hitter, as seen by the numbers.
By the time he was in his mid-30s, he was in desperate need of improvements to keep up with his legendary position.
When the steroids scandal broke in 2007, Barry Bonds was a major player. His trainer had him believe he was taking flaxseed oil and arthritis cream.
For his power-hitting, though, he was taking performance-enhancing medications.
In other words, the “Home Run King” title is still up for grabs. Or does his 762 have a taint? Without the aid of steroids, he would not have been able to reach the heights he did. He was already beginning to notice the aging process.
The steroid era could have rescued baseball at the time, therefore Major League Baseball did nothing to stop it.
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Andrew Walker is the Chief Editor at “Landscape Insight” and has a background in journalism. He has been writing for Landscape Insight on a wide range of Entertainment topics including Celebrity Net Worth, Controversies, Web Series & Movie Updates, etc. When he isn’t writing, Andrew enjoys playing video games and baseball. You can reach Andrew at – andrew@landscapeinsight.com or by Our website Contact Us Page.
