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00:24Hi everybody, I'm Brian Kenney, and welcome to ESPN Classics' Top 5 Reasons You Can't
00:29Blame.
00:29There's no doubt Barry Bonds is one of the best baseball players ever, but in recent years
00:34fans and media types have ripped into the MVP for alleged steroid use in his assault
00:39on Henry Aaron's home run record.
00:41The Fuhrer is just the latest chapter in what has been a strained relationship with the
00:45fans, his fellow players, and the media.
00:48In this show, we'll give you the Top 5 Reasons Why You Can't Blame Barry Bonds for Being Barry
00:53Bonds.
00:54But first, let's take a look at his career and how he alienated so many people over
00:59the years.
01:07When Barry Bonds gets up to the plate, you stop what you're doing.
01:11You watch the guy back because you never know when you're going to be seeing history.
01:15Do you believe it?
01:16The home run record is gone!
01:18There's a new one!
01:20Two things about Barry Bonds are astounding.
01:22Number one, he never swings and misses.
01:25Number two, every ball he hits, he hits hard.
01:29That's the furthest ball I've ever seen hit.
01:32Barry Bonds is one of the top five players that's ever played this game.
01:36There's nothing on the ball field at this.
01:38Top five?
01:42He's fourth at worst.
01:43He's fourth minimum.
01:45This guy couldn't do.
01:47He's really, he's essentially a genius.
01:48Back!
01:51He played the game as hard as any.
01:53People forget, Barry Bonds could also play defense as well in the outfield, just like
01:59his godfather.
02:00Anybody that I've ever seen.
02:02And what a catch by Bonds!
02:04You look at the stolen bases, you look at the run score, the walks, the RBIs, the way
02:10he's played gold glove defense.
02:12We're looking at one of the greatest players that ever played the game.
02:16Deep and out of hand!
02:19No question in my mind that he's the greatest baseball player of my time.
02:23The statistics back up the claim.
02:25With seven MVPs, eight gold gloves, two batting titles, and more home runs than anyone in
02:32Major League history, Bonds has been in a league of his own.
02:40His crowning summer was 2001, when he set fire to the record book.
02:45His 8.63 average highest in history.
02:47And so were his 70 home runs.
02:51It was one of the greatest years anybody ever had, not just the home runs.
02:54Look at the RBIs.
02:55Look at the batting average.
02:56Add it up.
02:57Stretch rather than winding up.
02:59Oh, it's an attack!
03:00Deep to right!
03:01Clear!
03:02What do you want?
03:02He's missed the wire!
03:04There's a new record holder!
03:06The single season mark is 71!
03:10Barry Bonds has the title!
03:13Despite his mammoth accomplishments, Bonds has left a trail of burned bridges across the
03:18landscape of the American game.
03:19From Pittsburgh to San Francisco, and just about every Major League stop along the way,
03:25respect for his ability is clouded by resentment.
03:28Barry Bonds has offended a lot of baseball people and baseball fans.
03:37He had a chip on his shoulder, and I think his relationship with the media reflected that.
03:43Yeah, I've interviewed Barry Bonds.
03:44You know what?
03:45He's a jerk.
03:46He's condescending.
03:47He intimidates the hell out of you.
03:48When your closet's clean, then come clean somebody else's.
03:52I have heard and seen moments where I thought, uh, he should be slapped.
03:58You don't tell who the f*** comes to my face.
04:01Alright?
04:02You don't say it.
04:03I say it.
04:04Nobody should treat anybody like that.
04:06I don't care who you are.
04:07I remember seeing Bonds talking to about 30 reporters, and at one point, he looked up
04:12at all of us and said, you know what?
04:14You guys, if you've got something, then write it.
04:16Otherwise, shut the f*** up.
04:20And that was pretty much his attitude.
04:22And that's the thing about him.
04:24There's no.
04:25Like Barry Lamar Bonds.
04:28Joy.
04:29And how can there not be joy?
04:31You're playing baseball.
04:33And you're making amazing amounts of money.
04:36What's the problem?
04:38In 1991, Bonds hurled his abuse beyond the media.
04:42To his manager, Pittsburgh's Jim Leland.
04:44You know what?
04:45You're going to f***ing come over here.
04:47You're going to f***ing back to what you're doing, you're going to f***ing.
04:50And in 2002, TV cameras caught him trading punches with Giants teammate Jeff Kent.
04:57He wasn't the best teammate.
04:58He was a guy that would be off on his own.
05:00And his 0-4 performance was one that cast him over in the corner, away from the team,
05:05even if it was a ninth-inning victory.
05:08Barry Bonds has never lifted a team to a higher level.
05:10Never, ever, ever.
05:11A lot of guys I interviewed for the book said that he was a negative.
05:14Because he has this Darth Vader sort of presence in the corner of the clubhouse.
05:18For all his swagger and smack, Bonds usually delivered.
05:22Except when it counted most.
05:24He would talk a lot about everything he's going to do in the postseason, then he wouldn't do it.
05:29You know, really, to be honest, I feel more...
05:31He was terrible in the postseason until he got on the roids.
05:36Terrible.
05:39...this year than I did last year and the previous years.
05:42He pops it up.
05:44Bonds is 0-3 and 2-13.
05:47He sucked in the playoffs.
05:48I mean, he was horrible.
05:50There was always some excuse for why he wasn't producing him.
05:53Again, it was another thing that just drove his teammates crazy.
05:55Because there's nothing worse than a superstar without accountability.
05:59I'm concerned that this slump and so forth is going to continue the series.
06:03What slump?
06:04Same thing that happened last year.
06:05Who slump?
06:06You're slumped.
06:07You're batting slumped.
06:08I don't have a slump.
06:09What?
06:10He was abusive to fans.
06:12He batted 200 in the postseason during the 90s.
06:17Terrible.
06:18Abusive to teammates.
06:20Abusive to his manager.
06:21He didn't perform in the postseason.
06:23He had a very, very bad attitude.
06:26It was hard to like.
06:28And all that was tough enough.
06:29The San Francisco Chronicle sent shockwaves through the sports world on Tuesday,
06:35when it reported that Barry Bonds received steroids and human growth hormones from Balco.
06:40Some of the things he had accomplished should not have been accomplished.
06:44That is the cross he'll have to bear now for a long, long time.
06:48Even when faced with well-documented steroid allegations, Bonds has remained true to his antagonistic self,
06:55by blaming the messengers for the bad news.
06:58All you guys lied.
07:00All of y'all.
07:01You guys wanted to hurt me bad enough, you finally got there.
07:04How much testing do you welcome in baseball?
07:06They test me every day if they choose to.
07:08He takes zero responsibility.
07:10He pinpoints the media as the targets.
07:12I am convinced that he's convinced himself that he's done nothing wrong.
07:15I can't imagine what it must be like being the PR director for the San Francisco Giants.
07:19The cloud that's hung over Bonds for the past couple of years will hang over his head for the rest
07:24of his life.
07:25Everybody in baseball may not say this on camera, but they're counting the minutes till he goes away.
07:33You've seen the case against Bonds and how he has repeatedly rubbed people the wrong way.
07:38But before we give you our top five reasons why you can't blame him,
07:41here are a few reasons that didn't make the short list.
07:44We call them the best of the rest.
07:47Andy Van Slyke.
07:51Bonds' whole career in Pittsburgh can be defined in many ways by his jealousy of Andy Van Slyke.
07:56They signed Andy Van Slyke to a lucrative long-term contract for money not much less than it would have
08:02taken to keep Barry Bonds.
08:03But this guy couldn't run like Bonds.
08:06This guy didn't have Bonds' power.
08:08This guy was not a 5-2 player.
08:10Barry Bonds is a 5-2 player.
08:12After the Pirates signed center fielder Andy Van Slyke to a multi-year contract extension with a significant raise,
08:19Bonds won his first MVP award with a 3-0-1 batting average, 33 homers, and 114 RBIs.
08:27Although he clearly outperformed Van Slyke and everyone else in the league, Pittsburgh management refused to extend Bonds' contract.
08:35It stunned Barry.
08:37He was bitter. He saw other guys getting taken care of.
08:41Guys who certainly weren't as integral to the club as he was.
08:45He's the core. He's the star. He's the future Hall of Famer. He's the guy you've got to hold onto.
08:49Well, they made no effort to do that.
08:51Is there justifiable bitterness from Barry Bonds? No question about it, because they did not take care of their best
08:56player.
08:57And they almost used Andy Van Slyke a little bit to kind of shove it in Bonds' face.
09:01You know, we'll take care of this guy and we're not taking care of you.
09:04Another best of the rest. The postseason.
09:09Throughout his baseball career, Bonds has been blamed for his team's failures in the big games.
09:17I think Bonds shouldered more of the blame for that than other players, because people liked to rag on him
09:22and wanted to see him fail.
09:24I do think it was unfair that Bonds got labeled so negatively in that regard.
09:29Bonds pops it up. Unbelievable.
09:32He should not bear the brunt of responsibility because he hasn't won, because there were so many elements that go
09:38into a winning baseball team.
09:40And he felt this pressure. You know, he wanted to be great so badly that it only reminded him that
09:46he wasn't reaching the level he expected for himself.
09:49Goodbye, home run Bonds.
09:51In 2002, after batting a dismal 196 with one home run in five postseasons, Bonds exploded.
10:00Bonds. First World Series at bat, home run Bonds.
10:05That is crushed. Eighth home run of this postseason.
10:11Four of those homers were hit against the Angels in Bonds' first World Series.
10:15Up three games to two, the Giants were ahead 5-0 entering the bottom of the seventh.
10:21Redemption seemed to...
10:23He really should have gotten this championship in 0-2.
10:27...at hand.
10:28Nine outs away, in game six, up five runs.
10:33At the world half-run!
10:37Smokey!
10:39It's a one-run game.
10:41And the Anaheim Avengers have come all the way back and lead it 6-5.
10:47And then the next night, John Lackey beat them in the seventh game of the World Series.
10:51That says as much about Barry Bonds' career as anything else.
10:55Wasn't him pitching that night.
10:57If the Giants had won in seventh, we would be still talking about the greatest performance ever by one player
11:03in one World Series.
11:05He was waiting for that World Series celebration to really let go, and it never came.
11:10And I remember afterward he said, this whole time I had been praying that I would get to play in
11:15a World Series.
11:16I should have been praying that I could win the World Series.
11:18Certainly it had to be a crusher for Barry Bonds to get that close and to go home.
11:24Bringing up Barry.
11:26When people say, look at Barry Bonds, he's a horrible guy.
11:29I just say, what do you expect?
11:31Look at how the guy was raised before you just say, oh, he's a horrible human being.
11:34As the son of All-Star Giants outfielder Bobby Bonds and the godson of Hall of Famer Willie Mays,
11:40Barry Bonds learned early that it's okay to abuse the privileges of stardom.
11:45Barry Bonds was raised watching his dad, watching Willie Mays, the way they treated people.
11:50The way if you wanted a cup of coffee, you could get a clubhouse guy to give it to you
11:52in five seconds.
11:53The way if you walk into a store and they say, oh, Mr. Bonds, we'll give you 60% off
11:57that suit.
11:57You say, I want 80% off, and you get it.
11:59You know, he learned from this very early age that athletic stardom comes with entitlement.
12:04I think that he was absolutely brought up in the jock culture values of the clubhouse.
12:10You intimidate, you bully, and that's not enough to win, but also dominate and leave your enemy in the dust.
12:19It's so much more Playboy than it is Disney.
12:21He never had someone saying, you can't treat people that way.
12:23It was just the opposite.
12:24It was, you should treat people that way.
12:26If you want to be great, treat people like dirt.
12:28That's what he learned from his dad.
12:29That's what he learned from Willie Mays.
12:30There's no denying that.
12:32Did reason number five help convince you?
12:34If not, here's reason number four.
12:39The pen is mightier than the bat.
12:42There was a tremendous resentment on his part that he was not part of the national consciousness.
12:48It's kind of a dirty secret in the media.
12:50We're not supposed to base our opinions on how players treat us, but it's human nature and that's what the
12:57media does.
12:58Everyone would just basically leave me alone. I just want to play baseball here.
13:02We can react about baseball questions or we don't have a conversation.
13:06There's no need to address anything other than baseball. That's what I do, play baseball.
13:09Bond's unwillingness or perhaps inability to get along with the media has cost him untold credit in the bank of
13:16baseball history.
13:18He's done it. He has become the first man in the history of the game to hit as many as
13:24400 home runs and steal as many as 400 bases.
13:28Bonds is the first player to go 400-400. The fee gets on sports pages 5D, 60, 70. It's from
13:35page nowhere. He's furious about it.
13:37An even more glaring media snub occurred in 1999.
13:41Laughed off All-Century.
13:45People forget when the writers and the fans selected the All-Century team. Ken Griffey Jr. was on it and
13:52Barry Bonds was not.
13:54Sometimes I wonder what Bonds must have been thinking. There was some outcry that Roberto Clemente and Frank Robinson, neither
14:01of them made the team.
14:02But where was the outrage for the omission of Bonds? Where was the outrage? Through the 90s, he doubled the
14:10number of stolen bases that Griffey had.
14:13His home run rate was higher. Bonds beat him in slugging percentage. Bonds beat him in on-base percentage.
14:19If I am Barry Bonds, I'm going to be at my end of the rope as far as wondering what
14:24I need to do to get the acknowledgement of what I have meant to this game.
14:29And this is kind of the irony of it all because now everybody says, oh my god, what's going to
14:34happen to all our precious numbers?
14:36Well, if he really cared that much about numbers, Barry should have been carrying the banner of baseball the whole
14:43time.
14:43So it wasn't a meritocracy. It really had to do with kissing butt.
14:47And kissing the butt of sports writers.
14:52The last 65 years of the 20th century, Barry Bonds was the only three-time MVP who played more than
15:0510 years.
15:08Last 65 years of the 20th century, I wasn't going to tell Century King.
15:20The summer of 98.
15:23Swarm on, belted!
15:27Barry Bonds sat on the sidelines in 98 and watched Maguire and Sosa go after it.
15:32Game by game, home run by home run.
15:36Breaking!
15:37Sosa's the pitch.
15:39And Sosa.
15:42Mark hitting 70 home runs and lifting his son up at home plate.
15:46They stopped the game and they gave him a car or whatever they gave him and they paraded him around
15:50the field and it was just like the greatest moment.
15:52I'll never forget that.
15:53We come out of the summer of 1998, the most spectacular baseball summer in our lifetime.
15:59Here was Barry Bonds, you know, in a shadow, in a corner.
16:03He watches the 98 season unfold and is perhaps disillusioned by seeing Maguire hailed as the savior of the game.
16:11Bonds never got that kind of attention.
16:13I think part of it was his rage at not being included in that sentence.
16:22Maguire and Sosa.
16:24Mark and Sammy.
16:26Sosa, Maguire. Sosa, Maguire.
16:27There was never Sosa, Maguire and Bonds.
16:29I think he felt that that was a motivation.
16:32I'm gonna get to that level.
16:33I'm gonna show people that I'm as good or I'm the best ever.
16:37I'm better than Maguire. I'm better than Sosa.
16:45Bonds!
16:46Denied for years the headlines he had earned on the field,
16:49Bonds emerged in the years after the summer of 98 as a new player,
16:53bent on breaking down the barriers that had kept him from his rightful place
16:57at the top of baseball's pantheon of greatness.
17:00I can understand what Barry Bonds was thinking at the end of the 1998 season.
17:05Here are these two guys, clearly inferior players to him,
17:09are getting this attention, getting this credit for having saved baseball.
17:12Barry Bonds got cheated.
17:14He deserved the hype.
17:15Maguire and Sosa are going crazy.
17:17Bonds is seeing this happen.
17:18He's furious about it, enraged about it.
17:20Barry Bonds was simply angry about what was going on.
17:24Barry must have felt betrayed by the game.
17:27How could they have let this redheaded meatball become Mr. Baseball
17:33when he, for so many years, had been toiling so hard and being so great?
17:42With three strong reasons in the books, here now is reason number two.
17:48The intentional walk.
17:50Intentionally walk for the 51st time this season.
17:54I'm not letting Barry Bonds beat me.
17:56I'll pitch to everybody else. I'm not pitching to Barry.
17:59As Bonds drew ever closer to the blessed home run trinity of Aaron,
18:03Ruth, and Mays, he received more walks per at bat than any player in any season in the history of
18:09the game.
18:10I mean, they just wanted to come in and just say, you know what?
18:12The game plan starts with walking Barry Bonds.
18:15We don't want to pitch pitch to him. We don't even want to deal with him.
18:17To me, that's not the essence of competition. The essence of competition is, we're going to challenge him.
18:21And if he hits a home run, he hits a home run. That's what happens with great players.
18:25One pitch. Cardinals pitch to him, and Barry Bonds makes him pay.
18:31200 intentional walks. It's ridiculous.
18:33And his daughters in the stands, please pitch to my daddy.
18:37It's almost as if they've invented something new for baseball.
18:41It's called the Bonds. You know, the guy got a Bonds last night.
18:44Oh, what was that? Well, the Bonds is when the catcher goes like this.
18:47Barry Bonds is going into the clubhouse in between bats.
18:50Willie Mays is in there saying, what is going on here?
18:53And he said, I have to hit so much in the cage because I never swing.
18:57I take intentional walks. I never swing.
19:00And because he had to hit so much during the game, when he wasn't at the plate, he got a
19:05bad back.
19:09Okay, you walk somebody when first base is open, but they walk in with bases loaded.
19:16And look at this. With the bases loaded, they're going to force in a run with an intentional walk.
19:22I've never seen this.
19:24I just thought that that violated the spirit of competition in a way that I found offensive.
19:29There was just no excuse for not pitching to Bonds.
19:31And they're just doing it because, out of spite, they don't want to see a guy swing the bat.
19:35There were opposing managers who hate him, who say, I can't stand the guy.
19:40Screw him. Walk him.
19:42He said, you know what? I used to hate to come to the ballpark.
19:45Barry Bonds should be frustrated by the intentional walks. It would drive you crazy.
19:48You get paid to hit. You love to hit. The guy loves to hit.
19:51He told Maddox, he said, you know, he said, if you pitch to me, I won't steal.
19:55He said, if you walk me, I'm going to steal.
20:01Lance Armstrong.
20:02Lance Armstrong in France is accused every single year of doping.
20:07He is probably as suspected in that country of cheating as Barry is in our country.
20:14Yet the media and the public measure Bonds and Armstrong by different yardsticks.
20:20Lance Armstrong, American icon.
20:22Barry Bonds, American villain.
20:25Americans respond with outrage whenever we read another report by a French newspaper that Lance Armstrong was caught doping and
20:32we say, well, you know, wait till he tests positive first.
20:35The same rules don't seem to apply here for Barry Bonds.
20:39If you were Barry Bonds, you do have to look around a little bit and say, why only me?
20:44I do think there has been a difference in the coverage and Barry Bonds could point to that to some
20:48degree.
20:50This difference in coverage has only added to Bonds' frustration.
20:54All of y'all in a story or whatever have lied.
20:58Should you have an asterisk behind your name?
21:01As we and the media wrote about this more, he felt like we were trying to take something away from
21:07him.
21:07To have him be the focal point and draw the disdain of so much of this controversy, it really is
21:13not fair.
21:14And I think that's angered him.
21:16Because it has not been proven in a court of law, it has not been proven through a drug test.
21:19We have to look at him and we have to assume that he's innocent of using steroids because that's how
21:26the legal system in our country works.
21:28I think it would be a very dangerous thing to overlook that.
21:37You know, sometimes we have a slam dunk case, other times it's an uphill climb, but everyone deserves a defense.
21:43Hopefully we've challenged you to take a look at Barry Bonds in a different light.
21:46I'm Brian Kenney.
21:47Thanks for watching.
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