Perrotto: Clearing up a False Barry Bonds Narrative

The bridge between Barry Bonds and the Pittsburgh Pirates is gradually being rebuilt.

It started in 2007 when the Pirates gave a video tribute to their former star left fielder between games of a doubleheader with the San Francisco Giants at PNC Park. A week earlier, Bonds became baseball’s all-time home run leader.

On opening day in 2014, Bonds was at PNC Park to present the 2013 National League Most Valuable Player award to Andrew McCutchen. Bonds was the last Pirates player to win the MVP award in 1992.

The bridge should be completed on Saturday when Bonds is inducted into the Pirates Hall of Fame before the game against the Cincinnati Reds at PNC Park.

It will be interesting to see what the fans’ reaction is to Bonds. He broke into the major leagues with the Pirates in 1986, also was the NL MVP in 1990 and led them to their last three division titles from 1990-92.

Bonds wasn’t the most beloved player during his time in Pittsburgh. He could be rude, arrogant and aloof and his moodiness turned off some fans.

In fairness, he could also be charming, charismatic and insightful when the mood struck him – which wasn’t often enough.

Bonds played his last game with the Pirates in 1992 but one false narrative about his time in Pittsburgh exists 32 years after he played his last game for the franchise. The story goes that Bonds hated Pittsburgh and couldn’t wait to leave the Pirates.

That wasn’t the case, regardless of how some media members and fans still want to spin it three-plus decades later. People might forget that Bonds made Moon Township his year-round home during most of his Pirates’ tenure.

I also know from experience that Bonds wasn’t as eager to leave Pittsburgh, as many fans assumed.

I interviewed Bonds one night after a game in August. Just for the heck of it, I asked Bonds what it would take for him to stay in Pittsburgh.

I figured there was less than a 1% chance that Bonds would answer the question. Yet, he looked straight at me and said, “Five years and $25 million and I’ll sign tomorrow.”

It would have easily been the most lucrative contract in baseball history then. I was pretty sure the Pirates wouldn’t meet that asking price but I called general manager Ted Simmons anyway.

I relayed to Simmons what Bonds had told me and he seemed pleasantly surprised. Simmons said, “I’ll call the boss, see what he says and call you back.”

The boss was club president Mark Sauer. He had been brought to Pittsburgh the previous winter by the public/private consortium that owned the team with the mission of getting the franchise’s finances under control.

The phone call between Simmons and Sauer couldn’t have lasted long. Five minutes after we had hung up, Simmons called back and said, “No dice.”

Bonds played out the season with the Pirates and was part of the gut-wrenching Game 7 loss to the Atlanta Braves in the National League Championship Series.

Bonds signed a six-year, $43.75-million contract with his hometown San Francisco Giants at the Winter Meetings that December. He set the major-league career record with 762 home runs while winning seven NL MVP awards.

Meanwhile, it has been three decades of mostly ugliness for the Pirates. They haven’t won a division title since ‘92 and their next winning season did not come until 2013. The 20 straight losing seasons remain a North American major professional sports record.

Anytime I run into Bonds on the baseball trail, he always fondly remembers his time with the Pirates and regrets that ownership didn’t keep the nucleus of those championship teams together.

Bonds’ induction will allow the fans to remember the good times Saturday – and maybe wistfully wonder about what might have been.