Barry Bonds - Regret

[redseat]

Barry Bonds regrets treating people poorly during playing career

"Me. It's on me. I'm to blame for the way I was [portrayed], because I was a dumbass. I was straight stupid, and I'll be the first to admit it," said Bonds, nodding in the visitors' dugout at Turner Field last week, when he was in Atlanta during his first year as the hitting coach for the Miami Marlins. "I mean, I was just flat-out dumb. What can I say? I'm not going to try to justify the way I acted toward people. I was stupid. It wasn't an image that I invented on purpose. It actually escalated into that, and then I maintained it. You know what I mean? It was never something that I really ever wanted. No one wants to be treated like that, because I was considered to be a terrible person. You'd have to be insane to want to be treated like that. That makes no sense.

 

[redseat]

"Because I was a dumbass" - Love that part!

 

[Bmurph]

at least he's owned up to something

 

[Villain]

Atta boy Barry. I still hate your guts and think you should be in the Hall of Fame.

 

[Omar 382]

I never had any personal hate for Bonds. I hate him for being a part of the Pirates, Giants, and Marlins' organizations, but I always was too amazed at his production to have any personal hate.

 

[Erie Warrior]

So, still not admitting to PEDs.

 

[dredinis21]

So, still not admitting to PEDs.

Why should he? There is nothing to gain from it. It's not like the hypocritical baseball writers showing sudden bullshit moral outrage will suddenly vote him into the HOF. Court of public opinion has already found him guilty, what positive comes of it?

 

[broncosmitty]

Best baseball player I've ever seen.

Not the best decision maker though.

Glad he's back in baseball tbh.

 

[Mondo Jay]

Barry Bonds regrets treating people poorly during playing career

"Me. It's on me. I'm to blame for the way I was [portrayed], because I was a dumbass. I was straight stupid, and I'll be the first to admit it," said Bonds, nodding in the visitors' dugout at Turner Field last week, when he was in Atlanta during his first year as the hitting coach for the Miami Marlins. "I mean, I was just flat-out dumb. What can I say? I'm not going to try to justify the way I acted toward people. I was stupid. It wasn't an image that I invented on purpose. It actually escalated into that, and then I maintained it. You know what I mean? It was never something that I really ever wanted. No one wants to be treated like that, because I was considered to be a terrible person. You'd have to be insane to want to be treated like that. That makes no sense.

Because... Roids (known to alter moods and magnify) I wonder if he carried around some guilt because of what he was doing. Handled that by being a total asshole... Deep down, he probably knew he was cheating himself and the game (I hope).

Best hitter I ever personally saw though (juiced to the gills it was still fucking amazing) Kinda sad he turned himself into a freak when he was already an amazing baseball player. I know he hated the attention the roided freaks- Big Mac and Sosa got during their juice-fest-home-run-duel they had in '98. He was head and shoulders above those guys before the juice.

 

[broncosmitty]

Because... Roids (known to alter moods and magnify) I wonder if he carried around some guilt because of what he was doing. Handled that by being a total asshole... Deep down, he probably knew he was cheating himself and the game (I hope).

Best hitter I ever personally saw though (juiced to the gills it was still fucking amazing) Kinda sad he turned himself into a freak when he was already an amazing baseball player. I know he hated the attention the roided freaks- Big Mac and Sosa got during their juice-fest-home-run-duel they had in '98. He was head and shoulders above those guys before the juice.

I think he was already prone to be a dick towards the media before he ever even started juicing. (Whenever that was.). His dad and Willie Mays instilled in him a reluctance to open up. And I don't blame them for that. But Barry took it to another level. And I think you're right that his own personal guilt had to fuel the persona he bought into.

It is a shame he completely transformed himself. Dude was already the best player in the world.

Aside from his home run record, he might have hurt his overall numbers. No way he would've went unsigned if he was blackballed for juicing.

 

[dredinis21]

I think he was already prone to be a dick towards the media before he ever even started juicing. (Whenever that was.). His dad and Willie Mays instilled in him a reluctance to open up. And I don't blame them for that. But Barry took it to another level. And I think you're right that his own personal guilt had to fuel the persona he bought into.

It is a shame he completely transformed himself. Dude was already the best player in the world.

Aside from his home run record, he might have hurt his overall numbers. No way he would've went unsigned if he was blackballed for juicing.

To add to this, he was always around the Giants organization as a kid. He watched as the media outed his dad as an alcoholic and publicly destroy him. He watched as the media reported and outed Mays' marital issues. The same media that buried all the stories of Mantle on rampages well into the AM. He went into baseball already skeptical of the media and the media did themselves no favors in trying to knock him down a peg.

To SF fans, he was an asshole, but he was OUR asshole and he always showed SF love. I was at the first game this season where the Marlins came to town. He got a 3 minute standing ovation. THREE TIMES. Wearing those fucked up teal and orange Marlins colors. When they showed a video montage, the place went berserk and chants of BARRY-BARRY-BARRY went well over a couple of minutes.

Best I have ever seen. Roids or no roids. He was INTENTIONALLY WALKED WITH THE FUCKING BASES LOADED for crissakes. The Dbacks decided they would rather gift the Giants a run then allow Barry to destroy them completely. In a sport that is largely graded on how much or little you FAIL.

Maybe this is ball washing, but I don't really fucking care. The dude was overall good to Giants fans, was amazing to watch, and was by far the best player of our generation. People who think his career was about the roids need to actually do some homework. His first year in SF in 1993, he hit 46 jacks, drove in 123, batted something like .336, swiped 29 bags, scored 129 runs, walked 126 times (169 if you count his IBB) while only striking out 76 times, OPS 1.136, OPS+ 206, and weighed like 190 lbs wet and wearing boots.

I'm off my soapbox. You don't like Barry Bonds because of some bullshit you heard from some slapdick in the media who decided to cry in the rags because Bonds hurt his feelings and declined him an interview ? Go fuck yourself. He was fucking amazing.

I hope he's allowed in the HOF and this is his HOF speech in it's entirety:

 

[Podunkparte]

Maybe this is ball washing, but I don't really fucking care. The dude was overall good to Giants fans, was amazing to watch, and was by far the best player of our generation. People who think his career was about the roids need to actually do some homework. His first year in SF in 1993, he hit 46 jacks, drove in 123, batted something like .336, swiped 29 bags, scored 129 runs, walked 126 times (169 if you count his IBB) while only striking out 76 times, OPS 1.136, OPS+ 206, and weighed like 190 lbs wet and wearing boots.

I'm glad you're happy about Barry and all but "by far?" Ken Griffey Jr would like to offer you his Hall of Fame resume. You might think Bonds was better, fine, but don't pretend there's no argument.

 

[dredinis21]

I'm glad you're happy about Barry and all but "by far?" Ken Griffey Jr would like to offer you his Hall of Fame resume. You might think Bonds was better, fine, but don't pretend there's no argument.

Jr's durability issues bites into his greatest of a generation talk.

 

[SlinkyRedfoot]

I'm glad you're happy about Barry and all but "by far?" Ken Griffey Jr would like to offer you his Hall of Fame resume. You might think Bonds was better, fine, but don't pretend there's no argument.

There is only an argument if you're from Seattle. Everywhere else, it's Bonds, hands down.

 

[Erie Warrior]

Why should he? There is nothing to gain from it. It's not like the hypocritical baseball writers showing sudden bullshit moral outrage will suddenly vote him into the HOF. Court of public opinion has already found him guilty, what positive comes of it?

Good point. He might as well keep on being a lying cheating cock bag.

 

[Indrid Cold]

Before the roids, Bill James wrote a brief essay about hypothetically trying to pick between Ted Williams and Barry Bonds to play LF...he never really made a choice, but pointed out that Bonds had some major advantages on defense (despite a mediocre arm) and on the bases that had to be seriously considered. Ted also had the advantage of playing in a league that was only approaching full integration towards the end of his career, the AL took a lot longer than the NL to warm to black players.
Barry always came across as an intelligent man, but reading thousands of words about the man has convinced me that he was a grade A prick from childhood...it's not like he was just a prick to the media. Like his fellow prick Randy Johnson, he has mellowed with age and is starting to learn how to make friends. As I think may have been said about the raging asshole Yankee Bob Meusel as his career was winding down and he started to behave like a human being, "He's learning to say hello when it's time to say goodbye."

 

[SlinkyRedfoot]

Good point. He might as well keep on being a lying cheating cock bag.

Meh. Back when he was a lying cheating cock bag, I suspect as much as 90% of baseball players were also lying cheating cock bags.

I don't like steroids, and I'd like to see the game rid of them (I still think maybe 70% of players are on something), but I'm not going to scapegoat Bonds just because he was the best player to take PEDs.

 

[StanMarsh51]

I'm glad you're happy about Barry and all but "by far?" Ken Griffey Jr would like to offer you his Hall of Fame resume. You might think Bonds was better, fine, but don't pretend there's no argument.

The gap in offense is too large to give Griffey any kind of reasonable argument.

Shoot, even in the '90s (when he was 'supposedly' clean), Bonds was a superior offensive player by a decent margin and probably better overall.

 

[SlinkyRedfoot]

The gap in offense is too large to give Griffey any kind of reasonable argument.

Shoot, even in the '90s (when he was 'supposedly' clean), Bonds was a superior offensive player by a decent margin and probably better overall.

It's a joke to even try to compare the two.

Career Slash
KG - .284/.370/.538/.907/136
BB - .298/.444/.607/1.051/182

Career SB/CS/SB%
KG - 184/69/72.7%
BB - 514/141/78.5%

Hardware
KG - AS-13 / GG-9 / SS-7 / MVP-1
BB - AS-14 / GG-8 / SS-12 / MVP-7

After doing this little bit of research, I'm convinced that @Podunkparte is Ken Griffey Jr's grandma. God bless her for sticking up for her little Kenny!

 

[Voltaire26]

Meh. Back when he was a lying cheating cock bag, I suspect as much as 90% of baseball players were also lying cheating cock bags.

I don't like steroids, and I'd like to see the game rid of them (I still think maybe 70% of players are on something), but I'm not going to scapegoat Bonds just because he was the best player to take PEDs.

I think you might be a little low ... everybody knew he was juicing back then, and if I played I would have too.