Barry Bonds - Hero to Convicted Criminal

Barry Lamar Bonds in Courtroom

Barry Bonds is NOW a convicted Criminal - Guilty of Obstruction of Justice. Bonds sat stone face through the reading of the verdict in the courtroom, showing NO emotion! Bonds' always claims that he didn't knowingly use performance-enhancing drugs.

The jury of eight women and four men began their deliberations at 8:30 a.m. PT  Friday April 8, 2011 after a 12 day trail in San Francisco. The jury took the weekend off and resumed deliberations Monday morning, including asking for the testimony of Bonds’ personal shopper to be read back to them.

Barry Bonds '86

Bonds was originally indicted in November 2007. He pleaded not guilty to four counts of lying to a grand jury when he said he never knowingly took performance-enhancing drugs. Bonds also pleaded not guilty to one count of obstruction.

Bonds in '01 after hitting #73

After a government prosecution that lasted nearly seven years, Federal guidelines recommend a prison sentence of between 15 and 21 months, though Bonds' punishment could be far less severe.

So the seven-time MVP, all-time home run king, son of the late great Bobby Bonds, Godson to the legend ball player Willie Mays, 46-year-old former outfielder for the San Fransisco Giants and Pittsburgh Pirates is now a convicted criminal for taken steroids and trying to tell the world he never did.

Bonds Aug. 7, '07 #756

He began his career in 1986 with the Pittsburgh Pirates  making his major league debut on May 30, 1986. Bonds wins his first of seven MVP awards in 1990. He will also win in 1992, '93, 2001-04. The seven MVP's is the most by any player.
With the San Francisco Giants, he breaks Mark McGwire's 1998 single-season home run record of 70 in 2001 with 73 home runs. Bonds hits career home run No. 756 off Washington Nationals pitcher Mike Bacsik, breaking Hank Aaron's all-time home run record of 755, on Aug. 7, 2007.He would finish with 762 home runs - seven more than Aaron

Bonds & Mays '08

Bonds, who testified Dec. 3, 2003, before a federal grand jury in San Francisco investigating the Bay Area Labratory Co-Operative (BALCO) 
Faced with the question of whether Bonds lied before the BALCO grand jury in 2003 when he said he didn't knowingly take anabolic steroids or human growth hormone, the jurors couldn't decide. To the charge that Bonds provided false testimony when he stated that no one other than a doctor had ever injected him, they offered no answer.

Sosa / McGwire '98

The only verdict jurors rendered was to find that Bonds obstructed justice by providing an evasive answer to one question. In short, they found Bonds guilty of rambling, of dancing around a question, of being (for anyone who has ever interviewed him can attest) Barry Lamar Bonds.Bonds was more close than he realized on Count Two, the charge that he lied when he said no one other than a doctor had injected him. The jurors were unanimously in favor of a conviction on that count Monday but then decided to go home and sleep on it. The next day, a lone holdout emerged, and she remained against a conviction to the end.

I must admit, I was into the whole home run chase. From Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, too Barry chasing the Babe and Hank Aaron. It was what baseball needed at the time. The 1998 battle between Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire was exhilarating and incredible drama as it unfolded each night. We all got caught up in the moment of two worriers battling  with the sabots each night. Major League Baseball wont admit it but the home run chase with Sosa, McGwire and Bonds, who was still trying to win back fans from the strike-shortened 1994 season, was just what they needed. When the strike ended in 1995, fans were upset and attendance at stadiums plunged. Major League Baseball needed something to win fans back, and it came in the form of a home run.
In 1961, Roger Maris hit 61 home runs for the New York Yankees. For the next 36 years, only 6 players (Willie Mays, George Foster, Cecil Fielder, Albert Belle, Brady Anderson, Mark McGwire) hit 50+ home runs.
Then came the year of the home run, and YES The YEARS of the STEROIDS!  In my opinion baseball looked the other way, as we all looked at drug induced ball players showing us how NOT to play the game!