Already the most decorated player in major-league history, San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds wants to repair an unflattering public image that has prevented him from also becoming one of baseball’s most revered.
Bonds has taken the unprecedented step of withdrawing from the Major League Baseball Players Association’s group licensing program, he told reporters Tuesday during a conference call to discuss his record sixth National League Most Valuable Player Award.
“I think I’ve been misrepresented throughout my career as a bad guy, a bad person,” said Bonds, who became the first player to win an MVP award in three consecutive years. “[There’s a perception that] `Barry doesn’t want to do anything.’
“This [move] gives the licensees the opportunity to get to know me and know who I am as a person and show the fans I am not a difficult person to deal with, I am not a difficult person to the fans. This is the ending part of my career. I want the public to see me for who I really am.”
Under his new marketing strategy, Bonds will negotiate directly with companies interested in using his name and likeness on everything from baseball cards to video games, although he cannot appear in a Giants uniform or cap.
Bonds’ decision to handle his marketing deals comes at a tricky time. He has been subpoenaed to testify in the investigation of a Bay Area nutritional supplement company that is suspected of distributing a new and illegal steroid tetrahydrogestrinone, or THG. Bonds’ personal trainer, Greg Anderson, is a target of the probe.
Also, baseball officials recently announced that more than 5 percent of random tests conducted on players last season turned up positive for steroid use, prompting a stricter testing regimen for next season. Bonds, who hadn’t hit more than 49 homers in a season in the first 15 years of his career, raised suspicions about steroid use when he hit a record 73 in 2001.
“I am glad there is going to be testing,” said Bonds, who has maintained that he enhances his body only through the use of nutritional supplements. “Hopefully, it will diminish a lot of everyone’s speculation and everyone can move on.”
A report in Tuesday’s Sports Business Daily said Bonds intended to link his name with those of Hall of Famers Willie Mays and Hank Aaron in an attempt to capitalize on their popularity while celebrating Bonds’ assault on Aaron’s all-time home run mark. Bonds, who hit 45 home runs last season, has 658 homers, two behind Mays–his godfather–and 97 short of tying Aaron’s record of 755.
Bonds said the marketing strategy also would provide funds for scholarship programs and other charitable endeavors in which his father, Bobby, a three-time All-Star who died in August, had been active.
Bonds, the only player to win an MVP more than three times, received 28 of 32 first-place votes and 426 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers Assocation of America to defeat St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Albert Pujols by a comfortable margin. Pujols received three first-place votes and 303 points and third-place finisher Gary Sheffield of the Atlanta Braves had one first-place vote and 247 points.
Only seven other players have won the award three times overall–Stan Musial, Roy Campanella and Mike Schmidt in the NL and Jimmie Foxx, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle in the American League.
Bonds called the award “more special than any award I’ve ever received” after dedicating it to his father, whom he credited with much of his success.
The 39-year-old became the second-oldest MVP, trailing Pittsburgh’s Willie Stargell, who was co-MVP in 1979, by about 4 1/2 months. Nonetheless, Bonds had one of his more productive seasons, hitting .341 with 90 runs batted in. He led the major leagues with a .749 slugging percentage, .529 on-base percentage and 148 walks.
Bonds said he didn’t anticipate playing into his mid-40s but that he wasn’t sticking around merely to break Aaron’s home run record.
“I’m not playing for the record. I’m playing to do the best I can with my body,” he said. “I feel 29 right now. But during the season I feel 49. That day-in and day-out grind is very difficult.”
Most MVPs
The top MVP winners in each of the four major professional sports leagues:
9 Wayne Gretzky, NHL
Won in 1980-87, 1989
6 Barry Bonds, MLB
Won in 1990, ’92, ’93, 2001-03
6 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, NBA
Won 1971-72, ’74, ’76, ’77, ’80
4 Jim Brown, NFL
Won in 1957, ’58, ’63, ’65
NL MVP at a glance
VOTING
First- through 10th-place votes and total points based on 14-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis:
PLAYER, TEAM 1 2 3 Tot
Barry Bonds, SF 28 2 2 426
Albert Pujols, StL 3 29 – 303
Gary Sheffield, Atl 1 1 18 247
Jim Thome, Phi – – 5 203
Javy Lopez, Atl – – 4 159
Eric Gagne, LA – – 3 143
Todd Helton, Col – – – 75
Sammy Sosa, Cubs – – – 53
Mark Prior, Cubs – – – 44
Juan Pierre, Fla – – – 39
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Also receiving votes: Mike Lowell, Fla, 30; Richie Sexson, Mil, 21; Andruw Jones, Atl, 15; Jeff Bagwell, Hou, 14; Edgar Renteria, StL, 13; Preston Wilson, Col, 12; Vladimir Guerrero, Mon, 10; John Smotlz, Atl, 9; Marcus Giles, Atl, 9; Richard Hildago, Hou, 9; Luis Castillo, Fla, 8; Jason Schmidt, SF, 7; Ivan Rodriguez, Fla, 5; Billy Wagner, Hou, 5; Luis Gonzales, Ari, 4; Chipper Jones, Atl, 4; Bobby Abreu, Phi, 3; Miguel Cabrera, Fla, 3; Jim Edmond, StL, 3; Mark Grudzielanek, Cubs, 3; Derrick Lee, Fla, 3; Russ Ortiz, Atl, 3; Rafael Furcal, Atl, 2; Dontrelle Willis, Fla, 1
BONDS’ NUMBERS
AB R H HR RBI BB SO AVG
390 111 133 45 90 148 58 .341
RECENT WINNERS
2003: Barry Bonds, SF 1996: x-Ken Caminiti, SD
2002: x-Bonds, SF 1995: Barry Larkin, Cin
2001: Bonds, SF 1994: x-Jeff Bagwell, Hou
2000: Jeff Kent, SF 1993: Bonds, Pit
1999: Chipper Jones, Atl 1992: Bonds, Pit
1998: Sammy Sosa, Cubs 1991: Terry Pendleton, Atl
1997: Larry Walker, Col 1990: Bonds, Pit
x–unanimous selection
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