Despite all his success and all his glory, Barry Bonds is infamous for his involvement in the alleged performance-enhancing drugs. After the revelation of steroid-scandal, perjury and obstruction of justice charges, there was hardly any good news in the media about Bonds. But before all the accusations, the former SF Giants player was among the most charming media personalities. However, there was an esteemed journalist who pointed out his behavior with others. 

Bonds’ life is a tale of success and controversy. He had a career and stats that every MLB player dreams of, and aspersion that every player is feared for. He has the most career home runs and 14 All-Stars appearances. Despite all this, he is not considered for the Hall of Fame. Moreover, the former Giants legend took the center stage in many media talks and publications back in 1998.

The One Criticism Among the Thousand Praises

In 1998 and Barry Bonds hit his 500th career home runs, becoming the center of the sports news all over the media. However, David Halberstam, an esteemed journalist who has written probing profiles on the JF Kennedy administration, has a different view on the superstar of the age. 

David Halberstam started his article with, “Why America Will Never Love Barry Bonds.” In his article, Halberstam argued that the media has created an illusionary persona of Barry Bonds, which covered his true nature. Halberstam said that Bonds was a mean-spirited person and comparable with Richard Nixon and J. Edgar Hoover. 

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In his article, Halberstam said, “This is about nothing less than the abuse of power—he has it by dint of his abilities, and he uses his power to make others’ lives more difficult and less pleasant.“

Barry Bonds was further accused by Halberstam of deliberate acts of rudeness towards the other people. A very few other media reports also made similar accusations on Bonds. 

The Unhandled Stardom of Barry Bonds

A few media reports said that Barry Bonds’ behavior with the people is his failure to digest his stardom. In an article by Hal Bodley of USA Today, the 7x MVP’s success and pursuit of records was called a Selfish Malcontent.

Moreover, Robert Siegel, a reporter of National Public Radio, said, “He’s certainly a world of difference from, say, McGwire and Sosa or Michael Jordan—or Tiger Woods, for that matter—people who seemed to have just handled stardom a lot more graciously than he has.”

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Barry Bonds was the epitome of success in his time. However, controversies always walked hand in hands with him. When he was the superstar, the attention was more to his success than controversies, but in the later part of his life, it was the other way around. 

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