Barry Bonds is a famous American baseball player who has been embroiled in speculation about the abuse of performance-enhancing steroids during the second half of his Major League Baseball career and up until his retirement. Long before Bonds was captivated by what sometimes seemed like endless media speculation, he was a promising young baseball prospect with a good gene pool.
Barry was born on July 24, 1964 in the city of Riverside, California, which is about an hour east of Los Angeles. Virtually from his birth, young Barry Bonds was surrounded by a baseball influence due in large part to the stardom of his father, Bobby Bonds, who was an accomplished all-star baseball player in his own right.
Although the son would eventually eclipse the father in terms of fame and statistical success, Bobby Bonds was a popular player who played for eight major league baseball teams, including the well-known New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, and St. Louis Cardinals, among others. . . Most baseball fans who followed the sport during the years from 1968 to 1981, when Bobby Bonds played, best remember the iconic player as a three-time San Francisco Giants star who shared the outfield with legendary teammate Willie Mays. Even though Bobby Bonds and Willie Mays didn’t get together until young Barry Bonds was almost four years old, Willie took it upon himself to be a high-profile best man for Barry.
Despite being born in Southern California, Barry Bonds grew up most of his time in Northern California in the area of the state commonly known as the Bay Area due to its proximity to the San Francisco Bay Area. Barry played baseball at Junipero Serra High School in the affluent San Mateo, California suburb of San Francisco. As a teenager, Barry didn’t just excel on the baseball field. As a three-sport star, the naturally gifted young man competed on the varsity baseball, football and basketball teams. Despite the variety of his athletic successes, it was baseball that stood out as his true passion.
After spending his freshman year on the junior varsity team at Junipero Serra High School, Bonds graduated to the varsity team for his sophomore, junior, and senior seasons at San Mateo. During his final season, the baseball prodigy put up stellar numbers that included a miraculous .467 batting average. For his efforts as a prep breakout star, Bonds was named a high school All-American, and by all accounts, it looked like the mature young man with the famous father and godfather might one day achieve the baseball status that his celebs achieved. relatives.
Despite being selected in the second round of the 1982 Major League Baseball (MLB) draft by the San Francisco Giants, Barry decided to play college baseball for Arizona State University (ASU) after failing to make it to a deal with the Giants. In later interviews, Barry would say that he was glad he decided to attend ASU and receive his bachelor’s degree in criminology in 1986.