Yikes

by Charlie Wilmoth on Mar 2, 2009 5:15 PM EST

I honestly don't know how to present this, because Bucs Dugout isn't a tabloid and I don't want to give Jeff Pearlman any more attention, but wow is this a crazy thing for an employee of a Pittsburgh paper to say to a journalist, particularly one known for flinging dirt:

To this day, those who know Bonds describe him with the same harsh terminology as his teammates did back during the glorious times. Selfish, arrogant, rude, condescending, prickly and, in the purest of ways, just plain mean. As Pete Diana, the Pittsburgh Pirates' former team photographer once told me, "Personally, I hope Barry dies."

"Uh, what?" I said.

"I mean it," Diana responded. "I want Barry to die. He's that horrible."

Diana is currently a photographer for the Post-Gazette. If I were a journalist and he'd said it to me, I wouldn't have written it, but now it's in Sports Illustrated, so the cat's out of the bag. It really makes one wonder what those late-'80s Pirates clubhouses must have been like.

UPDATE: WstCstBucco points out that this quote has actually been around for a while, and Pearlman was just recycling it.

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Holy S--T!

There are a very select few people I have ever wished that upon, myself. Barry must be THE biggest dickhead of all time for someone to day that of him.

"Gimme an 'F' ! " - Country Joe MacDonald

by cocktailsfor2 on Mar 2, 2009 5:59 PM EST reply actions

Either that...

…or Diana’s just a surly bastard.

I met Barry once back in the day, and he was perfectly nice. Maybe I caught him on a good day, who knows? But he didn’t fling a bag of poo at my head or anything like that. He was just a guy, hanging out with his son.

by Vlad on Mar 2, 2009 6:10 PM EST up reply actions

I once had somewhat inside access to the late'80s teams

and I saw Barry being a complete jackass. I was 15 at the time and don’t recall being aware of Bond’s reputation. However, I was really surprised at how he acted and treated his wife in that instance.

I also had some private conversations on a personal level with a well known person very close to the team and was told that Bonds was (he either said ‘one of’ or ’the’) most dispicable people he’d ever come across.

Not that this is new, but since we are reciting personal experiences with Bonds, I thought I’d chime in.

Good day.

by Uncle Nate on Mar 3, 2009 7:42 AM EST up reply actions

Probably due to this...

During 1991 spring training in Florida, he engaged in a heated swearing match with Leyland and Pirates coach Bill Virdon after he refused to pose for photographs.
http://www.answers.com/topic/barry-bonds

With some video goodness…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNttXpxZ1Kc

by sludgeworm on Mar 2, 2009 6:36 PM EST reply actions

Old News

Read Pearlman’s 2006 book, “Love Me, Hate Me: Barry Bonds and the Making of an Antihero” He shouldn’t recycle his old quotes for new SI articles.

Diana’s quote has been out there for 3 years — and he means it. Bonds was the only guy who wouldn’t help the families of two long-time PBC groundskeepers killed by a drunk driver:
http://www.cantstopthebleeding.com/?p=10750

Here’s the review from the PPG:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06099/680058-148.stm

Money quote from the book review

“Bobby Bonds had urged his son to be not just guarded, but aloof and antagonistic.”

by WstCstBucco on Mar 2, 2009 6:44 PM EST reply actions

No kidding. Huh, thanks.

by Charlie Wilmoth on Mar 2, 2009 8:40 PM EST up reply actions

Never read the book. . .

. . . but IIRC the Diana quote was prominently displayed on the outside or inside cover. It was a major come-on for the book.

But what kind of guy won’t take a second to autograph a ball or poster to be auctioned off to help families of 2 super nice groundskeepers (who worked for the PBC when Bonds was a Buc) who had been killed by a DWI driver leaving their families destitute?

And what kind of author uses the same quote 3 years later to make his deadline with SI, w/o acknowledging that’s it’s just old news.

by WstCstBucco on Mar 2, 2009 9:30 PM EST reply actions

impact on Bonds' HoF votes?

the steroids controversy was bad enough, and it’s not news that Bonds has been the @sshole of almost every team he’s played for. but it seems like numbers aside, Barry Bonds has done almost everything in his power to avoid becoming enshrined in Cooperstown. if only the same sportswriters who elected curmudgeons like Ty Cobb to the Hall of Fame were still alive, Bonds might have a chance. I really can’t see Bonds getting much more of the vote %-wise than Mark McGwire has received thus far.

by gonfalon on Mar 3, 2009 10:36 AM EST reply actions

Lock HOFer, but he doesn't care anyway

I think with more and more players being exposed, he will get in easily, but probably not on the first ballot. I think enough voters will stop being pollyannas (“… at least A-Rod is clean” Bzzzz.). I don’t want to re-re-re-re-etc.-start a long discussion, but the 104 positives in 2004 still only represents the tip of the iceberg. When Bonds says, “this record is not tainted in any way” I believe he means that the playing field was (more or less) level. He’s not saying he didn’t juice.

by azibuck on Mar 3, 2009 12:48 PM EST up reply actions