Barry Bonds is heading back to the Bay Area – this time to coach basketball. The MLB’s all-time home run king will lead one team in Friday’s NBA All-Star Celebrity Game, with NFL legend Jerry Rice coaching the other squad.
Before he became baseball’s most feared hitter, Bonds was actually a three-sport athlete at Junipero Serra High School. He starred on the basketball court alongside his baseball and football pursuits, with his 6-2 frame giving him solid size for a high school guard.
Basketball played a surprisingly important role in young Barry’s life. With his father Bobby Bonds often away playing in the majors, Bonds’ basketball and baseball coaches became father figures during his teenage years.
Even after choosing baseball and becoming the No. 6 pick in the 1985 MLB Draft, Bonds kept showing off his hoops skills. He competed in the 1992 Foot Locker Slam Fest against fellow MLB star Ken Griffey Jr. and two-sport sensation Deion Sanders, proving he still had serious hops well into his baseball career.
The Right Choice
Picking baseball over basketball worked out pretty well for Bonds. Here’s what he accomplished in 22 MLB seasons:
- 762 home runs – MLB all-time record
- 2,558 walks – MLB all-time record
- 162.8 WAR – MLB all-time record
- 7 MVP awards
- .298 career batting average
- 2,935 hits
- 1,996 RBI
His peak from 2001-04 was otherworldly – a .349 average and four straight MVPs. But that stretch is now viewed through the lens of steroid allegations, some of which Bonds later admitted to. Those questions ultimately kept him out of Cooperstown.
The Bay Area has never stopped embracing their slugger, though. San Francisco just declared February 5th as “Barry Bonds Day” – a nod to his iconic No. 25 jersey. Now he’s back home coaching a celebrity squad featuring streamer Kai Cenat and singer Noah Kahan.
It’s fitting that Bonds returns to San Francisco for an event celebrating star power. Few athletes in any sport have ever shined brighter than he did in his prime, even if some of that brilliance came with controversy.
