Anti-steroid crusaders everywhere are in a pissed off mood this holiday season after the Florida Marlins hired Barry Bonds as their new hitting coach earlier this month. The anti-steroid crowd would love nothing more than to see Bonds punished for using steroids. Even better, they would like to see him suffer indefinitely. Too bad for them, Bonds lives a seemingly charmed life in which everything goes his way.
Barry Bonds is the home run king
Bonds is the best hitter is the history of baseball with the most single-season home runs and the most career home runs. Bonds kicked the government’s ass and embarrassed them every step of the way when federal prosecutors tried to put him in prison for lying about steroids. And Bonds never admitted to knowingly using steroids.
Now, Bonds is the new Marlins hitting coach. And Bonds did it on his terms like he has done everything his entire career. Unlike Mark McGwire who was pressured to make a tearful apology for using steroids before he was “accepted” and “allowed” to return to the sport of baseball as an MLB coach, Bonds didn’t have to play that game.
The reason is quite simple. While anti-steroid crusaders would like to call Bonds a “disgraced” former baseball player. The truth is that most people still consider him the greatest baseball player in history.
The Marlins think there is a very good chance that the greatest hitter in MLB history could very well be an excellent hitting coach. And there is good reason to believe they are correct. Bonds worked as a special instructor for the San Francisco Giants during spring training in 2014 to rave reviews. Earlier this year, he also provided private coaching for New York Yankees Alex Rodriguez. Rodriguez impressed everything with his hitting performance in 2015.
Barry Bonds – all time home run record
It was Marlins’ owner Jeffrey Loria who first brought up the idea of Bonds as a hitting coach to General Manager Don Mattingly and the front office. When Mattingly was General Manager with the Los Angeles Dodgers, he hired former steroid user Mark McGwire as his hitting coach. So, it was not a surprise that Mattingly (and also Marlins’ President David Samson) thought it was an excellent idea to bring Bonds on board.
“Extremely impressed with Barry’s willingness to be part of this team, and his excitement being back and teaching,” Mattingly said. “It’s what I think we’re going to be about — teaching and developing and continuing to improve our club in any way that we can. Obviously, Barry, we look at him as a big part of that, and we welcome him.”
“This is a very great moment for the Marlins, because of what we think Barry adds as a member of the staff as a hitting coach,” Samson said. “That’s what it’s about, making our team better.”
Bonds isn’t the first former baseball player implicated as a juicer during the baseball “steroid era” who has returned to baseball in some capacity after retirement. As mentioned earlier, McGwire was the hitting coach with the Los Angeles Dodgers and later the bench coach for the San Diego Padres. Roger Clemens was hired as a special assistant for the Astros. And Gary Sheffield was hired as an MLB sports analyst for the TBS cable network.
Bonds’ return to baseball emphatically proves one thing. At the end of the day, all that really matters is talent.