Barry Bonds was born July 24, 1964.
In a dominant 22-year major league career, Bonds set numerous MLB records, including 2,558 walks, seven NL MVP awards and -- most notably -- besting Hank Aaron's mark with 762 home runs.
Bonds was initially drafted out of Junipero Serra High School in 1982 by the San Francisco Giants, but he chose to attend Arizona State instead. After three years in college, Bonds was selected sixth overall in the 1985 MLB draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates, and he didn't take long to break into the major leagues.
The 6-2 left fielder made his MLB debut in 1986 for the Pirates, immediately earning a starting outfield spot, and quickly ascended into one of the league's top offensive forces. Bonds broke out in the 1990 season, passing 30 home runs in a year for the first time and earning his first All-Star appearance, Gold Glove award, Silver Slugger award and National League MVP trophy.
After winning another NL MVP in 1992, Bonds chose to sign with the Giants in the ensuing offseason (where his father, Bobby, had played), and he continued to improve from there. In his first year with the team, Bonds set career highs with 46 home runs, 123 RBI and a .458 OBP to get his third MVP award in four years.
From 1994 to 2000, Bonds racked up six All-Star appearances, four Gold Glove awards and three Silver Slugger awards in that stretch, but the 2001 season brought an onslaught on the league's record books. The 36-year-old Bonds hit a ridiculous 73 home runs to set an all-time league record, while finishing with a league best .515 OBP and an all-time record slugging percentage of 0.863 en route to a unanimous win in the NL MVP race.
Bonds won three more NL MVP awards from 2002 to 2004 to become the only player in either league to win four in a row. In each of those three seasons, Bonds led the MLB in walks, OBP and slugging percentage. Bonds' OBP of 0.609 and OPS of 1.422 in 2004 both stand as single-season league records, and his 2002 World Series slugging percentage of 1.294 is also the best ever.
After the 40-year-old Bonds was limited to 14 games in 2005 due to knee issues, pundits began to wonder if he was done, but he resumed his chase of Aaron's home run record soon after. Finally, in 2007, Bonds surpassed Hammerin' Hank, blasting home run No. 756 in front of his home crowd:
In MLB history, Bonds remains the only player with at least 500 home runs and 500 steals (finishing with 514).
In the time since Bonds last played, he has become a controversial figure due to his involvement with athletic trainer Greg Anderson of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO), which was suspected of supplying athletes with PEDs. Bonds tested positive for steroids in 2003, but claimed that he unknowingly used illegal substances. He was initially convicted for obstruction of justice for lying to court officials about the results, but the decision was overturned by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2015.
Due to this scandal, Bonds has never even approached the 75 percent of votes needed for Hall of Fame induction, peaking at 36.8 percent in 2015. He can remain on the voters' ballot until 2022.
