Former outfielder Barry Bonds may have looked good in New York Yankees pinstripes. However, it would’ve probably never worked because he and former Yankees owner George Steinbrenner would’ve frequently clashed.
Clearly, New York wasn’t considering that when it tried to sign baseball’s all-time home run leader (762) after he left the Pittsburgh Pirates in free agency in 1992.
Barry Bonds explains how he was almost a Yankee
While broadcasting for Netflix during a 7-0 Yankees win over the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday night, Bonds shared he almost signed with New York instead of San Francisco.
“I would have been a Yankee, but Steinbrenner got on the phone, they called us,” Bonds said. “They told me, ‘Barry, we’re gonna give you the money, the highest-paid player at that time. But you have to sign the contract by 2 o’clock this afternoon, and I said, ‘Excuse me,’ and I just hung the phone up.”
Bond didn’t take kindly to ultimatums throughout his career. Steinbrenner, nicknamed “The Boss,” was considered domineering. And that may have created friction if he had joined the Yankees instead of the Giants.
George Steinbrenner and Barry Bonds may not have jelled because of their similar personalities
Bonds is certainly one of the most talented players in baseball history, but he was also one of the most difficult to work with. Who could forget the infamous shouting match between him and former Pirates manager Jim Leyland during spring training in 1991? And then there was the “Slugout in the Dugout” between him and former Giants teammate Jeff Kent in a game against the San Diego Padres in June 2002.
Steinbrenner (who owned the team from 1973-2010) was just as cantankerous as Bonds was during his playing career. The owner changed managers 23 times during his tenure. Some he hired, fired, rehired and fired again. See former skipper Billy Martin, whom he canned five times.
He even feuded with players, most famously former outfielder Dave Winfield. Steinbrenner called him “Mr. May” for his poor performance in the 1981 World Series. The beef culminated with Steinbrenner receiving a lifetime ban in 1990 due to his connection to gambler Howard Spira. He paid him to try to dig up dirt on Winfield to get out of contractual obligations.
Steinbrenner was reinstated in 1993. The Athletic’s Tyler Kepner noted the owner may have been “bending the rules” at the time Bonds said they were negotiating.
There’s no telling how Steinbrenner would’ve handled Bonds’ steroid scandal. He was first implicated in December 2003. (Steinbrenner stepped aside from the Yankees for health reasons in 2007 and remained uninvolved until he died in 2010.) Bonds admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs in 2004 but claimed his trainer misled him.
Bonds joining the Yankees is a fun hypothetical, but it may have worked out for the best that it didn’t happen. The marriage between him and Steinbrenner may have been contentious.