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Thursday, August 13, 2015

Haters Gonna Hate: My Barry Bonds PC

I kinda collected Bonds back when I was a kid in the early 90s and he was a lean young star on the Pirates. Then during his time on the Giants, I was sort of wishy-washy on him.. in awe of his numbers and presence at the plate, yet hating him for being a douche and likely juicer. By the time I got back into collecting a few years ago, Barry was a persona non grata, or whatever you wanna call it. I wasn't sure how to feel about him from a collector's standpoint. Honestly, I was upset at the Padres for not signing him in 2008. They sucked and it would have been nice to have him in the cleanup spot. But no, collusion kept him out of the game even though he publicly said he'd play for the league minimum. He'd undoubtedly be a bit of a media circus distraction and might have been a cancer in the clubhouse, but well worth it for a cellar-dwelling club, in my opinion.

Sure, he had some of the cream and the clear to help him feel tip-top, but still, he was a damn good baseball player (second only to Babe Ruth all-time, statistically). As far as guys I've seen in person in my limited ballgame-going experience, he's right there among the best I've ever witnessed live along with Tony Gwynn and the Bipster. Plus, now it's common knowledge that over ¾ of all professional ballplayers were doing some type of PED at the time, which makes it harder to hold a grudge. But still, it doesn't seem like many collectors collect Bonds besides Pirate team collectors (begrudgingly) and Giants team collectors (bittersweetly, I'm sure).

So anyways, after hating on him for a while, I've given in and started a Barry Bonds PC. (What? You got a problem with that?) One of the glorious things about my Hundred Card Club method for player collecting is I never have to make too big of a commitment if I want to start collecting somebody. One hundred cards, then out.. or keep casually adding to the total if I want to, like with top favorites such as Gwynn.

Barry Bonds has been a very passive PC for me so far, with only one card I actually went out of my way to acquire. It just arrived yesterday. Let's give it a photo shoot:


 Yep, I ponied up for an auto.


It's from 2001 Bowman Heritage, which pays tribute to 1948 Bowman.


Since 1948 Bowman is a black & white set (and as such, so is 2001 Bowman Heritage), the card is a bit drab for my taste. So I threw it in the most ostentatious screwdown case I own. Now it's perfect.


There's the back.

"What'cha doin' on the floor, Poppa?"

"Barry Bonds is a disgrace to baseball and he desecrated the history of the game with his tainted stats. Ruff ruff."


Here are some more Bonds cards I've passively accumulated over the past year or so. Not pictured are the cards from my original collection, which I still have in a page or two of a binder, the best of which is his 1986 Donruss The Rookies (I still need his other rookie cards [1986 and 1987]).


I'm not saying dump all your unwanted Barry Bonds cards on me, but if you want to send me cards and have absolutely nothing else on my wantlist... sure, send me some Bonds.


11 comments:

  1. LOVE that Bowman heritage auto. Bonds is a prick and cheater... but he was a hell of ball player. Especially when he was wearing the black and gold!

    Imagine how many people would have killed for that card back in '01...

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    1. Thanks, Nathan. Yeah and it's funny that the other 2 autos in the set are A-Rod and Clemens, both also in the "prick and cheater... but hell of ball player" club.

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  2. It's been a long time since I even thought about Belle and Sebastian.

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    1. Yeah, I was checking out the new album while thinking about this post, and a song called "The Cat with the Cream" came on and I thought it was hilariously fitting. I'd like to think it's about Bonds, in my own little mind. I'm also kicking myself for not including their song about Mike Piazza in the big Piazza post I did a while back.

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  3. I liked Bonds at one point, til he was a cheater. But either way, that is one sharp looking autograph!

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    1. Yeah, I mean, he very likely would have been HOF caliber even if he stayed clean. He just got greedy. At one point in time, I was "anti-cheater" like you. But I've grown more acceptant in recent years. That was just "the norm" at the time. I was a baseball fan during the widespread PED era, so I don't want to cut those guys out of my collection. I still kinda hate Palmero, but mostly because of the finger-wagging and throwing a teammate under the bus to try to save himself. I also haven't warmed up to Sosa much for whatever reason, but maybe one day.

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  4. I like villains - Barry Bonds, Manny Ramirez, Albert Belle, AJ Pierzynski.
    Not so much love for A-Rod or Roger Clemens, but that has more to do with not being a Yankees fan

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    1. That's a good way of looking at it! WWE sort of thing. Makes the dickishness easier to take.

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  5. Yep. You're getting Bonds.

    Bonds and Bonds and Bonds.

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  6. Although I haven't officially announced that I've started collecting Bonds... I definitely have a PC of him. I'm sure I have some extra Bonds laying around that I can donate to your collection.

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  7. Despite his reputation his cards are still expensive, which I guess is a result of the people who invested in Bonds and refuse to let his card values plummet.

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