How about seeing Barry Bonds in pinstripes? Imagine living in a world where the home-run king turned down the Giants to become a Yankees great.
This could be a reality in 1992 when Barry Bonds was a free agent and minutes before he agreed to an offer by the San Francisco Giants.
After leaving Pittsburgh, the 13-time All-Star and seven-time MVP got an offer to play for the famous Yankees.
Barry Bonds, who was born in Riverside, California, signed a six-year, $43.75 million deal with the Giants in 1992 and it was a record at the time.
The MLB legend says that back in the 1990s, when he was at the top of his game, New York had a real chance of making that crazy scenario come true.
Barry Bonds told the strange story on ESPN’s KayRod while the Yankees were playing the Red Sox on Sunday Night Baseball. The 12-time silver slugger winner told Michael Kay and Alex Rodriguez, who were hosting the show, that he briefly thought about playing for the Yankees when Kay asked if a deal was close when Bonds was a free agent in 1992.
He said:
“It was very close, for about 15 or 20 minutes. Because, what happened was, and I tell people the true story, the Yankees offered me the same contract I think Ryne Sandberg had at the same time, or a little bit more than that. And, unfortunately, they said you have until 2 o’clock this afternoon to make a decision and my agent said, ‘I’ll get back to you about it.’”
Bonds told that he was surprised by New York’s urgent schedule, so he went to get lunch and thought, “Wow, that was kind of strange,” but he said he didn’t think anything else about it. But, as luck for San Francisco have it, his agent dialed him soon after to tell him that the Giants had come up with a better offer than the Yankees.
“By the time I got to the place to get something to eat, my agent called me back and the San Francisco Giants offered a higher contract and I said, ‘This is great, I want to go home.’”
And, as they say, the rest is history.
Fans of the Yankees will never know how the team would have done if the power hitter ever had the pinstripes. But Barry Bonds’ story was an interesting look behind the scenes at a story that many people probably didn’t know. Not only that but the 58-year-old’s story of what happened then is different from what most people heard at that time.
The New York Times says that the Yankees took back a four-year, $36 million offer after talks with the then-Pirates star, who was a free agent, broke down. Barry Bonds wanted a more attractive six-year deal of at least $40 million. The New York franchise gave him two days to decide. However, the talks broke down when he and his agent pushed for a guaranteed sixth year.
Without a doubt, Sunday’s news will make many fans wonder what might have happened if the seven-time NL MVP and eight-time Gold Glove winner had joined the Yankees during a time when they won three World Series.
Do you think Barry Bonds would have bettered his 73-homer season had he joined the Yankees?
