While Barry Bonds is known as an incredible baseball player, it is other things about him which may eventually be what he is remembered for. Bonds won four MVP awards as an outfielder, four years in a row. He played in the 2007 World Series and is one of the most widely known players in the sport. In 2006, he surpassed even Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron in home runs.

Unfortunately, it seems as if Bonds may have had help achieving this feat and there could be an asterisk next to this record. Rumors of steroid use swirled around Bonds and he was not a fan favorite, to put it mildly. Bonds didn’t seem to care much for the fans either and Bonds managed to alienate fans and sportswriters alike. Bonds still holds the home run record at 762, as well as the record for the most home runs in a single season (73). While an accomplished player, Binds managed to burn a lot of bridges and no team in the Major Leagues would sign him on for the 2008 season.

With an accomplished career and his financial security already assured, Bonds became a target of investigation in connection to the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative case and was charged with perjury for having lied about his steroid use.

This has cast a pall over his entire career. Fans questioned the validity of his MVP awards and his achievements within the game – and the league itself has also expressed concern. Achievements which came through the use of steroids, the reasoning goes, are not to be valued as highly as those accomplished solely through an athlete’s natural faculties.

The shadow has fallen upon his entire career, a career which began in high school. Binds was approached by the Giants even as he was still attending high school. Although he did not sign with the Giants at this time, he continued playing in college and scored seven consecutive hits in the College World Series. He was also named the All American selection of the year by Sporting News.

In March 2009, Bonds will appear in court to face the obstruction of justice charges related to the BALCO investigation. Bonds still insists that he never took steroids knowingly – but this is a matter which has yet to be resolved in court and is sure to be closely followed by baseball fans.

Bonds has been spending his time away from the diamond by working with children’s hospitals, a public service which has comforted many sick and even terminally ill children. Bonds holds an honorary chairmanship from the Macy’s Tree Lighting committee – this committee raises money for UCSF Children’s Hospital Palliative Care Program, a children’s hospice.