Van Slyke vs. Bonds

[Iron Jaw]

With leadership like that it's no wonder they couldn't win in the NLCS during the Bonds-Bonilla era. There wasn't any "family" in the early 90's.

Anyway, as a Cardinal fan, I was ticked off when the Cardinals traded Andy to Pittsburgh for Tony Pena. Perhaps, because Andy opened up in Pittsburgh while Pena had an awful year (at the plate anyway - he was always solid defensively) in St. Louis in 1988. Tony had a better season the following year, but then, so did Van Slyke.

[Bucfan]

Barry not getting congrats after hitting a HR was common when he was with the Giants.

The Giants hated him. Just despised him, to the point that nobody would room with him, or eat with him.

Barry engenders that type of dislike because he is a pompous, demanding, pampered player. If he had 1/10th the hustle of a guy like Van Slyke, he would not have even considered cheating.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

One of my friends came up through the Pirates system with Bonds and always hated him. So did most of his teammates. And this was when the only reason he had to be arrogant was being the son of Bobby Bonds and a high draft pick. And just the opposite of fine wine, he's gotten worse with age. :grouchy

In the book Love Me, Hate Me: Barry Bonds and the Making of an Anti-Hero by Jeff Pearlman, these isa story about Bonds' college days at ASU. His own ASU teammates voted to kick Bonds off the team. That there tells you what kind of person Bonds was and is today.

[jfine]

According to the book "Love Me, Hate Me" by Jeff Pearlman, Bonds began his Pirate career in CF and when the Pirates traded for Van Slyke; Andy took over CF. From the very start Bonds became jealous of Van Slyke for taking "his" position away from him.

I read that book too. My favorite story was the one about Andy punching Barry after he became fed up with Barry's lazy baserunning (that cost them a run). Funny how no one came to Barry's defense during the fight.

[Extra Innings]

According to the book "Love Me, Hate Me" by Jeff Pearlman, Bonds began his Pirate career in CF and when the Pirates traded for Van Slyke; Andy took over CF. From the very start Bonds became jealous of Van Slyke for taking "his" position away from him.

[Steve Jeltz]

I remember when Bonds hit a HR at Busch Stadium during his last year in Pittsburgh in 1992. Nobody on the bench got up and congratulated Bonds. His teammates wanted to make a statement, so they all just sat there as if he made an out and flat out ignored him. I doubt if Bonds cared.

[jfine]

Darn, I missed that. Wonder if they will repeat the story...

Never mind, I found it on ESPN's website. I forgot about the story where Andy Van Slyke supposedly told Barry that he was out of position in the bottom of the 9th in Game 7 of the 1992 NLCS - he supposedly told Barry to move in for a play at the plate, and I had heard (although they didn't say this exactly in the story) that Barry basically told him "F*** You!" Of course we all know what happened after that, although I guess hindsight is 20/20...h

[jfine]

did anybody see the story they did on sportscenter this morning (march 31) on Bonds in his Pittsburgh years?? They mentioned everything stated above including the parts about not getting along with Van Slyke because of a money issue. I was pretty young in those years so i dont remember it real well but i never knew how much of a jerk Bonds was on and off the field..all because he thought he deserved more money. Theres a team player if i ever saw one...:noidea

P.S. Leland told him how it was.

Darn, I missed that. Wonder if they will repeat the story...

[Bucco Fanatic]

did anybody see the story they did on sportscenter this morning (march 31) on Bonds in his Pittsburgh years?? They mentioned everything stated above including the parts about not getting along with Van Slyke because of a money issue. I was pretty young in those years so i dont remember it real well but i never knew how much of a jerk Bonds was on and off the field..all because he thought he deserved more money. Theres a team player if i ever saw one...:noidea

P.S. Leland told him how it was.

[west coast orange and black]

goooooo: bonds was an idiot.
kent was jealous of bonds.

bonds had the problem with kent?

is this your claim?

[scootermojo]

It was a rivalry. Andy was just jealous of bonds incredible baseball skills. Bonds is just an idiot who has beef with everyone. He had the same problems with kent.

i could be wrong but i don't think andy was jealous from the way he got along with all the other players, even one's better than him at the time, and never saw anything or read anything to substantiate that...again, i could be wrong but you were dead on about bonds being an egotistical ass. bonds problems with ken illustrates his arrogance and i was at the game in '98 that bonds got into a fight with his own pitcher, danny darwin.

[Goooooo]

It was a rivalry. Andy was just jealous of bonds incredible baseball skills. Bonds is just an idiot who has beef with everyone. He had the same problems with kent.

[jfine]

100% true! i grew up reading in the local papers everyday what barry would say and andy, being the classy person he is, wouldn't say anything yet barry would just yap and yap and yap. funny how barry thought he wasn't respected around here because he was and greatly appreciated. remember when he hit that homer off of lee smith in the bottom of the ninth to win that game in pittsburgh in '92...the one where as soon as he hit it he raised his arms in the air? i was at the next game they played and got there early to watch BP. as soon as he walked onto the field he got a standing ovation from the 5 or 6 thousand that was there. when they were announcing the lineups during pre-game he got another ovation and when he first came to bat he got the same thing again! yeah, he wasn't respected and it was a racial issue...please...he's just a sorry, dellusional and insecure person.

one last thing...do you remember what andy had to say about barry's commments when he called him "mr. pittsburgh"? typical andy...all he said was, "i'm not mr. pittsburgh. mario lemieux is!" i still get a kick out of that today and barry had nothing to say about that! LOL

I do remember that home run off Lee Smith - it was beautiful! I agree with you that the fans in Pittsburgh truly appreciated everything Barry did for them and know that there could not have been 3 straight division titles without Barry. Most of this crap was all in Barry's head.

Also - I forgot about Andy's comeback on the Mr. Pittsburgh comment. That was classic Andy. I hope we get more great quotes from him now that he's back in the game as a coach for my Tigers. I wish there were more players like him who liked to kid around and have fun off the field while playing hard on the field. I still fondly remember all of his dugout antics - he always seemed to know when the camera was on him, and he usually used it to his advantage...

[scootermojo]

Bonds and Van Slyke never liked each other back in the day but Bonds was more vocal about it. During the 1991 and 1992 seasons, it was not unusual for Bonds to publically bash Andy in the Pittsburgh papers and allege that Andy's popularity was due to racism by the fans and organization. He used to call Andy things like "The Great White Hope" and "Jerry Cooney". I don't recall that Andy would ever really fight back - he usually took the high road. It seems that he usually shrugged it off as "Barry being Barry". I think Barry's bashing of Van Slyke had to do with the fact that Andy was just a more popular player even though he was not as talented as Barry. I think that killed Barry's ego. But Barry's ego wouldn't allow him to see the fact that his public bashing of his teammates just made him more unpopular, regardless of how talented he was on the field and it had nothing to do with race.

I'll never forget the comment he made after Bonilla came back to play in Three Rivers Stadium after leaving to go to the Mets in 1992. The Pirates offered him over $5 mil a year, but Andy was getting $4 mil and Bonilla felt he deserved much more money than Andy so he went to the Mets. (Of course, the Pirates were a small market team that couldn't give him the tons of money he wanted.) When he came back to play against the Pirates, the fans booed him and mocked him by waving money in the air. After the game, Bonds said this: "It's a black thing, of course. Are you telling me that the fans would have done the same thing to Andy Van Slyke, Mr. Pittsburgh? Bobby and Andy don't get along. And I bet that Van Slyke won't have anything to say about Bobby this weekend because he knows that Bobby can walk in here and beat the s--- out of him. He couldn't have done it last year. No one on this team can touch Andy. If you do, they'll release. I guarantee it."

I have to think that comments like that bothered Andy, even if he didn't say anything. However, all these years later, maybe Andy doesn't care anymore and doesn't mind bashing Barry. Barry certainly deserves it.

100% true! i grew up reading in the local papers everyday what barry would say and andy, being the classy person he is, wouldn't say anything yet barry would just yap and yap and yap. funny how barry thought he wasn't respected around here because he was and greatly appreciated. remember when he hit that homer off of lee smith in the bottom of the ninth to win that game in pittsburgh in '92...the one where as soon as he hit it he raised his arms in the air? i was at the next game they played and got there early to watch BP. as soon as he walked onto the field he got a standing ovation from the 5 or 6 thousand that was there. when they were announcing the lineups during pre-game he got another ovation and when he first came to bat he got the same thing again! yeah, he wasn't respected and it was a racial issue...please...he's just a sorry, dellusional and insecure person.

one last thing...do you remember what andy had to say about barry's commments when he called him "mr. pittsburgh"? typical andy...all he said was, "i'm not mr. pittsburgh. mario lemieux is!" i still get a kick out of that today and barry had nothing to say about that! LOL

[Gooch]

Thanks for all your responses. It seems that now in light of the recent ugly revelations, Van Slyke has won his war with Bonds.