{"id":813,"date":"2014-03-31T08:01:00","date_gmt":"2014-03-31T08:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=813"},"modified":"2015-01-09T15:52:58","modified_gmt":"2015-01-09T20:52:58","slug":"jim-leyland-and-barry-bonds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/03\/31\/jim-leyland-and-barry-bonds\/","title":{"rendered":"Jim Leyland and Barry Bonds"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"(Peter <\/a>
(Peter Diana\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div>
\"June <\/a>
June 21, 1987: Willie Stargell was good friends with Bobby Bonds, father of Barry. (John Kaplan\/Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"April <\/a>
April 19, 1988: Bonds batting at the beginning of his third season with the Pirates. (Mark Murphy\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Sept. <\/a>
Sept. 22, 1990: Bonds literally stealing his 50th base of the year. (Post-Gazette photo) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Aug. <\/a>
Aug. 16, 1990: Bonds flips his hat in disagreement with the umpire. Future Pirates manager Gene Lamont is on the left. (Mark Murphy\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div>
\"September <\/a>
September 1991: Barry Bonds watching batting practice. He hit 25 home runs and finished second in MVP that season. (Peter Diana\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Few figures in Pittsburgh sports history are as polarizing as Barry Bonds.<\/p>\n

Penguins\u2019 fans still begrudge Jaromir Jagr\u2019s 2001 exit and 2011 non-return<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And Ernie Stautner, for a time<\/a>, rankled Steelers fans as few others have done since.<\/p>\n

But Barry Bonds left the Pirates after their 1992 NLCS loss<\/a>, and the team went on to endure 20 seasons of futility. Those weren\u2019t all his fault, but try telling that to most Bucco fans, especially after his legacy became synonymous with performance-enhancing drugs.<\/p>\n

On Friday, the Pirates decided<\/a> to invite Bonds, former manager Jim Leyland and retired shortstop Jack Wilson back to PNC Park to present last season\u2019s awards.<\/p>\n

Reaction, mostly against<\/a>, is swift and visceral.<\/p>\n

But in the Post-Gazette\u2019s photo archive, the images of Bonds as a young draft pick nearly 29 years ago bring different reactions. As a rising star for the Pirates, he seems almost like a different Barry Bonds.<\/p>\n

His mercurial attitude is evident \u2014 note the helmet flip after a called third strike \u2014 but so is his charm, joshing with Willie Stargell in the dugout in May 1987.<\/p>\n

Will Pittsburgh fans forgive and welcome him back on Opening Day? We shall see.<\/p>\n

UPDATED: Here\u2019s Brady McCullough\u2019s take<\/a>\u00a0on the reaction to his return.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Few figures in Pittsburgh sports history are as polarizing as Barry Bonds.<\/p>\n

Look at the picturesJim Leyland and Barry Bonds<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[944],"tags":[964,965,969,1007,1010,1228,1027,1035,1047],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/tumblr_n3622mx41X1rr5swxo2_1280.jpg?fit=1280%2C734&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1365,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/09\/25\/the-last-time-the-pirates-reached-the-playoffs\/","url_meta":{"origin":813,"position":0},"title":"The last time the Pirates reached the playoffs","date":"September 25, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Until two days ago, some Pirates fans may have thought the playoffs were unreachable for their favorite team.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/tumblr_mtnjep4kH81rr5swxo4_r1_1280.jpg?fit=1020%2C661&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2475,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/09\/28\/oct-29-1964-sen-goldwater-in-pittsburgh\/","url_meta":{"origin":813,"position":1},"title":"Sen. Goldwater in Pittsburgh","date":"September 28, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Barry Goldwater, contestant against Lyndon Johnson greeted the Pittsburgh crowd at the Civic Arena.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/tumblr_mayuoe4Qar1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C663&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5054,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2015\/02\/25\/pittsburgh-mascots-known-not-well-known\/","url_meta":{"origin":813,"position":2},"title":"Pittsburgh mascots: Known & not so well-known","date":"February 25, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"How well do you know your Pittsburgh mascots?","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/img031.jpg?fit=1200%2C818&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2472,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/09\/28\/oct-29-1964-barry-goldwater-campaigns-in\/","url_meta":{"origin":813,"position":3},"title":"Barry Goldwater campaigns in Pittsburgh","date":"September 28, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"This proof sheet shows photographs taken of Sen. Goldwater leaving the Penn-Sheraton Hotel and speaking at a Civic Arena rally.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/tumblr_mayuzouTw71rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C804&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":22,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/12\/05\/dec-10-1969-three-rivers-stadiums-steel\/","url_meta":{"origin":813,"position":4},"title":"Three Rivers Stadium\u2019s steel","date":"December 5, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"On the materials that went into Three Rivers Stadium: where it all came from, and where it is today.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/tumblr_ng2y1lF6Zx1rr5swxo3_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C872&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2443,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/10\/08\/willie-stargell\/","url_meta":{"origin":813,"position":5},"title":"Willie Stargell Day","date":"October 8, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"We called him \u201cPops.\u201d He spent his entire 21-year playing career with the Pirates, hit 475 homers and helped the Bucs win World Series titles in 1971 and \u201879.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/tumblr_mbjkey2IMW1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C797&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=813"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4009,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813\/revisions\/4009"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}