Barry Bonds
The reigning Home Run king, has seen his legitimacy to throne questioned on numerous occasions. He has 762 career long balls, dwarfing his nearest competitors’ numbers. Instead of being the darling of the era, no one has come under more scrutiny for steroid use than Barry Bonds. He is seen to embody all of the problems with the entire era of baseball.
It is partially Bonds’ fault. He was always confrontational, never afraid to spar with reporters questioning him. This rubbed a lot of fans the wrong way, which made them quick to judge. Yet, in San Francisco, where he played towards the end of his career, he was still considered a hero. When he was indicted for perjury for allegedly lying to a grand jury during the BALCO case, a lot of his die hard fans lost faith in him. It was a very dark period for baseball, and Bonds.