Dissecting Barry Bonds and His Quick Flirtation with Yankees in Free Agency

Giants legend Barry Bonds did some rare television work on Wednesday as his former franchise hosted the New York Yankees on opening night at Oracle Park in a game broadcast on Netflix.

Bonds was present throughout the broadcast, beginning with sitting at the pregame desk and offering his take on a variety of topics. As the broadcast went on, it turned into story time as he told an otherwise unknown tale about the path not taken.

Apparently, there was a moment where Bonds could have been a member of the Yankees. This was back when he was a free agent after the 1992 season with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Barry Bonds, New York Yankee?

Barry Bonds tells the story of how he nearly became a Yankees player.

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Apparently, Bonds received a call from Yankees owner George Steinbrenner with an offer — but with a timeline. He said he could “tell the truth” now that Steinbrenner has passed away.

“Steinbrenner got on the phone, and he called us and he told me, ‘Barry, we’re going to give you the money, [make you] the highest-paid player at the time, but you have to sign the contract by two this afternoon,’ he said. “I said, ‘Excuse me?’ and I just hung up the phone.”

His agent, Dennis Gilbert, wasn’t pleased.

“He was like, ‘Do you know what you just did?” Bonds said. “I’m like, ‘Do you know what he just said?’ And I just said, ‘Forget it.’”

Bonds didn’t like the pressure. But for a moment, he had a second thought. And then he got another phone call.

“I walked down the street to go get lunch and I said, ‘Let me think about this.’ Then the Giants called me and I said, ‘I’m going home.’”

Bonds’ story took off on social media. But on Thursday morning, ESPN’s Buster Olney added some context to the story and the potential offer.

At the time, Steinbrenner did own the Yankees. But MLB had barred him in 1990 from participating in the day-to-day operations of the team after it was found he paid someone to dig up dirt on one of his players, Dave Winfield. At the time of the call, Steinbrenner wasn’t empowered to make offers. But, Olney acknowledged in a social media post that “…there was a general assumption George worked around the rules.”

Then Olney described why Gilbert might have been unhappy about Bonds’ quick dismissal of Steinbrenner’s overture.

“At that time, however, the Yankees were digging out after Steinbrenner's ugly stewardship of the late '80s, and were not considered a coveted destination by free agents; rather, players and agents often used them for leverage to get better deals from other teams. The previous year, the Yankees had signed another outfielder, Danny Tartabull, who was represented by agent Dennis Gilbert — who also repped Bonds.”

It all worked out. Bonds went to San Francisco, near where he was born in Riverside, Calif., where his father, Bobby played for the Giants alongside Willie Mays, who became Barry’s godfather.

Barry Bonds is a franchise legend, with his number returned and leads Major League Baseball in home runs in a season and for a career.