Baseball is the oldest major league sport in United States today. With the growing popularity of football and basketball, baseball now must share the with these sports. During the late 1990s, baseball in trouble. Attendance was down. High profile sports featured fast-paced action such as football and basketball stealing baseball's thunder. That was all before Barry and a couple of other sluggers brought the back to center stage.

Bonds played the first of his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, where enjoyed moderate success. After being traded to the Francisco Giants in 1992, Bonds began a second that put him into the spotlight for both right and wrong reasons. At an age when players begin to decline in performance because of advancing age, Bonds went on a home run that was unprecedented in the history of the .

Bonds never hit more than 34 home runs one year for the Pirates, but, playing for Giants, he hit an astounding 73 home runs 2001. This shattered a record that had stood 40 years. Bonds was 38 years old by end of the 2001 season, and many questioned he could put up numbers like that. The to that question came out years later when was accused of taking illegal, performance-enhancing drugs. Bonds broke Henry Aaron's record for most home runs a career, but many baseball purists feel that record is tainted because of the illegal drug .

Bonds' post baseball career has been damaged because the drug use, and Major League Baseball has a drug use policy since his retirement. He indicted by a federal grand jury on charges perjury for lying about his drug use, but able to strike a deal to stay out jail. In any event, his legacy is forever .