Barry Bonds has kept a relatively low profile since his “retirement” (some have speculated he was quietly forced out of the sport amid continuing steroid allegations) in 2007, only resurfacing for a brief stint as Marlins hitting coach in 2016. The Marlins’ ill-fated Bonds experiment lasted all of one season with former team president David Samson characterizing his experience working alongside MLB’s all-time home-run king as “a complete disaster.”
“He had fun as a hitting coach because he would hang out with [Giancarlo] Stanton and give Stanton some pointers. But he was ineffective, completely,” recalled Samson Thursday during his weekly appearance on The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz. “He would sleep in the clubhouse. He would not pay attention during games. He did not work hard. It was a complete disaster.”
Samson never wanted to hire Bonds in the first place, believing he’d be a distraction and “not worth the squeeze.” But he was overruled by owner Jeffrey Loria, who arranged for Bonds to interview with Marlins execs shortly after the 2015 season. Bonds was combative in his interview, refusing to work for a penny less than his desired $1.5 million, well above the standard rate for MLB hitting coaches.
“It was the worst interview I’ve ever been a part of,” said Samson. “Bonds was an absolute pain in the ass about pay because he knew he had the job.”
To hide that he was being paid so much more than other staffers (who probably would have quit on the spot had they known what was happening behind the scenes), most of Bonds’ 2016 salary was paid off the books with Miami secretly depositing over $1 million into the former Giants and Pirates slugger’s private holding company.
Bonds, a central figure in MLB’s steroid saga of the early 2000s (a major factor in his doomed Hall-of-Fame candidacy), in an instance of supreme irony, was irate when second baseman Dee Gordon was suspended for PEDs in 2016, storming out of the clubhouse when Gordon addressed the team after testing positive for clostebol (an anabolic steroid) and elevated testosterone levels.
“We’re in a team meeting, Dee is apologizing for doing steroids, or getting caught for doing steroids, and Barry Bonds, in the middle of the clubhouse, he’s standing toward the backdoor, he screams, ‘This is crap!’ and he walks out,” said Samson, describing Bonds’ outburst. “I look at [general manager] Mike Hill and I say, ‘Are you kidding me?’ Like Barry Bonds just stormed out as though he can’t believe one of the players did steroids? Is that really possible?”
Throughout his playing career, Bonds developed a reputation for being standoffish and difficult to work with, rubbing many of his teammates the wrong way by prioritizing his success over theirs. Samson found that sentiment to be true in Miami as well. “That’s what it was like. It was all about Barry. We had to do so many special things for him in terms of how we traveled, the hotel and the suite and the food, the money. It was just an absolute nightmare,” said Samson, who spent 16 years with the Marlins before Derek Jeter purged the front office upon his arrival as CEO in 2017. “He didn’t sell a ticket, he didn’t do anything to benefit the team at all. There were certain relationships with certain players that were decent, but no one got better because of him.”
Bonds appeared to be close with Giancarlo Stanton, often sitting next to him in the dugout during games. While Samson acknowledged the two were cordial, he suspects Bonds had an ulterior motive in mind. “You’d be surprised how many people know where the cameras are,” remarked Samson, insinuating Bonds was playing up his relationship with Stanton, the Marlins’ best player at the time, for his own benefit. “If you’re going to get your reputation back and get into the Hall of Fame, who would you hitch your star to on the Marlins?”
Clearly working with Bonds wasn’t a pleasant experience for Samson, who successfully convinced Loria not to renew the former outfielder’s contract after 2016. The 56-year-old again fell short of the 75 percent of votes needed to qualify for the Hall of Fame in 2021 (61.8 percent), giving him one last chance to gain Cooperstown enshrinement next year.
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow Audacy Sports
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram