The day Barry Bonds hung up the phone on the Yankees

Santo Domingo. The historical home run leader of Major League Baseball, Barry Bonds, revealed that he was very close to signing with the New York Yankees during the 1992 free agency, but a last-minute decision changed the course of his career and baseball history.

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The confession was made during the broadcast of the opening game between the Giants and the Yankees. Bonds said that the then-owner of the Yankees, George Steinbrenner, personally called him to make him a millionaire offer. According to Bonds, Steinbrenner told him that the Yankees were willing to make him the highest-paid player in history, but on the condition that he sign the contract before 2:00 p.m. that same day. The pressure of the moment caused the player to react with surprise and hang up the phone. Minutes later, while he was going to have lunch, his agent called him to ask if he knew what he had just done. Bonds explained that he needed more time to think about the proposal, but shortly after he received a call from the San Francisco Giants, the team from the city where he grew up and where his father, Bobby Bonds, had played for several years. At that moment he made the decision and said: “I’m going home.” That same year, Bonds signed a six-year, $42.75 million contract with San Francisco, an organization with which he played until 2007, playing 1,976 games, hitting 586 home runs and driving in 1,440 runs. Barry Bonds finished his career with 762 home runs, the most in Major League history, and his decision to sign with San Francisco instead of New York changed the fate of two franchises and one of the most impactful careers in baseball history.