Brandon Brown
It’s not the National Baseball Hall of Fame, but Barry Bonds will indeed be inducted into the Hall of Fame this summer. On Tuesday, the Pittsburgh Pirates announced that Bonds, along with Jim Leyland and Manny Sanguillen, are the team’s 2024 Hall of Fame inductees. The induction ceremony will be Saturday, August 24, at PNC Park.
“As an organization, we are proud to add three important members to the Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Fame,” Pirates President Bob Nutting said in a statement. “Included in this year’s class is a two-time MVP award winner, Barry, two-time Manager of the Year award winner, Jim, and two-time World Series champion with the Pirates, Manny. All three honorees are very deserving of this prestigious recognition. We look forward to celebrating your induction with our fans and sharing your stories with generations to come.
The Pirates selected Bonds in the first round of the 1985 draft and he reached the big leagues the following year. In parts of seven seasons with Pittsburgh, Bonds put together a .275/.380/.503 batting line and won two MVP awards (1990 and 1992). He finished second in MVP voting in 1991. Bonds, he helped the team win three consecutive division titles and appearances in the National League Championship Series from 1990-92.
“It’s great. That’s where my career started, right? That’s who drafted me. I couldn’t have had a better coach, a better team, a better starting point for me. It was perfect.” Bonds said in a recorded video. “We built a bond that will never be broken. Being able to tell my kids that their dad was inducted into the Pirates Hall of Fame is a big moment.”
After the 1992 season, Bonds signed a six-year, $43.75 million free agent contract with the San Francisco Giants. It was the largest contract in baseball history at the time. Bonds is ninth on Pittsburgh’s all-time WAR leaderboard, and is also fifth on the home run leaderboard and seventh on the stolen base leaderboard. He hit 176 of his record 762 home runs with the Pirates.
Because of connections to performance-enhancing drugs, Bonds was not voted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame during his 10 years on the Baseball Writers’ Association of America ballot. He fell on the ballot in 2022. Bonds was also not voted on by the Hall of Fame’s Contemporary Era Committee in 2022. The committee is made up of Hall of Famers, executives and historians.
Leyland was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Contemporary Era Committee last winter. He coached the Pirates from 1986-96 and his 851 wins rank third on the franchise’s all-time list. Leyland was named Pittsburgh’s Manager of the Year in 1990 and 1992.
Sanguillen played 12 seasons with the Pirates from 1967-76 and 1978-80. He was a three-time All-Star for Pittsburgh and was considered one of the best catchers of his era. Sanguillen helped the Pirates win the 1971 and 1979 World Series.
The Pirates began their Hall of Fame with an inaugural class of 19 people in 2022. Four more were added in 2023.
