ADDENDUM: Please read updates to this description in regards to its condition.
After his first seven seasons in Pittsburgh (1986-92), Barry Bonds signed a lucrative free agent contract with the San Francisco Giants, the team he rooted for as a Bay Area high schooler. Nearly two decades after his dad, Bobby, made his Major League debut with the franchise, Bonds now found himself playing in an environment that was more home to the home run king. In Barry's first season with the Giants in 1993, he batted .336 and smashed 46 home runs to earn National League MVP honors for the third time in four years. The Godson of Willie Mays continued to punish the ball and rewrite the record books over the ensuing decade, until a leaguewide scandal unfolded.
Presented here is a Louisville Slugger H238 pro model model bat used by Bonds during one of his initial seasons in San Fran. The bat shows heavy game use and has a substantial handle crack with a narrow 6" long section piece missing. There are ball contact marks galore on the barrel and a light coat of pine tar on the lower handle. Bonds' #25 is written boldly in black marker on the knob end. The ash bat with a cup end measures just 33-7/8" and weighs 32.4 oz. (It probably lost an ounce from the missing cracked piece.) There are a few ball marks square on the barrell that likely resulted in a ball leaving the yard.
As the years go by and baseball fans come to grips with the reality of how widespread PED usage became (and still is, apparently) in the late 1990's, it's almost impossible not to appreciate the God-given talent and awe-inspiring feats of Barry Lamar Bonds. No player that stepped into the batter's box has ever given his opponents more anxiety or had more control over an opposing pitcher's mind on the mound. It should be noted that while this bat does not come with a letter from John Taube of PSA/DNA, we are confident it will pass with flying colors (although the grade won't be very high due to the crack and missing piece).