Barry Bonds is reportedly preparing a lawsuit against Major League Baseball around the possibility of collusion following the 2007 campaign.
Jon Heyman of CBS Sports shared the details Monday:
Baseball's all-time home run king Barry Bonds is said to be working on a lawsuit against MLB regarding his claim of collusion against him by MLB teams that prevented him from obtaining a playing job following the 2007 season, people with knowledge of the case said.
Bonds has said since that time he believes that there was a concerted effort to keep him out of the game by baseball powers, though he sought to wait to file suit until his legal issues related to BALCO were resolved.
The BALCO issues were settled when a U.S. Court of Appeals reversed his felony conviction for obstruction of justice from his grand jury testimony in 2003.
Since the decision cleared him in the case, he "is planning to move ahead with a suit against MLB, if he hasn't started the suit already," per Heyman.
Bonds was linked to performance-enhancing drugs and wasn't well-liked around the league, especially after he broke Hank Aaron's all-time home run record of 755, as Heyman mentioned.
Just based on production, Bonds should have earned a job following the 2007 season. Heyman noted that Bonds said he would play for the minimum salary, but no team even offered him that, despite hitting 28 home runs and leading the National League with a .480 on-base percentage for the San Francisco Giants.
If nothing else, signing Bonds would have invited an unwanted media circus.
Jesse Spector of Sporting News offered something of a humorous response to the news of a potential lawsuit:
Heyman reported that "Bonds had some talks with MLB at some point in recent years about working out a deal with MLB in which he'd receive a job in the game, but it appears nothing came of those discussions."
Bonds, 50, spent time as a spring instructor with the Giants in 2014.
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