Entering Pirates’ HOF with Leyland ‘special’ for Bonds

Being inducted into the Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Fame with Barry Bonds made it “extra special” for Jim Leyland, even if their roles were reversed Saturday at PNC Park.

Where the brash Bonds was humbled by the honor, the low-key Leyland got to gloat about another accolade after the former Pirates manager was enshrined last month into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

“I will say this — and I guess I’m bragging: I do sit at home once in a while at night and say, ‘Holy (crap)! You’re in the Hall of Fame,’” Leyland said. “That’s unbelievable. … I have a great appreciation for it. I never took my players for granted. I don’t take this award for granted. But it’s awful special to end up in Cooperstown.”

From the back of the press conference room at PNC Park, Bonds interrupted by shouting for Leyland to gloat about being one of 23 managers in the Hall of Fame. Ironically, it’s a museum from which Bonds, baseball’s alltime home runs leader, has been excluded.

So Leyland reveled in being reunited with and inducted alongside Bonds, whom he called “the best baseball player I ever managed.” While Leyland became legendary for berating Bonds at spring training in 1991, the two talked about how their relationship has transcended time.

“We’re back together again,” Leyland said. “I’ve often said sometimes, 38 years of friendship gets disrupted by a two-minute arguent.”

Where the third member of their Hall of Fame class, catcher Manny Sanguillen, accepted his honor with enthusiasm, Bonds’ and Leyland’s voices cracked as they extended their thanks to the Pirates, the City of Pittsburgh and its fans.

Bonds talked about baseball’s Black icons dying, from his father, Bobby, and godfather, Willie Mays, to Willie McCovey, Joe Morgan and Hank Aaron, whose career home runs record he broke. Leyland expressed his gratitude for the Pirates “believing in a no-name minor league manager” and quipped that his hiring in 1986 inspired headlines of “Jim Who?”

“We didn’t know anything about Jim Leyland, and he didn’t know anything about us,” said Bonds, who made his major league debut in ’86. “When he first came in, he simplified everything. His expectations weren’t high. Just demanded respect and for us to do our job.”

Leyland inherited a 104loss team and won 85 games two years later, then three consecutive NL East Division titles from 1990-92 as Bonds matured into a superstar who won two NL MVP awards and three Gold Gloves with the Pirates before leaving for the San Francisco Giants.

“I was so happy because, hey, we grew up together,” Leyland said. “He was a rookie player, I was a rookie manager. So we suffered some time to learn the game up here at this level, to learn what it took to play at this level. I needed to find out what it took to manage at this level. But we were always together.

“Pittsburgh is a funny place. They supported us so much. I’m so grateful for (the fans). I can remember our first year here, it was corny, actually. If we ran a ball out, we got a standing ovation because things had not been very good here for awhile. I took to this place and, hopefully, some of the people took to me.

“They got to watch one of the greatest players to ever play this game. I don’t get into who’s the greatest. I don’t want to get into any controversy. But you can make an argument that they got to watch one of the top three, five players of all time play. That’s pretty special.”

So entering the Pirates Hall of Fame together was extra special, even if the fact that Leyland is enshrined in Cooperstown and Bonds isn’t doesn’t sit well with either of them.

In his acceptance speech, Bonds alluded to his exclusion. After falling short of the necessary 75% vote by the Baseball Writers Association of America, he’s eligible for consideration at the December 2025 meeting of the Hall’s Contemporary Baseball Player Committee.

“I just hope my mom is still around if anything else comes along in my life,” Bonds said. “Big ‘if’ — I hope my mom is alive to see it.”