Love Me, Hate Me: Barry Bonds and the Making of an Antihero | 
 enlarge | Author: Jeff Pearlman
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  24 reviews
Sales Rank: 323420
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.5 x 5.5 x 1.1
ISBN: 0060797533
Dewey Decimal Number: 796
EAN: 9780060797539
ASIN: 0060797533
Publication Date: March 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: New & Unread Book thatHave Remainder Mark/ May Have Slight Handling Wear From Bookstore Shelf IN-STOCK Now For Immediate Secure Packaging & Delivery!
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Product Description
No player in the history of baseball has left such an indelible mark on the game as San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds. In his twenty-year career, Bonds has amassed an unprecedented seven MVP awards, eight Gold Gloves, and more than seven hundred home runs, an impressive assortment of feats that has earned him consideration as one of the greatest players the game has ever seen. Equally deserved, however, is his reputation as an insufferable braggart, whose mythical home runs are rivaled only by his legendary ego. From his staggering ability and fabled pedigree (father Bobby played outfield for the Giants; cousin Reggie Jackson and godfather Willie Mays are both Hall of Famers) to his well-documented run-ins with teammates and the persistent allegations of steroid use, Bonds inspires a like amount of passion from both sides of the fence. For many, Bonds belongs beside Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron in baseball's holy trinity; for others, he embodies all that is wrong with the modern athlete: aloof; arrogant; alienated. In Love Me, Hate Me, author Jeff Pearlman offers a searing and insightful look into one of the most divisive athletes of our time. Drawing on more than five hundred interviews -- with former and current teammates, opponents, managers, trainers, friends, and outspoken critics and unapologetic supporters alike -- Pearlman reveals, for the first time, a wonderfully nuanced portrait of a prodigiously talented and immensely flawed American icon whose controversial run at baseball immortality forever changed the way we look at our sports heroes.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 19 more reviews...
 Very interesting read July 10, 2007
This is quite simply one of the best sports biographies I have ever read. It is written in a very readable and interesting manner. Very highly recommended.
A Different Perspective August 27, 2006
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
The author certainly did his homework by interviewing over 500 people who have had some interaction with Bonds over his life in order to write this book. What was grat about this book was that it wasn't written by Bonds or from the perspective of the author it was more other peoples true experiences about Bonds spun into a book. This was a fresh look at this guy and not written to drag him down or to glorify him, you are left to make your own opinion. I liked it.
 Barry Bonds August 18, 2006
3 out of 22 found this review helpful
I thought this would be a good book for a teen to read, however, there was much too much foul language.
Excellent insight into Barry Bonds July 25, 2006
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
Excellent book. Very entertaining. If you are a baseball fan this is a must have as it talks of Bonds throughout his baseball career. There are many quotes from his teammates on the Pirates and the Giants as well as items from his college days.
The book talks about his marriages and his relationship with his dad.
I finished this book in a week when it usually takes me a month or so to finish a book. I could not put it down.
The Link Between Insecurity and Greatness. July 7, 2006
12 out of 13 found this review helpful
This book is ironically titled because the real Barry Bonds, who you feel like they know after finishing Jeff Pearlman's thrilling biography, is a man one can neither love nor hate. His excellence is tarnished by his personality which is so obviously confused that, despite the brutality with which he treats others, renders one incapable of hating him. Barry Bonds is yet another example of self-esteem having an inverse relationship with success. Had Bonds been a satisfied young man, he would have never expended every particle of his physical and mental energy conquering a craft which would one day make him a national celebrity and a fabulously wealthy person. Bonds's infinitesimal self-doubt caused him to train like, and with, Jerry Rice and even cry on the rare occasion he had to miss a game, but it also alienated almost everyone he came into contact with. He is a petty, abrasive, and irritable man who is entirely devoid of social skills. This reality makes one pity him which is not the reaction one expects to have towards a finger pointing, whining mega-millionaire. When you look at the numbers over the course of his career, it is readily apparent that Bonds really is the Michael Jordan of baseball, and that most of us don't realize it is directly related to the horrendous way with which he interacts with peers, the press, the fans, and your average citizen. I am a fairly hardened person, but I was shocked to read the passages documenting this icon's habit of berating small children who ask for his autograph. He seems to insult and slight others for absolutely no reason whatsoever. As for steroids and BALCO, Pearlman does not hedge on the issue which is quite appropriate considering the evidence. The author is certain that the allegations against Bonds are true, and the stigma he is now under is doubly tragic because the reality is that the Giant would have gone to the Hall of Fame without an ounce of illegal substance. After the scandal, it's now a crap shoot as to whether or not he'll ever make it to Cooperstown. This is a cautionary tale.
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