The way Jim Leyland looks at it, he and Barry Bonds grew up together in the major leagues. When they broke into the Pirates organization, Bonds was a rookie player and Leyland was a rookie manager. They learned how to succeed at the major league level and matured together over seven seasons in Pittsburgh.
Now, almost 32 years after leading the Pirates to the NLCS in 1992, Leyland and Bonds were inducted into the Pirates Hall of Fame together on Saturday during a special ceremony ahead of the Pirates' matchup against the Reds.
"That made it extra special," Leyland said of being inducted alongside Bonds.
The two Pirates legends both used their induction speeches to praise the other for the part they played in their careers. Bonds called Pittsburgh "part of his destination and part of his journey" but added that meeting Leyland was "probably the best thing that ever happened to me."
Leyland returned the favor just moments later when he said he was going into the Pirates Hall of Fame alongside Manny Sanguillen and "my friend and the best baseball player I've ever managed, the great Barry Bonds. We're back together ... again."
Leading up to the ceremony, Leyland said he and Bonds got to talk a few times about how special this moment was. While they don't talk every week, Leyland said the two still have a special relationship because they understand one another.
"I like to think, and I guess I'm kinda gloating about it, but I like to think that I know Barry Bonds better than a lot of people," Leyland said. "I'm proud to say that because I know the type of person he is underneath. A little surly and all that, you can talk about all that stuff till the cows come home. But, I know the Barry Bonds that a lot of people don't know."
Bonds and Leyland both joined the Pirates in 1986 and developed their friendship over the next seven seasons before Bonds left for the Giants after the 1992 season. But when the pair first met, they didn't know much about each other. However, Bonds said Leyland was able to simplify everything for the Pirates. He allowed them to be who they were as long as they came ready to work.
"His expectations weren't high, but he demanded respect and for us to do our job," Bonds said. "We had to be there on time, give what we got and prepare ourselves the best we could prepare ourselves."
Over those seven seasons, the Pirates endured ups and downs. They only recorded one winning season in Leyland's first four years as the manager.
But those down years allowed both of them to grow up. Throughout the festivities on Saturday, both Leyland and Bonds mentioned enduring the boos and the cheers from the fans in Pittsburgh during that time. Bonds even thanked them.
"Thank you to the fans here as well because you booed us when we needed it, we were always grateful for that when we needed that, weren't we Skip," Bonds said during his induction speech. "You cheered us when we needed your help and we always appreciated that too. We respected that."
Starting in 1990, the Pirates tallied 289 wins over the next three years and went to the NLCS three years in a row. While loaded with a team full of talented players, Bonds was a big piece of that success and Leyland understood that. He still does to this day.
“They (the fans) got to watch one of the greatest players to ever play this game," Leyland said. "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.”
Saturday's induction was the third since the inaugural class in 2022. Bonds said when he received the call from Pirates owner Bob Nutting he was "shocked it was happening" because it wasn't something that was around when he was here.
"I didn't know anything about it so I was shocked," Bonds said. "But it was nice, coming back to a place where my career started."
And he got to do it next to his first major league manager and a longtime friend.
