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Barry Bonds Preparing Grievance Against MLB; Lawsuit Next?

NEW YORK (WFAN) -- Barry Bonds is preparing to take a big swing at Major League Baseball.

The all-time home runs leader "is working now on a grievance" with the players' union accusing MLB of colluding to keep him off the field, according to CBSSports.com and WFAN baseball insider Jon Heyman.

His grievance could be a precursor to a lawsuit against the league, Heyman reported.

Bonds was effectively nudged into retirement after the 2007 season when he couldn't find any takers in free agency. Jeff Borris, the slugger's agent, said in July 2008 that he offered Bonds to "numerous" teams at the minimum salary, which was under $400,000 at the time.

Bonds batted .276 with a .480 on-base percentage for the San Francisco Giants in '07. He hit 28 home runs that year, passing Hank Aaron and ending his career with an MLB record 762 long balls.

Former MLB Commissioner Bud Selig is among those who still consider Aaron to be baseball's true home-run king -- not Bonds, whose legacy has been tarnished by steroids accusations.

"Bonds has told folks since he left the game he believes there was a concerted effort to keep him out of the game by baseball powers, though he sought to wait to go ahead with his case until his legal issues related to (baseball's BALCO performance-enhancing drugs scandal) were resolved," Heyman reported.

A federal appeals court recently threw out Bonds' obstruction of justice conviction related to the BALCO case.

The 50-year-old returned to the Giants as a spring training instructor in 2014 and worked with New York Yankees designated hitter Alex Rodriguez this past offseason. He was named on only 36.8 percent of the ballots in this year's Hall of Fame voting, well shy of the 75 percent needed for induction.

 

 

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