All you need to know about Bonds.
"Sure, he was enigmatic and problematic, that has always been embedded in his personality. He couldn’t connect with teammates. He could barely tolerate the media. And he just couldn’t get his arms around the fans’ expectations. For Bonds, baseball itself was supposed to be the only thing that mattered. Everything else — everything else — annoyed him to no end.
“Why can’t people just enjoy the show?” he asked. “And then let the entertainer go home and get his rest, so he can put on another show? But in baseball, you get to see us, touch us, trade our cards, buy and sell our jerseys. To me, that dilutes the excitement.
“Autograph seekers! When I go to a movie, after the final credits roll, I get up and leave. It’s the end. But I’m supposed to stand out there for three hours and then sign autographs? Fans pay $10 to see ‘Batman,’ they don’t expect to get Jack Nicholson’s autograph.”
The article:
https://theathletic.com/1730039/2020...3-barry-bonds/
Back in the 90's, the story was that Bonds did not like the way the media or MLB treated his dad.
Back in the 90's Bonds was scheduled to sign at a Tuff-Stuff show in Richmond. If memory serves he was signing with his dad. EVERYONE signed on the sweet spot of the ball, but Bonds. In the advertising for the show, it specifically stated "no sweet spot" for Bonds.
I will never add Bonds to my collection and I am okay with it.
I would not say that Willie Mays was a prolific signer. From time to time he would be advertised to sign at shows in Secaucus, NJ. I never had a problem with Mays. His eyesight was pretty poor, so you had to be on your game about which pen he had in his hand and the placement of your item. He had the tendency to flip items upside down. Over the years I managed to get Mays 4-5 times. He was not a talker but overall pleasant.