While Andy Thompson has embedded himself with the Los Angeles Lakers to collect footage, fellow The Last Dance producers Connor Schell and Libby Geist have steadily been occupying themselves with an HBO documentary about one of history’s greatest (and controversial) baseball players: Barry Bonds.
Despite being a legendary all-rounder with an entire Wikipedia entry worth of “unprecedented” accolades + accomplishments, Bonds has never been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame due to being a central figure in the MLB’s steroids scandal.
In 2007, he was indicted on perjury and obstruction of justice charges after allegedly lying to a grand jury during the federal government’s investigation of BALCO – a manufacturer of an undetectable steroid. While the perjury charges were eventually dropped, Bonds was convicted for obstruction of justice in 2011; later overturned in 2015.
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“The untitled HBO Sports documentary will tell the story of Barry Bonds, baseball’s single-season and all-time home run king, from his beginnings as the son of All-Star Bobby Bonds, and godson of the iconic Willie Mays, all the way up to his meteoric rise in the 1990s and 2000s,” revealed the project’s press release (via Deadline).
“Using archival footage and original interviews, the film will chronicle Bonds’ emergence as one of the game’s most talented all-around players with the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants and then his years as a superstar with the Giants when he rewrote the record book in his late 30s amid controversy.”
Schell and Geist, who are also creators of ESPN’s 30 For 30 series, are executive producing the Barry Bonds documentary alongside the Academy Award-winning Ezra Edelman (OJ: Made in America), while Keith McQuirter (By Whatever Means Necessary: The Times of Godfather of Harlem) has signed on as the director. This will be a collaborative production between HBO and Word+ Pictures.
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“Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1990s, Barry Bonds was the ultimate superstar,” said Keith McQuirter via statement.
“You couldn’t escape his name or his game, his story, or his personality. Every time he stepped up to the plate, the energy was electric – because he wasn’t just competing with his contemporaries, he was competing with history.”
“Bonds was undoubtedly controversial, but no matter how you felt about him, his pursuit of becoming the greatest player of all time was mesmerizing.”
McQuirter added: “Through a series of interviews, we will illuminate the untold story of Bonds, providing an intimate look behind the scenes. It will all add up to a complex journey that was one of the most enduring and consequential tales in American sports history – a tale I can’t wait to tell.”
HBO’s Barry Bond documentary release date: TBA.
