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Barry Bonds Says Steinbrenner Issued 2 p.m. Ultimatum That Thwarted 1992 Yankees Deal

The on-air claim clashes with contemporaneous accounts, inviting scrutiny of who delivered the deadline.

Overview

  • Bonds, who joined Netflix's YankeesGiants broadcast Wednesday, said George Steinbrenner told him to sign by 2 p.m. that day and he identified Steinbrenner by name for the first time.
  • He said he hung up and then chose San Francisco, later signing a six-year, $43.75 million contract that kept him with the Giants for the rest of his career.
  • The New York Times in December 1992 reported a two-day window for the Yankees’ offer and a dispute over a sixth year, which conflicts with Bonds’ same-day deadline account.
  • Reporters noted Steinbrenner was barred from team operations until March 1993 for his role in the Dave Winfield affair, raising doubts about whether he personally made such a call in 1992.
  • Coverage split between speculation about how a Bonds move might have altered the Yankees’ late‑1990s titles and skepticism from outlets highlighting discrepancies and the challenge of verifying an old phone call.