Ricky Bottalico calls Netflix out for ‘bold-faced lie’ about Barry Bonds incident

Former Philadelphia Phillies pitcher and current sports radio host Ricky Bottalico plunked Barry Bonds on purpose, and he wants Netflix to know it.

Bonds joined Netflix for the streamer’s first broadcast of the MLB Home Run Derby from Citizen’s Bank Park in Philadelphia Monday night. And during its coverage, host Elle Duncan recalled the time Bonds charged the Philadelphia pitcher’s mound against Bottalico back in 1998.

“Still to this day, he swears it just got away from him,” Duncan said after Bonds reflected on the incident, which was the only time he charged the mound in his MLB career.

“No it didn’t, it did not get away,” Bonds insisted. “He’s a good pitcher and he’s a good man. In that situation, it was part of the game of baseball during that time, and I accepted it.”

There was maybe one day where Bottalico swore it got away from him. But in just about every other day since, Bottalico has been open about the fact that he plunked Bonds on purpose.

Ricky Bo sets the record straight on the hitting Barry Bonds incident after Netflix got it wrong last night. #hrderby#mlbpic.twitter.com/4KEmgBY0Mn

— 97.5 The Fanatic (@975TheFanatic) July 14, 2026

“Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong,” Bottalico responded to Elle Duncan and Netflix during his Tuesday afternoon show with co-host Bill Colarulo on 97.5 The Fanatic. “That is a bold-faced lie.

“I’ve told the story on this show, I’ve told the story on NBC Sports Philadelphia, I have told the story. I was told to go in and hit Barry Bonds. It’s that simple. When it happens, in the newspapers in the next day and all that back then, I had to say I didn’t do it on purpose or else I’m suspended for a month. It’s that simple. Yes, we had to lie back then!”

Bottalico explained that Bonds attempted to steal a base while the San Francisco Giants were already up by around seven runs on the Phillies. Shortly after that happened, manager Terry Francona phoned the bullpen and summoned an unnamed reliever to throw a pitch at Bonds. When that reliever allegedly declined, Bottalico was next man up, and he obliged with one pitch that garnered the only mound charge of Bonds’ career. Nearly three decades later, the story appeared to be news to Netflix.

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