Ex-Giants great Barry Bonds: MLB gave me 'death sentence'

March 9 (UPI) -- Former San Francisco Giants star Barry Bonds believes Major League Baseball has exiled him since his retirement in 2007.

In a wide-ranging interview published Sunday by The Athletic, Bonds said his heart has been "really broken" by MLB and feels the league has essentially banished him over allegations of steroid use.

"A death sentence. That's what they've given me," Bonds said. "... I feel like a ghost. A ghost in a big empty house, just rattling around."

Bonds' comments came less than two months after the seven-time National League MVP received only 60.7 percent of votes for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. He needs to be included on 75 percent of the ballots to be enshrined in Cooperstown.

"If they don't want me, just say you don't want me and be done with it," Bonds said. "Just be done with it."

Bonds never publicly admitted to using steroids, but he told a grand jury that he used a substance that prosecutors say contains steroids. In 2015, federal prosecutors dropped what was left of their criminal case against him.

"I know what I did out there," Bonds said. "I know what I accomplished between those lines. It's outside those lines that I would have done some things different."

Bonds ended his 22-year career with 762 home runs, the most in league history. He also set baseball's single-season record for homers with 73 in the 2001 season.

Bonds, 55, has two more chances to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. His final year on the ballot is 2022.