Barry Bonds

[tsteele316]

He added: "Right now, I'm telling you, I don't even want to play next year. Baseball is a fun sport. But I'm not having fun. I love the game of baseball itself, but I don't like what it's turned out to be. I'm not mad at anybody. It's just that right now I am not proud to be a baseball player."

it's guys like you that make it what it has become. it sounds more to me like he doesnt waant to come back and tank thereby verifying that steroids are what got him this far.

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

2/21/06

BASEBALL

Giants stay calm about Bonds’ talk, late arrival

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Josh Dubow
ASSOCIATED PRESS

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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Shortly before 9 a.m. yesterday, an alarm went off in Scottsdale Stadium and caught everybody’s attention.

"Barry’s not here yet," Armando Benitez shouted out in the San Francisco Giants’ spring training clubhouse.
It was just a fire alarm — Barry Bonds’ arrival would have to wait.

One day after contradictory reports that Bonds was either ready to retire after the season or set to play 10 more years, the Giants slugger did not show up on the voluntary reporting date for position players.

That was no cause for concern, Giants general manager Brian Sabean said, because Bonds’ agent told the team last week that Bonds would come a day or two later _ still well before the Feb. 28 mandatory reporting date — because he needed to straighten out some "personal stuff."

After three knee operations that limited Bonds to 14 games last year, the Giants are eager to learn what they can expect from the 41-year-old outfielder.

"Given the fact that Barry didn’t play practically the entire season last year, we’d like to see him here early," manager Felipe Alou said. "But we can’t bring a guy here by force before the first of March."

Alou said he expects Bonds in camp today and has him listed in the first group of hitters for batting practice.

He said all the reports he has heard on Bonds’ knee have been positive but admitted that it concerned him to hear his star talk about how baseball is no longer fun for him.

"Usually when a guy feels like that, it’s time to think about retirement," Alou said, adding that he believes Bonds’ outlook will change once he joins the team.

Bonds told USA Today that his injured knee has forced him to take pain pills and that he plans to retire after the season, then said to MLB.com that he was just "playing psychological games" and his knee brace feels so good he might play another decade.

"Of course everything Barry Bonds says gets multiplied and is huge," Giants shortstop Omar Vizquel said. "People tend to talk about everything and every comment he makes. I’m pretty sure there are other players who say that too, and they don’t even care. ‘You are? OK, good luck.’ But he’s Barry Bonds."

Bonds is in the final season of his five-year, $90 million contract and will be eligible for free agency after the World Series, meaning his time with the Giants could be up even if he doesn’t retire.

The injuries last season slowed his pursuit of Hank Aaron’s career home run record, but he did hit five homers in 42 at-bats in his brief September return to give him 708 in his career.

He is seven shy of passing Babe Ruth for second place and 48 from breaking Aaron’s record. Since Bonds has hit that many only twice in his 20-year career — including his record 73 in 2001 — it seems unlikely he’ll break the mark this season. He turns 42 in July.

Vizquel thinks the retirement talk is premature because Bonds could decide to move to an AL team, where he could be a designated hitter.
"After being out for so long now, he’s going to come back and he his going to feel that kind of pain, the aching of the muscles and all that," said Vizquel, who turns 39 in April. "I think it’s just part of the game and part of the human body. . . . He’s 41. Every year it’s a lot harder. I think it’s just how he’s feeling right now. When you get used to the groove again, the traveling and everything else, you’re body starts feeling the same."

[scooter1369]

I'd like to see his stat sheet read nothing but "HBP" for the entire year.

[BB73]

Originally Posted by scooter1369

I'd like to see his stat sheet read nothing but "HBP" for the entire year.

DNP's also work for me.

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

2/22/06

Bonds undeserving of HR record

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

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Hank Aaron sometimes needs to find a chair at baseball receptions held in his honor. At 72, he has to take a load off his feet. That’s fair because he has carried his share of the sport’s weight for more than 50 years.
Aaron’s smile is still gentle, his manner reserved yet accommodating. Nevertheless, there has always been pain in his face. And there’s more now.
In recent years Aaron has buried five siblings and attended many more funerals of old friends. He muses quietly about those things, painful as they are, because they’re part of life.
However, he falls silent, diplomatic and noncommittal when Barry Bonds is mentioned. Compared to steroids, BALCO, "the clear" and "the cream," death is an easier topic.
Nobody in baseball, including Aaron, wants to think about Bonds stepping to the plate with a chance to hit a 756 th home run. It is the sport’s nightmare. For millions of fans, Aaron represents the apogee: a modest superstar and complete player.
Jackie Robinson endured more, but for Aaron the pursuit of Babe Ruth’s home run record was terrible enough with its hate mail and death threats. Perhaps no American athlete ever broke a more significant record under greater social pressure with such consummate grace.
For that, Aaron get tons of credit. And, frankly, he deserves better than to watch a guy such as Bonds, whose achievements have been tempered by suspicions that he used performanceenhancing drugs, break the career home run record. Aaron wouldn’t even switch leagues and become a designated hitter until he had passed Ruth’s record with plenty of home runs to spare.
Does Bonds understand? Does he grasp that Aaron defined himself as much by the dignified manner in which he broke Ruth’s record as by the record itself? Does he grasp that he could define himself, and show his true character, by graciously declining the crown of Home Run King?
For two years, with hints here and there, Bonds has tested the waters, trying to feel his way toward the most difficult decision of his career. Now it’s starting to look as if Bonds might do the right thing — for baseball, Aaron, and, most of all, himself. Whether you like Bonds or not, root for him to be wise.
On Sunday, Bonds gave one of his periodic whiney, self-centered I’m-the-victim interviews (in USA Today) that have so damaged his credibility and popularity. Few people are so tone-deaf to their own voice. Bonds said he is tired of baseball. It isn’t fun for him anymore because of "all the crap going on. . . . Thank you for all your criticism. Thank you for dogging me."
Besides, Bonds added, he has no cartilage remaining in one knee. "I’m bone on bone," he said, which has led him to ingest pain pills and sleeping pills. Bonds has said his father was an alcoholic and that he has a brother with drug problems, so flirting with dependencies should be a hereditary red flag. So, Bonds said, he would retire after the 2006 season. If he did, he would presumably hit the seven homers necessary to pass Ruth, but not the 48 needed to surpass Aaron.
"I’ve never cared about records anyway," Bonds said, likely prompting laughter from 20 years of teammates.
Later Sunday, Bonds did what he usually does. After calling the maximum amount of attention to himself, he reversed field. Why? To keep his options open and call maximum attention to himself.
"If I can play (in ’07), I’m going to play. If I can’t, I won’t. I’m playing psychological games with myself right now," Bonds said. "So I go back and forth every day. . . . This is what I’m struggling with."
For his whole career, Bonds has sabotaged himself whenever possible. Now, out of respect for Aaron, a contemporary of his father, Bobby, and his godfather, Willie Mays, will Bonds finally find some common sense?
If Bonds retires with more homers than Ruth, but fewer than Aaron, he might be amazed at the gratitude the sport affords him. Most fans are awed by Bonds’ achievements, no matter how they were accomplished. But those same fans are not suckers. Nobody has proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Bonds knowingly took steroids to boost his power. But what about "beyond a reasonable doubt?" For many fans, he’s already way over that line.
Bonds’ love of the game is genuine, his feats gargantuan. He deserves a place near the top of the sport, but not at the very apex. If he settles for what he deserves, he might find his records, and his reputation, age quite well despite all the doubts that surround his methods.
But if he is determined to take down Aaron’s record, if he grabs for what so many skeptics he has earned, then his sport and even his society might extract a lifetime of subtle retributions.
Thomas Boswell is a sports columnist for The Washington Post .

[AJHawkfan]

Great article man!

I wonder if Aaron ever complained about it "not being fun" when he was receiving those death threats?

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Bonds just never seems to suprise me with his ongoing antics.....what a prima dona....


ABJ

2/25/06

on Sat, Feb. 25, 2006
Bonds: Many homers, not so many words

JOSH DUBOW

Associated Press

<!-- begin body-content -->SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - Barry Bonds put on a batting-practice show Friday, hitting some long home runs that impressed observers - even if they did come off a 50-year old coach.
Bonds took batting practice for a third straight day in a positive sign for the San Francisco Giants, who are counting on him being fully recovered from three operations last year on his right knee.
He connected for eight home runs off first-base coach Luis Pujols, who was throwing from well in front of the mound. None of the homers were cheap, and one memorable shot went over the pavilion in right field and might have traveled close to 500 feet.
"He looks good, fresh," manager Felipe Alou said. "If you don't have any bat speed it's hard to catch up with what Pujols throws from such a short range."
Bonds earlier took live batting practice against Noah Lowry and Pedro Liriano, taking most of the pitches to work on his timing and only hitting a couple of balls hard. After getting too far out in front of a pitch from Liriano and grounding it to first, Bonds said, "Nasty changeup. Good changeup dude."
It's unknown how Bonds feels about his progress since he told media members he would not conduct any interviews until they signed a release waiver allowing footage of them to be shown on his upcoming reality TV show on ESPN.
"We asked to see a copy of the release," said Rich Levin, a spokesman for baseball commissioner Bud Selig. "We want to know more about it."
ESPN is working with Bonds for a behind-the-scenes look at his quest for baseball's all-time home-run record.
"ESPN is not responsible for asking for these waivers, and our reporters will be not be signing them," ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz said. "ESPN original entertainment, a separate division from our newsgathering operation, has been having ongoing discussions with an outside production company for this series, which hasn't been finalized or announced. These requests were a surprise to us."
Bonds played only 14 games last season as the knee injuries kept him out of the lineup until September. He showed some signs of his old power when he returned, hitting five homers in 42 at-bats to give him 708 in his career. He is seven shy of passing Babe Ruth for second place and 48 away from breaking Hank Aaron's record.
While Bonds has impressed Alou with his work in batting practice, the manager said he won't know for at least a couple of more days if Bonds will be ready to play in Thursday's spring training opener against the Milwaukee Brewers in Phoenix.
Bonds didn't play any exhibitions last season after having his first operation on the knee Jan. 31. After working out for a few weeks at spring training, Bonds had a setback and had a second operation March 17. Complications from that surgery led to the third operation May 2.
While Bonds has done plenty of hitting, he has done very little running, which he will need to do if he plays in his regular spot in left field. Alou said the team may request a waiver from the commissioner's office, asking for permission to use Bonds as a designated hitter even in spring games when the pitcher is supposed to bat.
But the manager said it's important Bonds plays some left field in the spring to get into proper shape to do it in the regular season.
As far as hitting goes, Alou likes what he's seen so far, comparing it to 2003, when Bonds hit 10 homers in spring trainin