Barry Bonds

[Spinach]

MILWAUKEE (AP) - Barry Bonds hit his 734th career home run Saturday night, breaking Hank Aaron's NL record in the same city where the Hall of Fame slugger started and ended his major league career.

I'm not a huge Bonds fan, but I have to admit he is getting close to the all time record. Steroids or not, a guy still has to hit the ball.

21 to go.....

[Ryan]

I will admit I am a Bonds fan, not as much anymore, but I still am.  You are right.  You can take all the steriods you want, but you still have to hit the ball.  Do you think he is going to come back next year to break the record?  I know he said earlier in the year that he was not going to, but I have not heard anything about it lately.  Maybe we could sign him to be our DH.

[Spinach]

I used to really like Bonds, I am not a Bonds hater like most baseball fans, I'm just dissapointed in him over the last few years. I used to really like him back in the killer B days (Bonds and Bonilla). No doubt about it though, the guy can smack the ball.

I think he'll come back next year as a DH somewhere, more than likely he'll need 20 or less home runs to break the record, I can't see anyone walking away being so close.

[Outdoors Junkie]

Bonds back to form
By Rich Draper / MLB.com


MILWAUKEE -- He leads the Majors with a .459 on-base percentage, has hit .409 on the road trip with a homer and nine RBIs, is ripping the ball at a .434 clip with runners in scoring position.
Oh yeah. He has 733 lifetime homers.

You get no guesses on who this man is, and if you ask Giants manager Felipe Alou if Barry Bonds could return in 2007 and be even better than he is now, his answer is quick, decisive.

"Yes," Alou said Saturday at Miller Park. "If he's healthy like he is and if they fix that

elbow [Bonds is considering bone chip removal], he'll probably be a lot better."

It took almost until mid-year before Bonds' bad knees allowed him to get a stable hitting base and regain health after three knee surgeries and a serious bacterial infection early in 2005.

"There was inactivity because of losing a complete season -- he played only two weeks [last year] -- and it took him awhile to get back, even the great hitter he is," said Alou.

"He didn't play that much in Spring Training and it took him awhile to be where he is."

Early in the year, Bonds looked old, feeble and hurt. His arthritic knees would act up, his defense suffered and his timing at the plate was way off.

Bonds batted .239 in May, 229 in June, .222 in July. But improved health helped rev his average to .333 in August and .327 so far in September.

He tied Hank Aaron's National League homer mark with his 25th blast of the season Friday night here and is currently 8-for-16 over a five-game hitting streak.

What has also helped is being surrounded by Shea Hillenbrand (batting third) and Ray Durham and Moises Alou behind him, who have been crushing the ball the past few months.

No margin for error pitching against the big man.

"You gotta think twice," said Alou of that particular dilemma. "The key is to play those guys all the time."

[Outdoors Junkie]

9/14/06

Bonds' future depends on family
Postseason chat will help left fielder decide next step
By Barry M. Bloom / MLB.com



SAN FRANCISCO -- Two months ago, Giants slugger Barry Bonds said he intended to play baseball again next season. And although he reiterated that probability on Thursday, he added this caveat: There will be a serious postseason meeting with his wife, son and his youngest daughter at their Beverly Hills home before he makes the final determination.
Bonds said he is torn between moving on to the next phase of his life as a full-time dad and husband and coming back next season to chase Hank Aaron's all-time home run mark in earnest.

Bonds homered Wednesday night at AT&T Park, giving him 732 in his career -- one behind Aaron's National League record of 733 and 23 shy of the Hammer's all-time mark of 755. His 24 homers on the season are the most in history for a 42-year-old, topping Carlton Fisk, who hit 18 at that age.

"It's going to be nice to sit down and talk with my family after the season because they're the ones who are wishy-washy about it," Bonds told MLB.com before going 1-for-3 with a walk in his club's 5-0 win Thursday over Colorado. "I go back and forth.

"My wife, Liz, is going to support me no matter what I want to do. She'll be right there behind me. But I can see it in my son's face now that he's playing football. Me being in the stands is a big thing. He was excited to see me there. It was a good feeling for him and for me. My daughter, the first thing she'll say is, 'Can you take me to school?' Even though I've been there a thousand times, she wants to give me a tour of her second grade and her school and all her new teachers.

"But then after I'm home for a few days, she wants to go and see me play baseball. So I need to sit down and determine what's the best way to go about doing what I need to do and how I can be the best dad they want me to be when it's all over. If I continue to play, I'll be satisfied with that."

Complicating matters significantly is Bonds' admittedly having a great season relating with his teammates and the local writers, who cover the team on a day-to-day basis.

"I've probably had a better time this year than I've had in my entire life," Bonds said. "As far as all that's concerned."

Right now, there's no guarantee he'll even be back for a 15th season in San Francisco. He can file for free agency after the World Series and take a chance in the open market. Giants executives have repeatedly said they won't determine whether to re-sign him until the end of the season. But they are warming to the idea because Bonds has come on in the last six weeks, hitting 10 homers and knocking in 22 of his 67 RBIs.

The 2007 season could be an exciting one at AT&T Park. The Giants are hosting the July 10 All-Star Game. And though they have 11 free agents and the roster may be completely different, Bonds could still be part of the show as he chases Aaron's record.

Bonds, of course, is not ready to make a commitment, although he said: "San Francisco is my home and that's where I'd rather be."

For Bonds, it's been a confluence of numerous forces this season: His return from multiple surgeries last year on his right knee that limited him to 14 games and five homers and kept him slumping at the plate until August; his prolonged chase of Babe Ruth's magic 714, a milestone he finally passed at home on May 28 to go into second on the all-time home run list; a left elbow that has blown out of proportion at times because of bone chips that are floating in it and ultimately will be surgically removed; and the persistence of the U.S. Attorney in San Francisco, who is still pursing a possible perjury charge against Bonds in the long-ago settled case against members of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO).

Still, Bonds said he's happy with his most recent accomplishments and at peace with himself.

"People are going to think I'm crazy for saying this, but I have to thank the media for the way the guys have worked with me," said Bonds, who has been known to have a cantankerous relationship with many individual members of the media throughout his 22-year career. "I have been able to play the game this year the way I've always wanted to play it. I don't have to do an interview every four hours. I've had games when I've hit home runs, but somebody else won the game for us and [the writers] go to that person.

"They have given me that. They have allowed that to happen and our relationship has gotten a lot better. It's a good feeling for me. I'm not taking away from the team or from anything else that's going on. It's about team, winning games, other guys contributing and I'm able to just prepare for the next day. I think it's wonderful and I'm going to keep it that way."