Barry Bonds Back With the Giants

Photo Credit: MLB.com

By Francisco Romero

Dressed in full uniform and with the smile that has always characterized him, Barry Bonds roamed around Scottsdale Stadium’s Clubhouse and into the field. 

He was back with the Giants since 2007, this time in a different role.

“It feels really good to be back. It feels really good to participate in this and it’s good to give back to the game that I love,” said Bonds “Right now, I’ll only be here for seven days”.

He will be a hitting instructor for the next few days.  His days as a slugger are over, but the organization plans to squeeze every ounce of hitting and baseball knowledge out of him to help the current players.

Bonds played for the Giants from 1993 – 2007.

“Time is better now for me, back then it just wasn’t right,” said Bonds, as he talked about rejoining the organization. 

Following allegations of performing enhancing drug use, it has been difficult for the current Major League Homerun King to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.  During his first year of eligibility in 2013 he received 36.2 percent of the votes and earlier this year he only received 34.7 percent.  75 percent of the votes are needed to enter the HOF.

“I already went to court, and that’s where I’ll leave it,” said bonds when asked about the use of performing enhancing drugs.

Bonds said he has worked with current major league players in helping them with their batting.  He also mentioned being nervous in this new role with the team.

Bonds, 49 played in 2,986 major league games in 22 seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates and the San Francisco Giants, he currently holds the all-time home run record with 762 with a lifetime batting average of .298.