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Bonds Stands 48 Homers Shy of Breaking Aaron's All-Time Record
By BOB NIGHTENGALE, USA TODAY
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (Feb. 19) - San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds, on the verge of passing Babe Ruth and just 48 home runs shy of breaking Hank Aaron's all-time home run record, says this spring training will be his last and he plans to retire after the 2006 baseball season with or without the game's most cherished record.
"I'm not playing baseball anymore after this," Bonds told USA TODAY in a wide-ranging telephone interview near his home in Beverly Park, Calif. "The game (isn't) fun anymore. I'm tired of all of the crap going on. I want to play this year out, hopefully win, and once the season is over, go home and be with my family. Maybe then everybody can just forget about me."
Bonds, who says he plans to report Tuesday to the Giants' camp in Scottsdale, Ariz., has no idea how many games he'll be able to play this year, his 21st season. He missed all but 14 games last year after undergoing three operations on his right knee and says he remains in pain.
"I can't even tell how you may pain pills I am on or how many sleeping pills I'm taking," Bonds said. "I don't have a choice. I can't even run that much anymore. How can I run? I don't have any cartilage in that knee. I'm bone on bone.
"But I can still hit. I can rake. I can hit a baseball."
Bonds, whose 708 home runs rank third all-time behind Ruth (714) and Aaron (755), will earn $18 million in the final year of his five-year, $90 million contract. But as he prepares to enter the season as the game's focal point, Bonds says he is worn out by all of the attention, as well as the allegations of steroids use that have dogged him for several years, and will not hesitate to walk away from the game shy of Aaron's record.
"I've never cared about records anyway," he said, "so what difference does it make? 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."
Bonds, who has won a record seven National League Most Valuable Player awards, four more than any player in history, set the season-single home-run record in 2001 with 73 homers, but he hit only five home runs in 14 games last season as he recovered from the knee surgeries and an infection.
"I don't care if he doesn't hit another homer the rest of his life, he's the greatest player that ever played the game," says Chicago Cubs outfielder Marquis Grissom, who played with Bonds in San Francisco from 2003-2005. "If this is it for him, people get better get out there now because you're missing the greatest show on earth."
'I've always been clean'
Bonds, who turns 42 in July, came under heavy scrutiny in December 2004 when the San Francisco Chronicle reported he testified to a federal grand jury he used two substances that were later identified as undetectable steroids. Bonds, according to transcripts the Chronicle said it had obtained from a grand jury investigation of a Bay Area laboratory, was told by his trainer, Greg Anderson, the substances were flaxseed oil and a balm for arthritis. The government identified them as designer steroids known as the "clear" and "cream," according to the paper.
Bonds has repeatedly denied knowingly using steroids. He says he passed Major League Baseball's drug tests last season and will submit to the policy this season, which for the first time includes the ban of amphetamines.
"I'm clean, I've always been clean," Bonds told USA TODAY. "But it never ends. It seems like every reporter from last season to this season has reported and opened up a new can of (expletive). And I haven't even been to spring training. At least let me get to spring training and (expletive) up before you crucify me.
"Thank you for all of your criticism. Thank you for dogging me. The latest thing is that ESPN says that Barry is still big. They say I didn't lose weight. Well, you know what? I am still big. I'm fat (6-2, 230 pounds). I can't do much. I can't train like I used to. So the weight stays. I'm just not a skinny person, dude, I'm not. I never will be.
"So what (are) they going to say now? Are they going to say, 'Wow, I guess it can't be steroids anymore because he didn't lose all that weight?' Or are they going to be mad that I'm fat. Come on, which one is it?"
Commissioner Bud Selig, when reached by telephone at his home Saturday, said Bonds has never failed a steroids test and should be treated accordingly.
"I know there's a lot of conflicting things out there," Selig said, "but there is no empirical data that Barry did anything wrong. People can have their own ideas, and they are free to draw their own conclusions. I understand that. But there should be a sense of fairness.
"People say that we ought to conduct investigations and do this and that. We have the toughest (drug-testing) program in American sports now, but before 2003 there is no data. We can have all of the investigations in the world, but there is nothing to investigate. I am not going to play God, and that's what some people are doing."
Selig also said Bonds is not violating baseball's drug-testing policy by taking pain and sleeping pills.
"Anything that doctors prescribe is OK," Selig said. "If he's having pain, and I'm sure he is, it's fine to take medication that's prescribed by his doctor."
Bonds, who spent time this winter at his home in Aspen, Colo., and in the Bahamas, says he has been under duress since the end of last season. He has been involved in a custody battle with his ex-wife, Sun, for his son, Nikolai. Bonds also has a daughter, Shikari, by his first wife and another daughter, Aisha Lynn, with his wife of eight years, Liz Watson.
"That's why I'm in no hurry to get down there (to spring training)," Bonds said. "It'll be one big fiasco anyway. Everyone wants to know what I'm doing. Tell them right now that Barry is with his son. The most important thing is to be with my kids. And I'm going to have to leave spring training to go back to court for my son. He wants to live with me.
"So who cares when I get to spring training? It's not mandatory for me to be there until March 2, anyways. I've never been late. So why should it matter now? Why don't you (the media) stick up for me instead of sending me to the wolves?"
Bonds, who anticipates holding a press conference upon his arrival, says he has few answers. He doesn't know how his knees will respond to the daily regiment of spring training. He won't predict how many games he'll play.
"I'll play how many games God lets me play," he said. "I can't predict how many. If I can play 160 games, I'll do it. If I can play only 100, I'll do that. I'll play what my body lets me play.
"All I know is that I'm trying to get to the World Series again. I want that ring. So I don't want to sit on no bench. When I sit on the bench, I hurt my teammates. I want to win."
Last month Bonds backed off playing for the USA in the inaugural 16-team World Baseball Classic scheduled in March, but he says it was because of his knee and not the more stringent drug testing he would face in the internationally sanctioned event. He was originally persuaded to play by former teammate Bobby Bonilla, one of his closest friends, who also works for the Major League Players Association.
"This has nothing to do with drug testing," Bonds said. "I just don't want to do it. Come on, the World Cup isn't the Olympics. Who cares? Does it mean anything?
"Is it going to cost me in endorsements? Whoop-de-doo. I never had any endorsements, anyways. I don't base my life on that. I go to work like every other American."
Opening doors with TV show
The difference is that only two other men have hit 700 home runs, and Bonds, realizing the magnitude of his accomplishment, is close to finalizing an agreement with ESPN to film a weekly TV show.
"It's my show, dude," said Bonds, who lives in a 20,000-square foot mansion across the street from actor Denzel Washington. "It's not really a reality show. It's more like an autobiography through my years and what I'm doing now. They'll come into my house. They'll follow me around. They can go where they want. I don't care. I don't have nothing to hide. Let people see the real me.
"I think that's been my only downfall in all of this. I never let people know me. I just wanted to do my job and get the (expletive) out. Don't get me wrong. I love Michael Jordan, and I respect Michael Jordan. But I never wanted all that attention."
Yet, Bonds, the son of three-time All-Star outfielder Bobby Bonds, attracted that attention nearly the moment he reached the major leagues in 1986 with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He became an All-Star by 1990, winning the first of three MVP awards in a four-year span. In 2004, he became the oldest player in history to win a batting title and MVP award at the age of 40.
"Breaking these records aren't a big thing to me," Bonds said. "It's a great honor to pass Ruth, but it means more to baseball than it does to me. History is good for every sport, and I'm creating great interest for the game.
"When Wayne Gretzky did his thing, how many kids wanted to play hockey? When Michael Jordan played, how many kids said they wanted to be the next Michael Jordan? Hopefully, some kid out there will watch me, thinking he can do what I did, and become a good baseball player, too.
"That's what the game is supposed to be about in the first place, isn't it?"
02/19/2006 19:36 EST
By BOB NIGHTENGALE, USA TODAY
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (Feb. 19) - San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds, on the verge of passing Babe Ruth and just 48 home runs shy of breaking Hank Aaron's all-time home run record, says this spring training will be his last and he plans to retire after the 2006 baseball season with or without the game's most cherished record.
"I'm not playing baseball anymore after this," Bonds told USA TODAY in a wide-ranging telephone interview near his home in Beverly Park, Calif. "The game (isn't) fun anymore. I'm tired of all of the crap going on. I want to play this year out, hopefully win, and once the season is over, go home and be with my family. Maybe then everybody can just forget about me."
Bonds, who says he plans to report Tuesday to the Giants' camp in Scottsdale, Ariz., has no idea how many games he'll be able to play this year, his 21st season. He missed all but 14 games last year after undergoing three operations on his right knee and says he remains in pain.
"I can't even tell how you may pain pills I am on or how many sleeping pills I'm taking," Bonds said. "I don't have a choice. I can't even run that much anymore. How can I run? I don't have any cartilage in that knee. I'm bone on bone.
"But I can still hit. I can rake. I can hit a baseball."
Bonds, whose 708 home runs rank third all-time behind Ruth (714) and Aaron (755), will earn $18 million in the final year of his five-year, $90 million contract. But as he prepares to enter the season as the game's focal point, Bonds says he is worn out by all of the attention, as well as the allegations of steroids use that have dogged him for several years, and will not hesitate to walk away from the game shy of Aaron's record.
"I've never cared about records anyway," he said, "so what difference does it make? 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."
Bonds, who has won a record seven National League Most Valuable Player awards, four more than any player in history, set the season-single home-run record in 2001 with 73 homers, but he hit only five home runs in 14 games last season as he recovered from the knee surgeries and an infection.
"I don't care if he doesn't hit another homer the rest of his life, he's the greatest player that ever played the game," says Chicago Cubs outfielder Marquis Grissom, who played with Bonds in San Francisco from 2003-2005. "If this is it for him, people get better get out there now because you're missing the greatest show on earth."
'I've always been clean'
Bonds, who turns 42 in July, came under heavy scrutiny in December 2004 when the San Francisco Chronicle reported he testified to a federal grand jury he used two substances that were later identified as undetectable steroids. Bonds, according to transcripts the Chronicle said it had obtained from a grand jury investigation of a Bay Area laboratory, was told by his trainer, Greg Anderson, the substances were flaxseed oil and a balm for arthritis. The government identified them as designer steroids known as the "clear" and "cream," according to the paper.
Bonds has repeatedly denied knowingly using steroids. He says he passed Major League Baseball's drug tests last season and will submit to the policy this season, which for the first time includes the ban of amphetamines.
"I'm clean, I've always been clean," Bonds told USA TODAY. "But it never ends. It seems like every reporter from last season to this season has reported and opened up a new can of (expletive). And I haven't even been to spring training. At least let me get to spring training and (expletive) up before you crucify me.
"Thank you for all of your criticism. Thank you for dogging me. The latest thing is that ESPN says that Barry is still big. They say I didn't lose weight. Well, you know what? I am still big. I'm fat (6-2, 230 pounds). I can't do much. I can't train like I used to. So the weight stays. I'm just not a skinny person, dude, I'm not. I never will be.
"So what (are) they going to say now? Are they going to say, 'Wow, I guess it can't be steroids anymore because he didn't lose all that weight?' Or are they going to be mad that I'm fat. Come on, which one is it?"
Commissioner Bud Selig, when reached by telephone at his home Saturday, said Bonds has never failed a steroids test and should be treated accordingly.
"I know there's a lot of conflicting things out there," Selig said, "but there is no empirical data that Barry did anything wrong. People can have their own ideas, and they are free to draw their own conclusions. I understand that. But there should be a sense of fairness.
"People say that we ought to conduct investigations and do this and that. We have the toughest (drug-testing) program in American sports now, but before 2003 there is no data. We can have all of the investigations in the world, but there is nothing to investigate. I am not going to play God, and that's what some people are doing."
Selig also said Bonds is not violating baseball's drug-testing policy by taking pain and sleeping pills.
"Anything that doctors prescribe is OK," Selig said. "If he's having pain, and I'm sure he is, it's fine to take medication that's prescribed by his doctor."
Bonds, who spent time this winter at his home in Aspen, Colo., and in the Bahamas, says he has been under duress since the end of last season. He has been involved in a custody battle with his ex-wife, Sun, for his son, Nikolai. Bonds also has a daughter, Shikari, by his first wife and another daughter, Aisha Lynn, with his wife of eight years, Liz Watson.
"That's why I'm in no hurry to get down there (to spring training)," Bonds said. "It'll be one big fiasco anyway. Everyone wants to know what I'm doing. Tell them right now that Barry is with his son. The most important thing is to be with my kids. And I'm going to have to leave spring training to go back to court for my son. He wants to live with me.
"So who cares when I get to spring training? It's not mandatory for me to be there until March 2, anyways. I've never been late. So why should it matter now? Why don't you (the media) stick up for me instead of sending me to the wolves?"
Bonds, who anticipates holding a press conference upon his arrival, says he has few answers. He doesn't know how his knees will respond to the daily regiment of spring training. He won't predict how many games he'll play.
"I'll play how many games God lets me play," he said. "I can't predict how many. If I can play 160 games, I'll do it. If I can play only 100, I'll do that. I'll play what my body lets me play.
"All I know is that I'm trying to get to the World Series again. I want that ring. So I don't want to sit on no bench. When I sit on the bench, I hurt my teammates. I want to win."
Last month Bonds backed off playing for the USA in the inaugural 16-team World Baseball Classic scheduled in March, but he says it was because of his knee and not the more stringent drug testing he would face in the internationally sanctioned event. He was originally persuaded to play by former teammate Bobby Bonilla, one of his closest friends, who also works for the Major League Players Association.
"This has nothing to do with drug testing," Bonds said. "I just don't want to do it. Come on, the World Cup isn't the Olympics. Who cares? Does it mean anything?
"Is it going to cost me in endorsements? Whoop-de-doo. I never had any endorsements, anyways. I don't base my life on that. I go to work like every other American."
Opening doors with TV show
The difference is that only two other men have hit 700 home runs, and Bonds, realizing the magnitude of his accomplishment, is close to finalizing an agreement with ESPN to film a weekly TV show.
"It's my show, dude," said Bonds, who lives in a 20,000-square foot mansion across the street from actor Denzel Washington. "It's not really a reality show. It's more like an autobiography through my years and what I'm doing now. They'll come into my house. They'll follow me around. They can go where they want. I don't care. I don't have nothing to hide. Let people see the real me.
"I think that's been my only downfall in all of this. I never let people know me. I just wanted to do my job and get the (expletive) out. Don't get me wrong. I love Michael Jordan, and I respect Michael Jordan. But I never wanted all that attention."
Yet, Bonds, the son of three-time All-Star outfielder Bobby Bonds, attracted that attention nearly the moment he reached the major leagues in 1986 with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He became an All-Star by 1990, winning the first of three MVP awards in a four-year span. In 2004, he became the oldest player in history to win a batting title and MVP award at the age of 40.
"Breaking these records aren't a big thing to me," Bonds said. "It's a great honor to pass Ruth, but it means more to baseball than it does to me. History is good for every sport, and I'm creating great interest for the game.
"When Wayne Gretzky did his thing, how many kids wanted to play hockey? When Michael Jordan played, how many kids said they wanted to be the next Michael Jordan? Hopefully, some kid out there will watch me, thinking he can do what I did, and become a good baseball player, too.
"That's what the game is supposed to be about in the first place, isn't it?"
02/19/2006 19:36 EST