And he Wonders Why Everyone Hates Him...

[Vezna31]

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=As2UN90XW9gGxDRoWlz9xTY5nYcB?slug=ap-bonds-forum&prov=ap&type=lgns

Bonds stung by departure from Giants after record-breaking season
 
By JANIE McCAULEY, AP Sports Writer
October 25, 2007

AP - Oct 24, 10:53 pm EDT
 
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Barry Bonds is just a tad bitter about his departure from the San Francisco Giants.

The 43-year-old home run king heard a long list of his accomplishments read during a special speaking forum Wednesday night hosted by the Commonwealth Club, then was asked by KGO Radio host Ray Taliaferro if he'd really reached all those feats.

Fourteen All-Star game selections. A record seven NL MVPs. Eight Gold Glove awards.

"I did, and then I got fired," Bonds told a group of about 450 people in the audience. "Shame on me, huh?"

Bonds, who broke Hank Aaron's home run record with No. 756 on Aug. 7, was told last month by Giants owner Peter Magowan that he would not be brought back for a 16th season in San Francisco.
 
Bonds, dressed in a dark suit jacket and tie, entered to a roaring standing ovation and repeatedly drew loud applause from an adoring crowd through the nearly 90-minute forum. They chanted, "Barry! Barry!" One person hollered, "We love you." Others took pictures on cell phone cameras or sported shirts with Bonds' No. 25.

Yes, this was a glorified pep rally in a swanky downtown San Francisco hotel featuring five ovations and two of those standing -- for a star baseball player who didn't even stick around when his team paid tribute to him with a video presentation during the final home game of the year. Outside the ballroom where he spoke, Game 1 of the World Series between the Red Sox and Rockies at Fenway Park showed on a TV.

"I don't have fans in San Francisco -- this is my family," said Bonds, who used to bounce around the clubhouse at Candlestick Park as a boy while hanging out with his late father, Bobby, and Hall of Fame godfather Willie Mays.

When Taliaferro asked about Bonds' many splash-hit home runs, the slugger replied, "They call it McCovey Cove, but I've rewritten it a little bit."

That part of San Francisco Bay beyond the right field arcade of the Giants' waterfront ballpark is named for Hall of Famer Willie McCovey.

Bonds, who just completed his 22nd major league season, has 762 career homers. Taliaferro read select questions from members of an audience that included actor Danny Glover, one asking Bonds whether he would play for $5 million and bat fifth for San Francisco if that were an option for 2008.

"I told Peter Magowan, 'If I'm a part-time player, I'm still better than your full-time player, and it's a wise idea to keep me,"' Bonds said. "We still have time. Things might change."

Bonds also said that if he were running the franchise, the Giants would have won a World Series by now. They fell five outs short in 2002, and one thing the slugger is still missing on his remarkable resume is a championship ring.

"They've been here since 1958," Bonds said. "We'd win a World Series. I know the game so well. I can see talent. I know exactly what I'd be looking for."

Is the club any closer to winning it all?

"I can't answer that. I don't work there anymore," Bonds quipped, then howled in laughter. "My philosophy in sports is you don't break things up. You add to it."

He soon added: "I'm rooting for the Giants. I'm not rooting against the Giants. This is my hometown."

Where will he land for next season? Bonds doesn't know, but he doubts it's with the New York Yankees as a designated hitter. A move to the American League as a DH would be the logical next step for Bonds, whose balky knees and age have contributed to him being a step slow in left field lately.

"I would consider DHing for the Yankees. Unfortunately, the Yankees have two DHs, so that dream would never happen," Bonds said. "I'm out enjoying my life. I don't know at this point what my plans are in the future."
 

[indiandi]

I just hope the A's don't try and pick him up.  Then I'll have to become a Giants fan.  Let's go Barry ZITO! He needs all the help he can get after this season this year.

[Vezna31]

Yes, this was a glorified pep rally in a swanky downtown San Francisco hotel featuring five ovations and two of those standing -- for a star baseball player who didn't even stick around when his team paid tribute to him with a video presentation during the final home game of the year.

I can't believe he didn't even stick around for the tribute from his teammates.  Shows how much class he has and his selfishness.

[indiandi]

If knows the game so well, knows talent and knows what he's looking for, his next step should be to buy a team and put together his own World Series bid.  I'm sure he can get the Nationals for a decent price.  Are they still owned by MLB or did someone buy them?  Something tells me he won't be getting a front office job with any team too soon.
He's such a shmuck.

[monkeymaker]

As rich as he is, can you imagine how loaded dude would be if he wasn't an asshole diva?  I mean, his endorsement deals could possibly dwarf even Tiger Woods'.  Instead, his attitude (and deserved poor image) earns him virtually no love from sponsors.

I really can't stand the guy, and as far as I'm concerned he cannot retire soon enough!

[Vezna31]

Probably no chance of him retiring.  He'll go to the AL and be a DH somewhere.  That's another reason baseball debaters will argue to abolish the DH...to get rid of Bonds..LOL.  I don't know why he wants to hang around anyway.  A-Rod is going to destroy the HR record in a few years, so he should just retire now and enjoy it.

[Vezna31]

Ad it gets better...I hope they display it with the asterisk.

Bonds would skip Hall of Fame induction if there's an asterisk in Cooperstown
 
By MIKE FITZPATRICK, AP Baseball Writer
November 1, 2007

NEW YORK (AP) -- Barry Bonds would boycott Cooperstown if the Hall of Fame displays his record-breaking home run ball with an asterisk.

That includes skipping his potential induction ceremony.
 
"I won't go. I won't be part of it," Bonds said in an interview with MSNBC that aired Thursday night. "You can call me, but I won't be there."

The ball Bonds hit for home run No. 756 this season will be branded with an asterisk and sent to the Hall. Fashion designer Marc Ecko bought the ball in an online auction and set up a Web site for fans to vote on its fate. In late September, he announced fans voted to send the ball to Cooperstown with an asterisk.

Of course, the asterisk suggests Bonds' record is tainted by alleged steroid use. The slugger has denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs. Fans brought signs with asterisks to ballparks this season as he neared Hank Aaron's career home run mark.

Bonds has called Ecko "an idiot."

"I don't think you can put an asterisk in the game of baseball, and I don't think that the Hall of Fame can accept an asterisk," Bonds said. "You cannot give people the freedom, the right to alter history. You can't do it. There's no such thing as an asterisk in baseball."

Hall of Fame vice president Jeff Idelson declined to comment Thursday night.

Hall president Dale Petroskey has said accepting the ball doesn't mean the museum endorses the viewpoint that Bonds used illegal substances. He said the museum would be "delighted" to have the ball.

"It's a historic piece of baseball history," Petroskey said in September.

So, if the Hall goes through with the asterisk display?

"I will never be in the Hall of Fame. Never," Bonds said. "Barry Bonds will not be there.

"That's my emotions now. That's how I feel now. When I decide to retire five years from now, we'll see where they are at that moment," he added. "We'll see where they are at that time, and maybe I'll reconsider. But it's their position and where their position will be will be the determination of what my decision will be at that time."

Giants general manager Brian Sabean reiterated Thursday that the team won't bring back Bonds next season. The seven-time NL MVP, who has spent 15 of his 22 major league seasons in San Francisco, was asked whether he will retire as a Giant.

"Yeah, it's my house. No matter what that's my house, no one's going to take that away, no one ever," Bonds answered. "No one's going to take the love of that city of me away, ever."

Bonds, who has 762 homers, broke Aaron's record with a shot into the right-center seats off Washington Nationals pitcher Mike Bacsik at San Francisco on Aug. 7.

Matt Murphy, a 21-year-old student and construction supervisor from New York, emerged from a scuffle holding the ball. He said he decided to sell it because he couldn't afford to pay the taxes required to keep it.

Bonds told MSNBC he hoped to reach 764 homers because he was born in July 1964. He said he's been working out and still is considering whether to play next season.

"I may hit two home runs so I can go home. I just think that I have a lot of game left. I think that I can help a team with a championship," Bonds said. "I'm a hell of a part-time player, too."

Bonds said he won't talk to George Mitchell's staff looking into steroids use in baseball while he is under investigation in the BALCO case. A grand jury has been investigating whether Bonds committed perjury when he testified he never knowingly took performance-enhancing drugs.

"I know it ends in January, so a couple more months. But I haven't been keeping up with it. Not at all," Bonds said. "I have nothing to hide. I have said that before and I will say it now and I will look you in the face. I have nothing to hide, nothing. So look all you want to."
 

[indiandi]

I would love to see him not get voted in.  Especially after they comments.  It is a shame too.  He probably would have made the Hall even without the roids.

[indiandi]

Another reason for me to become a Giants fan.  They just signed my favorite player, when I was growing up, as their new hitting coach.  Carney Lansford.  He held a batting title one year when he played with Boston.  He then came to the A's and the rest is history.  One of the best third basemen around.

[Vezna31]

My thought was that if the writers could keep McGwire out (the only inactive player with more than 500 HR), because of speculation of steroid use, then it would seem fitting to keep Bonds out as well.  With Bonds' comments today, I hope the writers really snub him and keep him out altogether.

[monkeymaker]

No chance Bonds is out.  He'll be a first ballot selection no matter what he says.  The conventional wisdom is that he was already a HOF player before the 'roids began in 98-99.  I agree, he was a dominant, dominant player very early in his career.  And as much as I hate him, I bet he'd have at least 600 bombs if he never even put a single syringe in his butt.

[Vezna31]

Barry Bonds indicted on perjury, obstruction charges
 
By PAUL ELIAS, Associated Press Writer
November 15, 2007SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The home run king wasn't home free after all.

Barry Bonds was indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice Thursday and could go to prison instead of the Hall of Fame for telling a federal grand jury he did not knowingly use performance-enhancing drugs.

The indictment came just three months after the San Francisco Giants star broke Hank Aaron's career home run record, and it culminated a four-year investigation into steroid use by elite athletes.

But for all the speculation and accusations that clouded his pursuit of Aaron, Bonds was never identified by Major League Baseball as testing positive for steroids, and personal trainer Greg Anderson spent most of the last year in jail for refusing to testify against his longtime friend.

Then came the indictment -- four counts of perjury, one of obstruction of justice; a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison -- and Bonds' lawyers seemed caught off guard.
 
The 10-page report mainly consists of excerpts from Bonds' December 2003 testimony before a grand jury investigating the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, or BALCO. It cites 19 occasions in which Bonds allegedly lied under oath.

"I'm surprised," said one of his lawyers, John Burris, "but there's been an effort to get Barry for a long time. I'm curious what evidence they have now they didn't have before."

Burris said he didn't know of the indictment before being alerted by The Associated Press. He said he would call Bonds to notify him.

Anderson was released from prison after the indictment was handed up and refused comment as he walked out.

His attorney, Mark Geragos, said the trainer didn't cooperate with the grand jury.

"This indictment came out of left field," Geragos said. "Frankly, I'm aghast. It looks like the government misled me and Greg as well, saying this case couldn't go forward without him."

Bonds is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in San Francisco on Dec. 7.

Defense attorney Mike Rains said he spoke briefly with Bonds but did not describe his reaction. At an evening news conference, he read a statement accusing federal prosecutors of "unethical misconduct" and declined to take questions.

"Every American should worry about a Justice Department that doesn't know if waterboarding is torture and can't tell the difference between prosecution on the one hand and persecution on the other," Rains said.
 
In August, when the 43-year-old Bonds became the career home run leader, he flatly rejected any suggestion that the milestone was stained by steroids.

"This record is not tainted at all. At all. Period," Bonds said.

But while San Franciscans cheered his every swing and fans elsewhere scorned every homer, a grand jury quietly worked behind closed doors to put the finishing touches on its report.

"During the criminal investigation, evidence was obtained including positive tests for the presence of anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing substances for Bonds and other athletes," the indictment said.

Bonds is by far the highest-profile figure caught up in the steroids probe, which also ensnared track star Marion Jones. She pleaded guilty in October to lying to federal investigators about using steroids and faces up to six months in prison.

The Giants, the players' union and even the White House called it a sad day for baseball.

"This is a very sad day. For many years, Barry Bonds was an important member of our team and is one of the most talented baseball players of his era. These are serious charges. Now that the judicial process has begun, we look forward to this matter being resolved in a court of law," the Giants said.

Union head Donald Fehr said he was "saddened" to learn of the indictment, but cautioned that "every defendant, including Barry Bonds, is entitled to the presumption of innocence unless and until such time as he is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt."

In Washington, White House spokesman Tony Fratto said: "The president is very disappointed to hear this. As this case is now in the criminal justice system, we will refrain from any further specific comments about it. But clearly this is a sad day for baseball."

Commissioner Bud Selig withheld judgment, saying, "I take this indictment very seriously and will follow its progress closely."

Bush, who once owned the Texas Rangers, called Bonds to congratulate him in August when the Giants' outfielder broke the home run mark. "You've always been a great hitter and you broke a great record," Bush said at the time.

Former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, who is investigating drug use in baseball, declined comment.
 
The Hall of Fame currently has an exhibit dedicated to Bonds' record-breaking 756th home run.

"As a historic museum, we have no intention of taking the exhibit down," Hall vice president Jeff Idelson said.

Bonds finished last season with 762 career home runs, seven more than Aaron. A seven-time NL MVP, he also holds the season record with 73 home runs in 2001.

He is a free agent after being told late in the season that Giants didn't want him back next year.

Bonds was charged in the indictment with lying when he said he didn't knowingly take steroids given to him by Anderson. Bonds is also charged with lying that Anderson never injected him with steroids.

"Greg wouldn't do that," Bonds testified in December 2003 when asked if Anderson ever gave him any drugs that needed to be injected. "He knows I'm against that stuff."

Prosecutors promised Bonds they wouldn't charge him with any drug-related counts if he testified truthfully. But according to the indictment, Bonds repeatedly denied taking any steroids or performance-enhancing drugs despite evidence to the contrary.

For instance, investigators seized a so-called "doping calendar" labeled "BB" during a raid of Anderson's house.

"He could know other BBs," Bonds replied when shown the calendar during his testimony.

Asked directly if Anderson supplied him with steroids, Bonds answered: "Not that I know of." Bonds even denied taking steroids when he was shown documents revealing a positive steroids test for a player named Barry B.
 
"I've never seen these documents," Bonds said. "I've never seen these papers."

The indictment does not explain where prosecutors obtained those results, but they likely were conducted at BALCO. Bonds first visited in November 2000 and submitted to the series of urine and drug tests conducted by BALCO founder Victor Conte on every athlete who went through the lab.

The test results may have been seized when federal agents raided BALCO in September 2003.

Conte said Thursday the tests were administered to protect athletes from taking legal supplements contaminated with illegal steroids. But he said he had no way of knowing Bonds' test results because the samples were assigned numbers rather than names.

"The reason for the testing wasn't to circumvent the system," Conte said. "It was to protect the athletes."

Bonds said at the end of the 2003 season, Anderson rubbed some cream on his arm that the trainer said would help him recover. Anderson also gave him something he called "flax seed oil," Bonds said.

Bonds then testified that prior to the 2003 season, he never took anything supplied by Anderson -- which the indictment alleges was a lie because the doping calendars seized from Anderson's house were dated 2001.

Bonds has long been shadowed by allegations that he used performance-enhancing drugs. The son of former big league star Bobby Bonds, Barry broke into the majors with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1986 as a lithe, base-stealing outfielder.

By the late 1990s, he'd bulked up to more than 240 pounds -- his head, in particular, becoming noticeably bigger. His physical growth was accompanied by a remarkable power surge.

Speculation of his impending indictment had mounted for more than a year, but the specter of steroid allegations have shadowed him for much longer.

The government's steroids probe went public in September 2003, when federal agents raided the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO) -- the Burlingame-based supplements lab that was the center of a steroids distribution ring.

Bonds joins a parade of defendants tied to the BALCO investigation, including Anderson, who served three months in prison and three months of home detention after pleading guilty to steroid distribution and money laundering.

BALCO founder Victor Conte also served three months in prison after he pleaded guilty to steroids distribution. But Conte has long insisted that Bonds didn't get steroids from his lab.

[indiandi]

This was some of the best A's news I've read lately....(I needed this since they broke by heart with trading Scutaro)

A's pull out of running for Bonds
Ken Rosenthal / FOXSports.com
 

The A's were Barry Bonds' best hope, the team that appeared most interested in signing him.
No more.

The A's, sources say, no longer are considering Bonds, who on Thursday was charged with perjury and obstruction of justice.

The withdrawal of the A's interest virtually ensures that Bonds will be without a team to start next season. If the A's won't take Bonds, probably no club will.

Over the past several weeks, the A's had done their "due diligence" on Bonds, sources say, trying to determine whether he would be indicted while also investigating other concerns.

That's as far as it went.

A's officials are still deciding whether to build up or scale back in preparation for next season. Bonds, 43, might have been the centerpiece of Plan A, serving as the team's designated hitter.

The A's, under general manager Billy Beane, frequently value performance over personality. Beane would have drooled over Bonds' on-base/slugging percentage. The Bay Area is perhaps the only part of the country where Bonds is still accepted.


Bonds' indictment, however, means he could miss much of next season. His trial likely will start at some point after Opening Day. If he is found guilty, he could be sentenced to prison.

"How can you aggressively pursue somebody when the availability of the player is in question?" says one source familiar with the A's. "How can you put a plan together when part of the plan wouldn't be there?"

Bonds' agent, Jeff Borris, declined comment.

[Vezna31]

I hope he has to retire because no one wants him.