Barry Bonds rejoins Giants as special adviser
JANIE MCCAULEY
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN FRANCISCO — Barry Bonds is back with the San Francisco Giants just as the club had hoped.
Bonds, who spent a one-season stint as Miami’s hitting coach last year before being fired, will serve as a special adviser to CEO Larry Baer.
The home run king was scheduled to help coach at spring training beginning Wednesday in Scottsdale, Ariz. He will work with the minor league teams, something that had been in the works for a couple of months. General manager Bobby Evans mentioned it last month at FanFest .
“We are delighted to welcome Barry back home to the Giants,” Baer said. “As one of the greatest players of all-time, Barry’s contributions to our organization are legendary. He joins Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Orlando Cepeda and other distinguished alumni who help advise the club and we look forward to working with him again. ”
Now an avid cyclist at age 52, Bonds also will represent the organization in the community and at various Giants events.
“I am excited to be back home with the Giants and join the team in an official capacity,” Bonds said. “San Francisco has always been my home and the Giants will always be my family. I look forward to spending time with the team, young players in the system as well as the Bay Area community.”
Bonds received 53.8 per cent of the vote in the 2017 Hall of Fame ballot by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, up from 44.3 per cent the previous year. He got just 36.2 per cent on his initial ballot appearance in 2013.
The seven-time NL MVP spent his final 15 seasons with the Giants and hit 762 career home runs.
In July 2015, federal prosecutors dropped what was left of their criminal case against him after a nearly decadelong steroids prosecution, something the slugger told The AP lifted a huge weight from his shoulders.
Bonds, the seven-time NL MVP, broke Hank Aaron’s career home record of 755 on Aug. 7, 2007, in the last of his 22 big league seasons.
All along, he’s said he knows in his heart he’s a Hall of Famer — regardless of the results each year or whether he is ever enshrined at Cooperstown.
The Bruins coach when they joined the NHL in 1924 led them to three Stanley Cups and 10 firstplace finishes.
A rushing defenceman when he was a player, he donated the trophy that goes to the league’s top scorer.
Yes, the one the NHL’s coach of the year trophy is named for. He led Detroit to Stanley Cups in 1936, 1937 and 1943. Adams coached 20 years starting in 1928, and was also the tough, anti-union general manager that built a 1950s Red Wings powerhouse.
Day won five Cups in 10 years with the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1940s.
He won a Cup with Toronto in 1932 but was best known for taking three in the 1940s and early 1950s with an emerging dynasty in Montreal.
The Philadelphia bench boss who brought assistant coaches and game-day skates to the NHL took the Broad Street Bullies to consecutive Cups in 1974 and 1975 with a combination of muscle and sound team play.
Captain Video coached eight NHL clubs from 1978 to 2002. The curly-mopped coach was always looking for new coaching methods and ways to exploit loopholes in the rule book. His white towel waving in mock surrender to the refs remains a classic. won more games (1,244) and took home more Cups (9) than any coach ever. Many see him as the best of all time. A masterful handler of talent-packed teams in Montreal, Pittsburgh and Detroit.
“Slats” ran the bench as the Wayne Gretzky-led Edmonton Oilers won four Cups in five years in the 1980s and he was GM for another in 1990. Had a .705 winning percentage in the playoffs.
Quinn coached 1,400 NHL games and went to two Cup finals, but the burly bench boss had his best moments for Canada, taking gold at the 2002 Olympics and the 2004 World Cup of hockey, as well as the 2009 world junior championship.