There’s no reason to object to Bonds’ number retirement

Look out onto the wall beyond right-center field fence AT&T Park – a place only one man could ever seem to hit it – and you’ll see his name.

Walk past the Giants’ Wall of Fame and you’ll see his name and his face.

Take a stroll along Mccovey Cove and you’ll encounter him a few more times. Extend that jaunt into the concourses of the ballpark and you won’t be able to shake him.

Barry Bonds is immortalized in too many places to count in the Giants’ venerable home. Clearly, the team is proud of their association with Bonds.

So why wouldn’t his number be formally retired?

Eleven years ago Tuesday, Barry Bonds set the Major League home run record by hitting his 756th home run. On Saturday, the Giants will finally retire his No. 25 in his honor.

Bay Area News Group/tns San Francisco Giants great Barry Bonds celebrates on top of the dugout after the Giants beat the San Diego Padres to win the National League West title on Sept. 27, 1997, at Candlestick Park. The Giants will honor Bonds with a ceremony by retiring his No. 25 before Saturday’s game against the Pirates.

The distinction has been a long time coming – it’ll be both in-place in good taste – but it will no doubt spark drive-by outrage from those

who don’t understand what Bonds means to the Giants’ organization.

Yes, Bonds took performanceenhancing drugs – he won’t openly admit it but the evidence is impossibly damning. And no, Bonds wasn’t a good teammate during his playing days.

But when you’re discussing the greatest San Francisco Giants of all time, you cannot pretend that Bonds isn’t at the top of the list alongside Willie Mccovey, Willie Mays, Orlando Cepeda, Tim Lincecum, Buster Posey, and Madison Bumgarner.

I have no doubt that the opportunists slinging righteous fury from the East this weekend will opt to leave plenty of context out of their arguments for why Bonds doesn’t deserve to have his number retired.

They’ll ignore the fact that Barry Bonds helped keep the Giants in San Francisco and was instrumental in building AT&T Park – a now 18-year-old venue that’s still considered one of the best ballparks in baseball.

From 1993 on, Barry Bonds was the Giants. I mean this in an almost literal way.