Giants, Bonds reunite; he’ll be special adviser
The Barry Bonds era is returning to Third and King streets.
The Giants’ icon with the tarnished resume is no longer the organization’s forgotten man. Or forbidden man, if you will.
He’s now the forgiven man.
After a long and rocky hiatus, Bonds and the Giants reunited Tuesday with the announcement that the home-run king has been named a special adviser to the CEO.
He’ll report to Larry Baer, at least technically. He’ll really be paid to be Barry Bonds. Except with the new role, he’ll be in a more public venue as he represents the Giants for the first time in 10 years.
This opens the door for things that didn’t seem possible when Bonds last had a job in
the organization as a player. That was 2007, when Bonds was under investigation in the BALCO steroids case and about to be indicted on four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice.
He was booed in visiting ballparks, condemned by columnists and talk-show hosts, and shown the door by the Giants.
What a difference a decade makes.
Bonds’ obstruction of justice conviction was overturned in 2015, ending an intense pursuit by the federal government that lasted years, cost millions of dollars and put Giants employees on the stand. His Hall of Fame candidacy has experienced a spike, thanks to newer voters focusing more on numbers and older voters softening their stances on drug users.
And he was back in baseball full time last season as the Miami Marlins’ hitting coach. Now he’s returning to more familiar turf.
Bonds always was welcomed by AT&T Park fans, who stood and cheered every time he appeared at a game and was shown on the scoreboard — or threw out a ceremonial first pitch — but he wasn’t fully acknowledged.
If indeed it’s the House That Bonds Built — he helped revitalize the franchise in the ’90s leading up to the stadium groundbreaking — you wouldn’t know it by walking around the place. There’s very little in the way of reminders that Bonds hit 586 of his record 762 homers as a Giant.
Or won five of his seven MVP awards as a Giant. Or led the Giants to four postseasons, including the 2002 World Series.
That will change. A ceremony will be held this season to include Bonds on the team’s Wall of Fame, and his number — the same 25 worn by his father, Bobby, a Giants star in the late ’60s and early ’70s — will be retired at a later date.
And eventually … a statue, though nothing is set in bronze.
The Giants’ stance has been that only Hall of Famers get their numbers retired and larger-than-life likenesses unveiled. But times have changed. Bonds is viewed differently by the game and its keepers, and the Giants are on board welcoming him back to the fold.
Bonds will do community events, the Giants say. He’ll visit minor-league teams to teach hitting. He’ll be all things Barry, and that’s a far cry from the fall of 2007 when team executives Peter Magowan and Brian Sabean held a news conference to sever ties with the homers king even though Bonds wanted to play one more year.
This was at the height of Bud Selig’s commissionership, and there was talk that the owners of the 30 teams blackballed Bonds on Selig’s command or at least as a favor to a pal, a Milwaukee guy who was bummed that his friend Hank Aaron’s home-run record fell.
That seems like eons ago. Nowadays, Bonds is perceived in a different light by more people and might be destined for the Hall of Fame, having secured 53.8 percent of the vote in the last election. He has five years to reach the 75 percent required for Cooperstown induction.
In his new role, he’ll be in the company of Hall of Famers because no team does nostalgia like the Giants.
On any given day, Willie Mays is in the clubhouse shooting the bull with players. Up in the press box, on the broadcast level, Willie McCovey is closely monitoring the on-field action. And Orlando Cepeda sits with friends behind the plate, taking in the sights and sounds.
All have statues, as does Gaylord Perry. Along with Will Clark, Jeffrey Leonard and Dave Dravecky, all are assistants/advisers/ambassadors, and now along comes Bonds to join the party.
The Bonds era is back.