By A.J. Hayes
Barry Bonds may not have taken a baseball swing in anger in nearly a year, but it was clear last weekend that the Homerun King’s media puppetry skills are in classic form.
Bonds made an unannounced appearance at AT&T Park Saturday prior to the Giants game against the Los Angles Dodgers and despite the fact that no team – including San Francisco – has dared sign the baggage-laden tarnished superstar this season, he was treated like a returning hero.
Physically Bonds looked fantastic. He doesn’t seem to be fretting his impending Federal perjury trial. Bonds hasn’t lost the “40 pounds” that many in the media had speculated. When he walked onto the field wearing a Giants cap and his familiar No. 25, he looked prepared to rip a ball into McCovey Cove.
But there would be no home run heroics this night. Under his orange and black togs, Barry was outfitted in charcoal colored slacks and a custom-tailored, blue striped dress shirt with contrasting white French cuffs.
No, on this night, Bonds would have to settle for his second favorite hobby, making the media look like hapless fools.