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Time winding down on Giants slugger
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Sign a waiver to talk to Barry Bonds? Yeah, right.
I arrived the San Francisco Giants' training camp on Sunday just in time to catch Bonds taking his final swings of batting practice. He left the field for the clubhouse, and a few minutes later I'm talking with his personal trainer, Harvey Shields when a question comes my way.
"You still doing comedy?", Bonds asks. "Yeah man," I answer. Then I remembered -- word came down last week that reporters are required to sign a waiver to have a one-on-one interview with Bonds. Something to do with his new behind-the-scenes show coming out some time this year.
Maybe I should have asked "B" to sign a waiver, since he was asking me questions.
"Have you seen " Madea's Family Reunion" yet?, he asks. "No," I said. "But I've got a friend in the movie. He's a stunt-double for Madea -- (former Montbello High athlete) Shedrick Garrett." Bonds, who is a good friend of the film's producer/director and lead actor, Tyler Perry, gives me that blank, never-heard-of-your-boy-Shed look.
Sitting in the corner by his locker, Bonds' legs are stretched, his healing right knee crossed over the left. There is no outward appearance of pain. Tired might be more like it. Tired of steroid allegations. Tired of being baseball's bad boy. Tired of the media. Maybe just physically tired, period.
Bonds turns 42 in July. Most expect that by then, he will have long surpassed Babe Ruth as baseball's No. 2 home-run hitter all-time. As it stands, Bonds is major-league baseball's active leader in home runs (708), runs batted in (1,853), runs scored (2,078), total bases (5,584) and walks (2,311). The question is, how much tread is left on those tires? He mentions Friday as the day to test his knees in a game.
Former Colorado Rockies player Mark Sweeney stops by Bonds' stall, telling him who to ask for if he wants "something." (And I know what you're thinking.) Bonds says that he only needs a wig. Excuse me, a wig? "I could ask for a dress," he says, laughing loudly.
On that note, I'm out of there. Before leaving I ask "B" how I can get on his new reality show. "It's not a reality show," he snaps. "You want to be on? I'll put you on."
Bet I'll have to sign that waiver first.
NOTEWORTHY
For a minute I forgot what clubhouse I was in, seeing former Rockies pitchers Jamey Wright and Jeff Fassero as neighbors in the Giants' clubhouse. The 43-year-old Fassero is hoping to play in his 16th major-league season.
Sports celeb sighting while cruising the shopping mall in Scottsdale -- New England Patriots defensive lineman Richard Seymour.