Controversial former baseball player Barry Bonds was quite a hulking figure when he launched 73 homers for the San Francisco Giants in 2001, but when he showed up to Spring Training camp for the Giants where he will serve as a special hitting instructor for the next week, the reigning home run king's frame was quite different than many people remember.
Bonds, 49, looked very slim when he showed up to the Giants Spring Training camp on Monday, barely resembling the same person who knocked 862 career homers out of ballparks over a 22-year MLB career.
Bonds hasn't played since 2007, however the last contract he signed with the Giants included a 10-year services deal, which, according to ESPN, included spring training visits following his playing career. Bonds is now instructing the team for the next week.
The slugger wasn't always the friendliest guy to the media during his career, however he said on Monday that he wished he'd built a better relationship with the media over the years. That doesn't mean Bonds was necessarily there to answer the questions burning on everyone's mind in relation to performance enhancing drugs.
Welcome back Barry #SFGSpring pic.twitter.com/bYuITafxvy
— San Francisco Giants (@SFGiants) March 10, 2014
"I already went to court and that's where I'll leave it," Bonds told CSN Bay Area. CSN also said that Bonds commented on Alex Rodriguez, by saying, "I respect him as an athlete and I always will," but not addressing the suspension handed down to Rodriguez by the MLB.
The Denver Post reported that Bonds addressed the controversy over him being the home run king and said that "God will bless somebody else" with the record.
Bonds, who hit .298/.444/.607 in his career, is there to help out the team by giving some advice on hitting, while he also said he hopes that the young players "pick his brain" over the next seven days.
Bonds also said he believes he belongs in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
"You guys are all adults, I have no advice for you," he said via the San Francisco Chronicle while adding he should "without a doubt" be in the Hall of Fame.
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