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3/10/2006
MLB Slugger Barry Bonds Tells XM Satellite Radio He Will Play for San Francisco This SeasonXM Satellite Radio |
San Francisco Giants' Outfielder and record-breaking slugger Barry Bonds today confirmed he will return for the 2006 Major League Baseball (MLB) season during XM Satellite Radio's live broadcast of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) match-up between the United States and South Africa. Bonds told Baseball Hall-of-Famer and XM WBC color commentator Mike Schmidt and XM play-by-play announcer Joe Castellano that he is taking care of his health and has resumed working out with his teammates.
"I'm doing very well. I'm on schedule and working with the trainers very, very hard and right now since day one of spring training I haven't had any knee problems or any setbacks in any way shape or form and we've had only positive improvements and I'll get to DH again tomorrow and see how I feel and maybe get the opportunity to play Sunday in the field ... And now I get to work out more and more with the team, which is a more and more comfortable feeling. [The Giants] want me out there and I want to be out there," said Bonds.
Bonds, who is in the final year of a five-year contract with the San Francisco Giants, is currently ranked third in all time homeruns with 708, behind Babe Ruth, whose career totaled 714 homeruns, and Hank Aaron, the all- time record homerun hitter with 755 to his credit. Bonds, who has played for San Francisco since 1993, told XM's Schmidt and Castellano that he very much wants to retire as a San Francisco Giant, but that he would consider being a designated hitter for an American League team when he becomes a free agent after the 2006 MLB season.
"My home is in San Francisco, that's where I love to play and that's where I want to end my career ... but if it doesn't work out that way, it doesn't work out that way. If I have to go to the American League and DH because I want to pursue playing baseball and the Giants don't offer me an opportunity to stay home, then that's what I have to do," Bonds said.
The legitimacy of Bonds' homerun record has been under intense scrutiny due to questions about possible steroid use. Bonds' alleged long-time steroid abuse is detailed in a new book, "Game of Shadows," written by two San Francisco Chronicle reporters. When asked about the book, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, who spoke with XM's Schmidt and Castellano shortly after Bonds, said he was more interested in reviewing the material on which the book is based than he is in the book itself.
"I want to review not the book, the book too, but all material relative, I mean all material. Because it's time to review everything and for me to find out exactly what went on and how it went on," said Selig. "I think for those people who know me, this will be very, very thorough."
