Thoughts on Bonds

3/4 of my life was with Barry Bonds as a Giant.

I've no energy for the persona of E. Only real memories of being your age and newly married, when it was time for Willie to leave us. And I was about your age when he who came here in 1958, fulfilling a dream for most of the summers of my life. In May of his fifteenth season, for Charlie Williams, Willie Mays was sent to New York. My whole life the Giants had had a Willie Mays. Willie was the Giants. Even more so for we kids, for Joe DiMaggio had been long gone from the Seals by the time Willie arrived, so we had no attachments.  

In a figurative sense, the first departure was the loss of a favorite uncle. The second, that of a son. For years, it did not hurt anymore, but then it did when Candlestick closed for the last time and Willie was the last introduced and he walked in from behind the centerfield fence.  Peter Magowan did that. He made Willie part of the family again.  We old bastards got to see him patrol CF one last time, 28 years after he had last lost his cap in the wind. Bob Lurie and Horace Stoneham would not have.

In the telecast last night, at the end, it appeared Mr. Magowan remembered this too. That our players are flesh and bone. That in spite of the envy and anger and embarrassment of scandal. And all the emotional investment we have in winning and success, some of us, somehow, despite our best efforts, and for any number of irrational reasons, become so attached, irrationally really. To care so much for somebody who would not give you the time of day. I have my ideas why, but I really don't know. Perhaps for another time.

He's the best that ever was.  I guess it's a time honored SF Giants tradition to kick their heroes to the curb for the last couple seasons (Willie Mac, Oakland, Mays, Mets...)

I am tempted to boycott Giants baseball if he comes back for another team for <15M/year.

E's post was exactly along the lines of my thoughts as I left the ballpark. We've said goodbye to beloved Giants, both sending them into retirement (JT Snow) and into the afterlife (Uribe, Chris Brown, Shooter). But losing Bonds is to me what losing Mays had to have been to the generations of fans before me. It's doubtful I will ever see another player like him again on this team. I feel the need to borrow other people's children to tell them stories of Bonds, because I won't have kids of my own. Bonds is the Giants as Mays was the Giants.

Things just will not be the same ever again.

I thought the send off was less than spectacular. There was no pregame ceramony. The video tributes were Bruce Magowan and Renel? I guess JT said a few words. Most of it was film we've seen a million times. Not that I didn't want to see it but to the tune of My Way?  And after telling everyone to stay for the postgame tribute, it was more of the same. Then they had to get everyone out. Renel said good bye everyone. Tony sang as our cue to leave and the players came out and threw balls in the stands? It was weird. Tempers flared. I saw 2 fights on the way out. Sigh.

i cant figure out how other teams dealing with never having a barry bonds on their team.  is it better to have had a barry bonds and lost one, or to never have had a barry bonds at all?

I'm conflicted, and I'll tell you why:

First of all, I have to say thank you to Barry for not only giving us some of the greatest moments of not only Giants baseball, but baseball in general. The guy was the best I've ever seen (and probably will see), being that my earliest memories involved seeing Willie Mays at the end of his career here and hearing how great he was. You don't appreciate that when you're 5.

Barry was a horrifying terror to opposing pitchers, and totally changed the approach other teams had towards facing the Giants. And as a Giants fan, how could you not love seeing such a force in your uniform?

But...there was the attitude. He didn't play the smile-for-the-cameras game, wasn't always available, and wasn't the most cheerful guy around. You could argue that he wasn't being paid for PR, he was being paid for what he did on the field, and you would be correct. Between the lines he was Force Ten, but off the field, especially in the past few years, he really tested my patience. I could care less if he did or didn't take something to help his performance. But let's face it, his attitude was tolerated because he delivered. I never cared for any player who dictated to management what he was going to do because he wanted to, regardless of what it meant to the team.

We're entering a new era. The other night, Scott Ostler wrote that you could feel the looser feeling in the clubhouse, and that can only be good.