The former San Francisco Giant, Barry Bonds, wants to become a hitting coach. “I love being home and, I love being here,” he said, according to the huffingtonpost.com. Bonds broke McGwire’s single-season home run record with 73 in 2001 and went on to surpass Hank Aaron’s career mark of 755 in his final season in 2007. The seven-time NL MVP hit 762 career home runs.
McGwire, who retired in 2001, returned to the game this season, back in uniform as hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals. The team announced earlier this week that he would be back for a second season. Before the start of his first spring training as a coach, McGwire ended years of denials and a self-imposed exile by admitting that he had used steroids and human growth hormone on and off for a decade, starting before the 1990 season and including when he broke Roger Maris’ single-season home run record in 1998. He also said that he didn’t use steroids for strength purposes, and God have him the ability to hit home runs.
Bonds, 46, has also been accused of taking steroids. He is scheduled to go to trial in March on charges that he lied to a federal grand jury in 2003 when he denied knowingly taking steroids. “I have a gift and sooner or later I have to give it away,” Bonds said, according to huffingtonpost.com. “I have to share it. Hopefully, I get the opportunity here.”
Bonds, who never announced his retirement as a Giant, wants to redeem himself here because he is beloved by the fan’s of San Francisco. Everyone in life deserves a second chance at anything, whether it’s professional sports or not. Even though Bonds didn’t say goodbye, he is hoping to become a hitting coach, so he can stay in the game he loves the most. He is also hoping that the Giants win the first World Series, because they fell short in 2002 against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
The Giants have not won a World Series since the ballpark opened in 1958. The bottom line is that Bonds doesn’t want to say goodbye and give up the game of baseball that he loves so much. Will Bonds become a hitting coach either in San Francisco or anywhere else? We will have to wait and see.
