Barry Bonds is back to the San Francisco Giants! On Tuesday, the Giants announced the former outfielder has joined the organization as special advisor to CEO.
As special advisor, Bonds will represent the San Francisco Giants community where he’ll make appearances at events, attend spring training, and talk with young prospects. In ways, he will be an ambassador for his former team.
This season, Giants fans will get to see Bonds added to the Wall of Fame on King Street at AT&T Park. No announcement on when the ceremony will held. In a statement, Bonds expressed how happy he is to be back the Giants organization.
"“I am excited to be back home with the Giants and join the team in an official capacity,” Bonds said. “San Francisco has always been my home and the Giants will always be my family. I look forward to spending time with the team, young players in the system as well as the Bay Area community.”"
Will this mean fans will get to see the Giants retire the number 25 and bronze statue of Bonds at AT&T Park?
Fans will have to wait and see.
Bonds spent his entire baseball career with the Giants since 1993. Bonds is Major League Baseball’s all-time career in home runs with 765 homers, the most home runs in a single season with 73. And no surprise, he’s in first on the all-time list in walks with 2,558. Remember, the rubber chickens at the ballpark?
There seem to be up and down relationship between the Giants and legendary outfielder. The team released Bonds in 2007, the same year where he broke the home run record and was crowned as the new Home Run King. After being let go from the Giants, Bonds has spent his time dealing with legal woes with the federal court. Also, Bonds was the poster child of the steroid era
Years later, Bonds was a special instructor at Giants spring training camp in 2014. Giants didn’t offer Bonds a permitted position at the time. Last season, Bonds was hired by the Miami Marlins to be the hitter instructor. The Marlins parted ways with Bonds after one season.
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Despite everything that happened in the past, all we can say is welcome back Barry Bonds!