"When Barry Bonds shakes my hand, he squeezes my metacarpals like he's gripping one of his old maple-wood bats. Then he looks directly at me and past me at once, like I'm some journeyman pitcher whose changeup he's about to take deep. He's no longer the 228-pound slugger you remember - a decade of cycling has made him much leaner than the previous time he was in the public eye."
"Bonds signs some autographs, then takes a seat on the bench in the Giants dugout next to his mother, puts his head in his hands, and sighs. It's the second Saturday in July at San Francisco's Oracle Park, and we're just over an hour away from Game 2 of a three-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the defending (and future) World Series champions. Last night, Shohei Ohtani, today's starting pitcher, who will also bat leadoff, crushed a home run over the brick wall in right field and into the San Francisco Bay, where Bonds deposited 35 of his own 762 career home runs."
"Today is Barry Bonds Bobblehead Day. The first 20,000 fans in attendance will take home a tiny Bonds with a nodding oversize dome. On the Jumbotron, we're watching a video of Bonds in which the Giants broadcaster Duane Kuiper narrates Barry Bonds highlights. Fans in Barry Bonds jerseys swarm the dugout's edge, shaking their boxes of toy Barry Bondses and pleading for his autograph."
Barry Bonds appears leaner and older after years of cycling, a 60-year-old grandfather with gray stubble and an intense gaze. He attends a Giants-Dodgers weekend, signs autographs, and sits quietly in the dugout beside his mother. Shohei Ohtani recently hit a homer into the Bay where Bonds hit 35 of his own 762 career home runs. Bonds's 762 homers remain the Major League record, layered with controversy from steroid use. Fans celebrate Bonds with a bobblehead giveaway, swarm the dugout, and chant adoringly despite his complicated legacy.
Read at The Atlantic
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