This isn’t the Civil War when brothers fought against each other, one with the North, the other with the South. Admittedly, it’s a weak analogy but the story line has thinned. Also, there are a few baseball families on both sides of the baseball strike.
Among them are Bobby Bonds and his son, Barry. A longtime major league star of the first rank, the elder Bonds is the batting coach for the San Francisco Giants. His son, Barry, a three-time National League Most Valuable Player, is the Giants’ regular left-fielder and generally regarded as baseball’s best all-around player, the best perhaps since Willie Mays.
As part of management, Bobby is here helping the San Francisco players, replacements and minor leaguers, prepare for the coming season. Barry is at his California home, among the 800-some major league players who have been on strike for almost seven months.
Bobby Bonds was at his post, behind the batting cage, watching the hitters
swing against batting-practice pitching. Every few minutes he took a batter aside and offered instruction.
“I have to be here,” the elder Bonds explained. “I’m obligated to the organization and to the players who are here. We’re trying to help everybody.”
I asked about his son, Barry.
“We stay in contact. He’s been taking batting practice five times a week. But he’s getting a little bored. I talked to him for an hour last night. He said he’s down to three days a week, that
the novelty of just working out is starting to wear on him. He’s ready to come to spring training.
“He said, `Dad, I want to see some live pitching.”‘
Bobby Bonds excused himself for several minutes. He summoned a young player to his side, and was trying to eliminate a hitch in his swing.
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“Barry’s no different than any of the other players,” Bobby Bonds said, resuming the conversation.
“They all want to be here and want to be doing what they normally do-and that’s playing baseball. I don’t care if they’re making
$5 million a year, $1 million a year or $1 a year, they all want to play baseball.”
At $7.3 million a year, Barry is baseball’s second-highest-paid player.
I asked if many of the players, his son included, were getting restless.
“Barry’s been speaking to a lot of the ballplayers,” Bobby acknowledged. “I know they’re all disappointed that there hasn’t been a deal. But they’re not sitting home, saying `We’re not going to play.”‘
What about the sentiment of the other players? Very little has been heard from the so-called rank and file.
“They all feel the same way Barry does. They want to play but until they get this thing settled they cannot do that. Barry is close to Bobby Bonilla and Mark Grace. Very good friends. Talk all the time. They’re hoping it ends soon-so the regular season can begin on time.”
According to the older Bonds, Barry “knows what’s going on” but hasn’t attended any of the regional player meetings conducted by union chief Donald Fehr.
“There’s pressure to settle on both sides,” Bobby Bonds said. “There’s pressure among the players and from what I hear lately not all of the owners are in complete agreement.”
Whatever, the strike obviously hasn’t diminished the relationship between father and son. “There is no acrimony between us,” Bobby said. “We love each other as much as ever.”
Bobby Bonds is among the few baseball veterans still in uniform who was involved in all of the first six stoppages which
included the 50-day strike in 1981, previously the longest shutdown.
He had a glorious 16-year big league career, was a five-time All-Star and the only player to have five “30-30” seasons-30 or more home runs and 30 or more stolen bases.
He was well-traveled and played with eight major league teams, including both Chicago clubs. He finished with a career total of 332 home runs. His final season was in 1981 when he was with the Cubs.
And, of course, a story goes with it.
On Sept. 7 the Cubs were in St. Louis, opening a series with the Cardinals. By chance, Bonds met Andy McKenna in the hotel lobby, three or four hours before game-time. McKenna, a native of Chicago’s South Side, was then the president of the Cubs and is the only person who operated both the Cubs and White Sox.
“He asked me if I would hit a home run,” Bonds recalled.
“I said,’ `Is that all?’
“And he said, `No, hit two!’
“I said, `You’ve got it! I’ll hit two!’
“He came back two days later and he said, `Can you hit two more?’
“I did.
“But I never made that promise again.”
`They all want to be here and want to be doing what they normally do-and that’s playing baseball.’
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Bobby Bonds