Barry Bonds soaks up the love in return to S.F., but puts Marlins first

SAN FRANCISCO — Barry Bonds arrived at AT&T Park on Friday and went right to the batting cage. The visitors’ batting cage. Then he went to the dugout, sat down and answered questions from a swarm of reporters. The visitors’ dugout. Then it was off to the clubhouse.

Oh, the AT&T Park clubhouse. The stories it could tell about Barry Bonds. Well, not this one. He was across the stadium. You know, with the visitors.

Bonds has done a lot of things at AT&T Park in his life — including hitting 160 homers; 35 of which splashed into McCovey Cove — but he’d never done any of this. He was, for the first time, wearing the opposing team’s uniform.

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The return of Bonds, the home-run king, PED poster child and controversy magnet who had surprisingly taken a job as the Miami Marlins hitting coach, figured to be a circus. Because he’s Barry Bonds and most everything involving him has the potential be a circus. But this new Barry Bonds, the one who wants to change his image, get back in baseball’s good graces and maybe, hopefully one day get into the Hall of Fame, well he wasn’t trying to play ring master.

“I take my job serious,” Bonds said in what had to be the most anticipated media scrum featuring an opposing hitting coach in the history of AT&T Park. “I’m very serious about being a good hitting coach over here for the Miami Marlins. I respect the Giants. I’ll root for them when we leave. I’m not going to root for them right now.”

(Getty Images) The reintroduction of Bonds was equal parts subdued and elated, depending on whether we’re talking about the people on the field or the fans in the stands. The fans pulled their No. 25 jerseys out of the closet. A few made signs. And when Marlins manager Don Mattingly wisely sent Bonds out to home plate to exchange lineup cards, the home fans were thrilled, chanting “Bar-ry! Bar-ry!” as soon as they realized what was going on.

In the third inning, the Giants ran a string of Bonds highlights on the video board while Aloe Blacc’s “I’m The Man” played. They showed Bonds in the Marlins dugout but put “Forever Giant” under his name. He tapped his hand against his chest as a thank you, eventually coming out for a curtain call. That moment was the closest this rendezvous would get to a welcome-home parade.

The Giants offered to honor Bonds with a spot on the Wall of Fame during the three-game series with the Marlins. But Bonds balked at Giants CEO Larry Baer’s idea.

“He wanted to do something when I came back,” Bonds said. “We sat down and talked about it. I thought it really wasn’t the right time. My boss is Jeffrey [Loria, Marlins’ owner] now. I want to respect him and respect the Marlins. We’re here to play the Giants and put on a good performance. I think it’s more respectful to the Marlins fans and Miami people. If the Giants want to do something at a later date with me in the right uniform, that’s more appropriate.”

San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy, whose first year in a Giants uniform was Bonds’ last, wished Bonds well but wasn’t falling over himself to get into the minutiae of the other team’s hitting coach.

“It’s good to see him back in baseball,” Bochy said. “I know he’s doing what he wants to do. He’s got a passion for it. It’s good for him that there’s a spot for him. I’m sure he’ll do a great job there.”

(AP) Bonds didn’t seem too eager for the pageantry either. Maybe in earnest or maybe because he’s really, really trying to prove to baseball that he’s taking his new job seriously. His way of showing it Friday was retreating to the batting cage every free pregame moment, watching Marlins hitters take their cuts. In other words: Doing his job, not reliving his past-life.

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In the clubhouse, Marlins leadoff man Dee Gordon (last year’s batting champion in the N.L.) talked about how Bonds has helped his approach at the plate this season, while acknowledging that he’d never be the archetype of hitting Bonds was. How Bonds would relate to players that didn’t have his ridiculous eye and precision at the plate was one of the big questions in all of this, since being a great hitter and teaching hitting are two very different things. Early reports do suggest Bonds has been a success with the Marlins, even though that hasn’t turned the Marlins into splash-hitting OBP-machines.

“I can’t do what he did or see what he saw,” Gordon said. “I’m pretty sure where he hit his homers, still not a lot of people are hitting them there.”

Giancarlo Stanton got most of Bonds’ attention in the batting cage Friday. He’s a guy with the power to hit ‘em where Bonds did. Stanton would take swing after swing with Bonds sitting behind him in a folding chair, offering input every few minutes.

Some keen Giants fans spied the duo through a large glass window into the visitor’s batting cage on AT&T Park’s lower level. Hirsch Patel, a 22-year-old from across the bay in Fremont, watched Stanton smack baseballs for a few minutes before he said aloud to no one in particular, “Is that Bonds in the back?”

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Patel wore a Bonds shirsey from 2007’s Home Run Derby at AT&T Park and talked about how it was Bonds who got him interested in baseball as a second grader.

“I didn’t really know much about baseball, but he made it really exciting,” Patel said. “I started learning more as I watched, most of the reason I watched was because of him. I think most [Giants fans] are pretty happy that he’s back, but I think everyone wanted him to the Giants’ hitting coach.”

(Getty Images) While Bonds was with Stanton in the batting cage, a flock of Giants fans had crowded around the visitor’s dugout with balls, cards and pictures. They wanted an autograph, but they’d settle for a glimpse of Bonds.

“I’ve never seen so many Giants fans at the visiting dugout,” said Pasha Mochlin of San Francisco, who made a sign that said “Welcome Home Barry” and held it near the Marlins dugout.

“Barry, he’s from the city,” Mochlin said. “That’s where he belongs. I just want to come out and support him. I want to see him a Giants uniform eventually.”

Any talks of a reunion are premature. Bonds isn’t even a month into his first season as a hitting coach. Had the Giants wanted to hire him, the chance was certainly there. The Giants may very well be his future, one of these days, but they’re not his present.

“This is where I played. This is my home,” Bonds said. “I would hope this city has great memories.”

Perhaps one day it’ll all happen — the reunion, the wall of fame, the grand Barry Bonds circus. For now, the fans who still celebrate Bonds will have to settle for those memories.

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