ESPN to Air Weekly Series on Bonds’ Chase

Barry Bonds will get almost round-the-clock coverage for a new ESPN weekly series as he pursues Babe Ruth’s mark of 714 home runs and Hank Aaron’s record of 755.

Plans for the series, “Bonds on Bonds,” were announced Wednesday. It will begin as a one-hour special on ESPN2 on April 4 and then as a half-an-hour show on subsequent Tuesdays on ESPN until the All-Star break.

More episodes could air later in the season, if needed.

Producer Mike Tollin called “Bonds on Bonds” a documentary series, not a reality series.

“It won’t be another ‘Osbournes,’ ” he said.

From the Giants’ spring-training camp in Scottsdale, Ariz., Bonds said, “It will be me on me. I want things recorded directly from me and not in someone else’s words or [TV] clips. People will be able to look back at baseball history and see it as it happened, instead of he said, she said.

“I hope it works, but if it fails it fails.”

Asked what viewers might learn from the series, Bonds said, “I don’t know what they’ll learn. I’m not a teacher.”

Bonds, who according to publicist Rachael Vizcarra is not getting paid to do the series, declined to say if he had final control over what is aired. But Tollin said he does not.

“We will be interviewing a lot of people about Barry, including some of his harshest critics in the media,” Tollin said.

ESPN has taken criticism for this series, and some of that criticism has come from within.

ESPN ombudsman George Solomon says he does not believe the network should be involved with Bonds on this series or with Bob Knight on a series that began airing last weekend.

“A partnership with either of these subjects boggles the mind, however beneficial to the ratings these projects might become,” Solomon said recently.

“Simply collaborating with such high-profile newsmakers seems out of place with the convents of the kind of journalism most ESPN staffers seek to attain.”

Tollin says a cameraman has been following Bonds since last spring, and another cameraman will be added Monday.

“We already have 40 hours of material in the can,” Tollin said.

Tollin said he interviewed Bonds 10 years ago for a documentary he did on Aaron, “Chasing the Dream.”

“Barry said at the time no one will ever get close to 755,” Tollin said.

Bonds has 708 homers.

Tollin said his longtime relationship with Vizcarra helped get this project off the ground.

Vizcarra has a background in entertainment publicity and used to work for Dennis Gilbert, Bonds’ former agent.

Tollin said the fact that Bonds dressed up as Paula Abdul for an “American Idol” skit in training camp Tuesday had nothing to do with his series.

“That wasn’t for us,” Tollin said. “If that even makes the first show, it will only get a brief mention.”