Barry Bonds Says He Still Loves Baseball : At Age 31, He Has Learned That Much More Is Expected From Superstars in Sports Than Just Impressive Statistics

Barry Bonds never stopped loving baseball. Instead, it’s those newspaper stories that portray him as surly, those fans who say he’s aloof and those umpires who think he’s hostile that Bonds doesn’t like.

“The game is great,” he said. “It’s just the fact that everything else around it is tearing up the game.

“But I feel good, because I’m not going to allow people to get to me no more. I’m not going to allow the media bother me any more. I’m not going to allow the fans to bother me or get to me any more. I’m going to try to love the game, like I used to, just the game, just play the game.”

Certainly, the three-time MVP has done that well enough. With a start that saw him hit 11 of his 17 homers in April to tie a major league record, Bonds is well on his way to another glittering season.

Despite a recent slump, he’s still among the NL leaders in home runs and RBIs, and on April 27 joined Willie Mays, Andre Dawson and his father, Bobby Bonds as the only major leaguers to hit 300 homers and steal 300 bases.

“Barry’s not done yet. He’s got unbelievable potential and he’s accomplished great things in the game already,” San Francisco Giants teammate Glenallen Hill said.

But it hasn’t been enough to erase Bonds’ image as player just a notch down from Albert Belle on the list of baseball’s bad guys. At 31, he has learned that much more is expected from sports superstars than big stats.

While his talent can be transcendent, Bonds can be grim in his approach to the game, and he’s been known to snarl at anyone disturbing him in a moment of concentration.

That’s just part of his makeup, Giants shortstop Shawon Dunston said.

“His personality is a little different,” Dunston said. “It’s not as nice as people want it to be, but Barry takes his job seriously, and that’s the way you have to be. I think if he was really a nice guy it would take away from him.”

Bonds said he’s just trying to do his job, and doesn’t deserve to be portrayed as mean, uncooperative and distant. He blames that characterization on the media and believes trying to change it is a hopeless proposition.

“Barry Bonds’ bad-boy image came from the newspaper. It didn’t come from anywhere else,” he said. “I’ve been in this game a long time, man, and I’ve done a lot more good than I’ve ever done bad, so that’s not the issue here. Once you’re stamped as a bad boy in the press, there’s no way out.

“The only way out of that is if you die, get in a big accident or you’re retired and make the Hall of Fame. Then they love you, because you’re out of sight. Then they start appreciating what the person really did and then it doesn’t matter,” he said.

Bonds said he saw the same thing happen to his godfather, Willie Mays, and his father, as well as to other players.

“You act like (the media) didn’t get on Willie Mays,” he said. “Yes, they did when he played, but Willie Mays became a great player, hit 600 home runs, now he’s retired and loved by America.

“Roberto Clemente died in a plane wreck and now he’s the love of Pittsburgh. But anyone who knew Clemente knew Pittsburgh booed him and didn’t like him when he was playing. Same thing with my cousin, Reggie Jackson, and even my father. It’s the same thing. And once Barry Bonds is out of the game and Albert Belle and all of us ‘bad boys,’ are gone, they’ll just find other ones to pick on.”

Bonds’ relationship with the press took a turn for the worse May 9, when he shoved USA Today baseball writer Rod Beaton in a pregame locker-room dispute in St. Louis. Bonds said he and Beaton have resolved the matter.

“That’s a dead issue. Both Rod and I have killed that issue,” Bonds said. “We’re two grown men. It’s not your problem. It’s not the world’s problem. It’s not anyone’s else’s problem, so for you to even ask me about it is out of line.”

Neither Beaton nor the newspaper filed a complaint in the incident, which remains under review by the National League.

In the meantime, Bonds has tried to be more accommodating to reporters, a stance urged on him during a session last week with Giants executive Larry Baer.

That position, though, does not necessarily extend to all others.

“Everyone gives the umpires and referees so much respect, but they can insult you just as much as anybody in any part of the game,” Bonds said. “When somebody comes to me and tells me, ‘You . . . better do so-and-so.’ Wait a minute. I’m not your child, man. You don’t come after me. So now, we’re in a shouting match. But see, no one saw behind that mask what that person said to me that lit me off.

“All they see is, ‘Barry Bonds flew off the handle.’ That’s what is in the newspaper. ‘Barry Bonds gets fined.’ But there’s a whole of other people who should be fined. Even the fans should be fined.”

Bonds said fan taunts have become crueler, more personal and unrelenting, particularly in the aftermath of the strike, which disrupted parts of two seasons.

“Every single day we listen to this. You know, once in a while you’re going to snap,” Bonds said. “Most of the times, kids are pretty cool. It’s the adults. Like, I’ve got a game, right. I’m on the field during a game and they’re saying, ‘Can you sign this?’

“The next thing I hear, ‘Oh you’re too good to even look this way. That’s why we hate you, because you’re too big.’ And then you’ve got kids sitting there thinking what they’re doing is proper. And that’s weak.”

And that, he said, tends to lead to more problems.

“Then you know what happens. You turn around and say, ‘Why don’t you just shut up. You’re getting on my nerves, man. Why don’t you shut your . . . mouth and let these kids enjoy the game or let these other people enjoy the game and why don’t you get out of here.’ But you know what? The camera pans on Barry Bonds and blam, ‘Barry Bonds shouts at fan.’ That’s what the whole thing comes out to be.

“I’m getting tired of baseball players always taking the heat for everything, or athletes in general. Who gives them the freedom to insult you, to verbally abuse you? No one has that right, but it happens all the time.”

Bonds, who said he hopes to play at least another six or seven years, said he still enjoys the athletic part of the sport.

“The game is fun, playing baseball, competing is fun,” he said. “What isn’t fun is the fact that sometimes the game is taken away from us with everything else that’s going on around it. That’s not so fun.

“It’s always, ‘Who’s doing what to what?’ or ‘Major league owners and players can’t agree,’ crud that has nothing to do with the game.”

Bonds dismisses the notion players bear any part of the responsibility for the game’s problems.

“How? They brought up salary because of money, but ain’t nobody putting a gun to anybody’s head and telling them to pay people,” he said. “So why is there a media frenzy on it? For what reason? For what purpose? It’s not that player or person’s fault. No one forced anyone to pay anybody. No one can force anyone to do that.”