Steve Politi at NJ.com catches up with Bobby Bonds, Jr., the younger brother of Barry Bonds. Bobby Jr. played baseball, making it to Triple A, but never beyond.
"I was just talking to my brother the other day," Bobby Bonds Jr. said last week. "I told him, 'You better fly me out to San Francisco for this!' He told me, 'Of course, bro.'
Bobby Bonds Jr. will never be accused of juicing. To him, older brother Barry looks, well, pumped up.
The kid brother laughs, and his voice could easily pass for his famous sibling. His body frame is a mirror image of his brother, too, but circa 1992: He looks like the young Barry Bonds who broke into the majors with the Pittsburgh Pirates, long and lithe, not bulky and bloated.
Yes, his brother is much bigger -- "He's fat to me," Bobby Bonds Jr. said. But while the world sees needles and creams, Bobby remembers the two of them working out with Hall of Fame receiver Jerry Rice, running straight up a seven-mile hill, and the boxes of legal supplements piled in his house. He wonders why reporters don't go to their local jail to see all the muscle-bound inmates. "Is everyone in prison taking steroids because they're buff?" he asks.
(Actually yes, steroids are smuggled into jails, but that's another topic) Does Bobby Jr. think Barry juices?
"Everyone asks," Bobby Bonds Jr. said. "The only thing I tell them is the same thing I tell everyone, 'I don't know if he took (steroids). Even if he did, he wouldn't have told me.' They ask the dumbest questions when, most of the time, they could figure it out themselves."
But has he ever asked his brother?
"Of course," he said. "He said, 'No man, I don't need to do that (stuff).' Point blank. I'm not going to sit here and try to pump my brother up. If he did it, if he snuck it, he's not going to let me know. You know what I mean? And if he did, he kept it quiet from the whole world.
"When other people started getting busted, of course, this guy hit 73 home runs, he's big as hell, let's go after him. But they've tested him, he's come back negative. I don't understand why they keep bringing it up. They can't prove it."
Bonds Jr. does know the hurt he feels from Hank Aaron's snub of his brother:
"... Hank Aaron," said Bobby Bonds Jr., whose father was one of Aaron's contemporaries. "Hank Aaron does not even want to support Barry. Being a black man going through what he went through in the past and not supporting my brother, it kind of makes me look at him like, 'Are you serious, brother? Are you serious?'
Sounds like Bobby Jr., think something goes on with his famous brother. Here is an interesting quote:
"Cut the steroids out, just look at my brother as a human being. He stole bases, he ran, he caught the ball. It's so hard to justify what's going on with baseball and how they're treating him."
Did Bobby Jr. ever use 'roids? He indicated his power fell short of big league potential. And Bonds Jr. point-blank says he refused PEDs.
Bobby Jr. had a mixed experience with baseball, too. He admits he never wanted to work as hard as his brother, opting to chase girls in the stands when others were chasing fly balls. His career highlight came in spring training one year with the Giants when he shared the outfield with his brother. Before the spring ended, he was back in the minors.
He knew teammates who used steroids, players who went to Mexico in the off-season and came back with muscles they never had before. "My ball would go to the warning track. It would be at the wall but it wouldn't go over," Bobby Jr. said, not a hint of regret in his voice.
"That's where my career ended," he said. "But I refused to take them. I refused to shoot anything into my butt. If I couldn't make it naturally, then I didn't deserve to be there."
Interesting interview with Barry's brother. Although he admits he brother Barry would never reveal to him PED use, sounds like Bobby Jr. would not be surprised to hear that secret revealed. Juicer or not, he would like baseball to respect his brother.
That's too bad Bobby wants to force Hank Aaron into making both a crime and disrepecting the game into a racial issue rather than what it is.
Posted by: groove | 12/13/2008 at 16:10