Bonds won't have more knee surgery
09/25/2005 7:59 PM ET
Bonds won't have more knee surgery
Slugger would retire after 2006 if leg proves uncooperative
By Barry M. Bloom / MLB.com
DENVER -- Giants slugger Barry Bonds played his first day game after a night
Sunday on a very gimpy and swollen right knee.
And before the Giants defeated the Rockies, 6-2, in their final game of the
season at Coors Field, Bonds told reporters he will retire if he has to
undergo another procedure on that arthritic knee, which is bereft of cartilage
and meniscus.
"I'm not having another surgery," said Bonds, who has had four on that knee
since 1999, including three this year from Jan. 31 to May 2. "If that happens,
I'll quit. I'm done, after October of next year."
Bonds, who is 41 years old, has an $18 million contract to play with the
Giants next season and made it clear that he would fulfill that deal under any
circumstances.
"I won't go for another procedure," he said. "Then [the season] would just be
lost, but I won't go until after next year."
Bonds told MLB.com on Saturday night that he might shut it down this week if
the Giants are eliminated from contention in the National League West. They
travel to San Diego and open a last-gasp four-game series against the
first-place Padres on Monday night.
The left-handed slugger, who has 707 homers, said it probably wouldn't be
worth the risk to continue playing, adding that he will go back into rehab at
the Kerlan-Jobe Clinic in Los Angeles for at least another month immediately
after the season.
When reporters gathered before the game to query the gimpy Bonds about the
subject, he began to elaborate and then cut the discussion off, saying he
would not continue as long as Pedro Gomez, an ESPN reporter covering the team,
was present.
Gomez initially declined to leave, although he ultimately demurred and the
interview session continued. Bonds said he wasn't unhappy with ESPN in general
, just with Gomez's coverage in particular. Gomez has been covering Bonds for
ESPN since the start of Spring Training.
"As long as he doesn't talk to me, I don't give a [darn] what he does," Bonds
said.
Gomez declined to comment.
The Giants went into Sunday's action trailing the Padres by five games with
eight left to play. The dire circumstances in the standings led manager Felipe
Alou to ask Bonds if he would play. It was his 10th start since being
activated from the disabled list on Sept. 12.
"I showed him two lineups and asked him which one we should use?" Alou said.
"I knew he wasn't in good shape."
Ignoring his own better judgment, Bonds decided to take one for the team,
although he said it might cost him a start Monday or Tuesday night in San
Diego. He played six full innings and came out after bouncing to first to end
the top of the seventh.
"We've got to keep winning," Bonds said. "If we don't, the games in San Diego
will be meaningless."
Bonds told reporters that he might not have a choice except to stop playing
when the games become academic.
"That would be the smart thing," he said.
Alou seconded that notion. "It's just common sense," he said. "But it won't
only affect Barry. The same thing would be true for Moises [Alou] and [J.T.]
Snow and [Ray] Durham. They'll all get some rest. It's been a long year and a
lot of our guys have been playing with injuries."
None more so than Bonds, who missed the first 142 games of the season and
spent June 24 to Sept. 5 in Los Angeles working under the veteran eyes of Dr.
Lewis Yocum, the Angels' chief orthopedic surgeon, and Clive Brewster, a
longtime physical therapist.
Bonds said upon his return that he never would've made it this far back
without their help. Now he wants to rely on them again.
"I just want to make sure that all the nicks and crannies are out and I'm
really good to go," Bonds said. "I want to try to be there the whole year.
I'm not going to play every day, but I'll be playing healthy.
"And I don't know. My knee might be like this for the rest of my life. I've
got to give it an honest effort. I've got to give it a shot so at least I can
say I did what I did to try and get it back to normal. And if it doesn't go
back to normal, then that's just the way the knee is."
Bonds has given a big boost to the team, which is 8-2 in his 10 starts. He hit
four home runs in as many starts, including back-to-back games this week at
RFK Stadium, a streak that ended against the Rockies on Friday night, but
still pulled him to within seven of Babe Ruth's 714 and 48 of Hank Aaron's
all-time leading 755.
It's now obvious he will not catch and pass Ruth until early next season.
But Bonds has still been a major contributor to keeping the Giants in the
race. After going 0-for-3 with a walk Sunday, his average dipped to .290 (9
-for-29) with the four homers, seven RBIs, a double, six runs scored and seven
walks (two intentional).
Even on one stiff and gimpy leg.
"Barry's not playing at 100 percent," Alou said. "His knee hasn't allowed it.
He's playing on talent only. He's not in baseball shape."
Barry M. Bloom is a national reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject
to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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