SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Barry Bonds broke Mark McGwire’s single-season home run record. Now he wants to follow Big Mac into the coaching profession some day.
Bonds spoke just outside the San Francisco Giants’ clubhouse before Game 1 of the World Series against the Texas Rangers on Wednesday night.
“I love being home. I love being here,” he said.
When asked if he’d like to do more than just cheer on his former team in the future, Bonds said he would be interested in becoming a hitting coach in the future.
“I have a gift and sooner or later I have to give it away,” Bonds said. “I have to share it. Hopefully I’ll get the opportunity here.”
Bonds broke McGwire’s single-season home run record with 73 in 2001 and went on to surpass Hank Aaron’s career mark of 755 in his final season in 2007. The seven-time NL MVP hit 762 career home runs.
McGwire, who retired in 2001, returned to the game this season, back in uniform as hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals. The team announced earlier this week that he would be back for a second season.
Before the start of his first spring training as a coach, McGwire ended years of denials and a self-imposed exile by admitting that he had used steroids and human growth hormone on and off for a decade, starting before the 1990 season and including when he broke Roger Maris’ single-season home run record in 1998.
Bonds, 46, has also been accused of taking steroids. He is scheduled to go to trial in March on charges that he lied to a federal grand jury in 2003 when he denied knowingly taking steroids.
Bonds, who has never officially announced his retirement, still holds season tickets in San Francisco but has made infrequent visits back to his old ballpark. This was his third trip this season. He came back in April for a reunion of the 2000 NL West champions and last week to throw out the ceremonial first pitch during the NL championship series against Philadelphia.
While there are only a handful of Giants left from his final season in 2007, Bonds said he knows most of the players and has enjoyed watching the team make the postseason for the first time since his departure.
He said it would mean a lot to the city if the Giants could win their first World Series title since moving to San Francisco in 1958.
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