Barry's Back, And So Are the Memories

It was 7:59 a.m. in Scottsdale Ariz., and even the lizards were holding their breath. Would Barry Bonds show up for his first spring training workout? After all, Bonds had hinted, then retracted, then hinted again that baseball was no longer fun, and that he might retire. Then — 8 a.m.! Bonds arrives! Barry's activities on Day 1 ( dutifully noted by the San Francisco Chronicle):

Joined teammates for four minutes of stretching. Playful bear-rasslin' with Ray Durham. Aerobics in the training room. Light outfield drills. Three rounds of batting practice, one facing Jason Schmidt and Noah Lowry, two with coaches throwing the ball. 11 balls. One swing. One homer.

Said Giants trainer Stan Conte: "You can't help but be pleased that he came here, he did some good stuff, he left, and we'll see how it is tomorrow. Given the positive medical reports over the past few weeks, we weren't surprised we saw him come out and do stuff. We didn't think we were going to see anything different, but until you see something, you don't know."

We have no reason to doubt Stan Conte — a few years back, before he got the Giants' gig, he diagnosed our Achillies tendon injury after we separated it during a pickup basketball game, and later oversaw the rehabilitation. This is true. However, his comments to us were a little different than those in the above graph about Bonds. What he said to us was: "Do you have insurance?"