Baseball - Bonds Finally Signs Contract With Giants

At long last Barry Bonds and San Francisco Giants have finalized one year contract worth $15.8 million. This deal was completed after Bonds spent hours at the ballpark being examined by the team’s doctors. The deal took nearly two months to finalize. Both sides had already agreed to the financial details in the beginning of December 2006. Barry Bonds is 42 years old and he can now concentrate on the next season and see whether he can break Hank Aaron’s record.

Bonds has 734 home runs. He is just 22 home runs short of breaking Hank Aaron’s career record. Bonds has already said that he plans to play beyond 2007 if he is unable to break Aaron’s record. According to Bond, he will continue playing till he is able to break Aaron’s record or at least he will keep on trying.

Before the contract was signed, Bonds had to undergo a physical and both sides had to agree to words of the contract which contained details about his behavior and what would happen if Bond got indicted.

Bonds is being investigated by a federal grand jury for perjury. The grand jury is trying to find out whether Bonds perjured himself when he testified in 2003 in BALCO steroid distribution case saying that he has never taken performance enhancing drugs knowingly.

The contract further contains a clause that Bonds’ trainers, Harvey Shields and Greg Oliver, will not be allowed into the clubhouse. Earlier, the two trainers had their own lockers next to Bonds’. The trainers will also no longer be on the Giants’ payroll and will they be allowed into restricted areas in any big league ballpark. If they make road trips, Bonds would have to pay for them. This information was disclosed on condition of anonymity by two baseball officials who had close knowledge about the contract.