At age 51, Bonds is vastly less physically imposing than he was as a player. He wore a size 46 jersey Saturday, down from the size 52 he wore in his later years with the San Francisco Giants. But his ego remains fully juiced.
Referring to his new pupils, Bonds said, “I hope they don’t think they know more than me, because they don’t,” then cackled. Referring to Marlins ace Jose Fernandez, he said, “He would never be able to dominate me,” then cackled again.
Bonds was also undaunted by being left out of the Hall of Fame. He was selected on 44% of writers’ ballots this year, the highest percentage in his four years on the ballot, but was still far short of the 75% needed for induction.
“I know that I’m a Hall of Fame player. I don’t really need to get into that,” he said, before getting right into that.
“There’s not one player that ever could sit there and say that I’m not one and there’s not a coach that ever coached me that says that I’m not one.…God knows I’m a Hall of Famer.”
