Barry Bonds could have gazed at the B&O warehouse yesterday and imagined the possibilities, if only his line of vision weren't blocked by all the reporters and television cameras packed around him inside the San Francisco Giants' dugout at Camden Yards.
He knew it was there, practically daring him to take aim. No player has hit it except for batting practice and the home run contest that preceded the 1993 All-Star Game. Who is more qualified to break a window or chip a few bricks?
"I don't really care about the warehouse. I just care about the yellow line," he said while rain continued to fall, causing the interleague game against the Orioles to be postponed until tonight. "We don't go for distance in home runs. We just try to clear the fence."
He made this statement with a straight face, as if he were just another hitter waiting to step to the plate and maybe get hold of one.
But it's hard to blend with the crowd when you have six Most Valuable Player awards, 674 career homers and a reputation that makes you seem larger than life - or at least the building beyond right field. And when teams would rather walk you than pitch to you, even if it goes against conventional baseball wisdom.
"You can flip it underhand, maybe you have more of a chance," Orioles manager Lee Mazzilli said. "I thought of that, too."
Bonds was making his first visit to Baltimore since the All-Star Game, and it gave him an opportunity to reunite with Mazzilli, his teammate in Pittsburgh for about two months during his rookie season in 1986.
"I can remember knowing right from the start the talent that he had, he was going to be a pretty good ballplayer," Mazzilli said. "You don't know to what extent, but looking who he is now, it doesn't surprise me where he's at."
Their relationship 18 years ago was typical of a veteran and rookie during that time period. Bonds was put through his paces as the new kid, sent on errands and singled out for practical jokes. But it also was nurturing.
"Him and [pitchers] Rick Rhoden and Don Robinson were big mentors for me in making my transition to the major leagues," he said. "They made me change in the middle of the floor. I wasn't allowed to have a locker, but Lee had two lockers. They said, `You're going to earn your locker,' and I appreciated that."
Bonds, who was 21, can laugh now at the time Mazzilli sent him to baggage claim on his first road trip, the rookie unaware that luggage goes directly to the hotel.
"So I'm sitting down there and somebody had to come get me and get a cab to take me to the hotel," Bonds said. "He played some really nasty tricks on me."
Told of Bonds' anecdote, Mazzilli lowered his head in mock shame.
"No, he's making things up," Mazzilli said, a hand covering part of his face. "Do I look like that kind of guy?"
Bonds is rolling now, playing to his audience in a manner that contradicts his reputation for surliness toward the media. The man can be loose and charming. Stop the presses.
"He did take care of me," Bonds said. "They had a rule back then for all the younger kids that when you were a rookie, you weren't allowed to pay for anything. Lee Mazzilli and Don Robinson made sure I had steaks and the best food in the hotel. Whenever I went to a restaurant, they paid for it and took care of me. They showed me the ropes of being a young player, waiting for when it's your turn and doing the same thing."
"You think he'll pay me back now," Mazzilli said, "by not doing anything in the series?"
Fat chance. The only way to stop Bonds, besides walking him again, is to wait for his retirement. And who knows when that'll come? He seems ready to call it quits in a few years, indicating yesterday that drawing near Hank Aaron's record of 755 home runs won't make him stay longer than he desires.
"I don't think I'll catch Hank Aaron. I'm going to give it a shot, but I don't think it's possible," he said. "As you get older, it gets harder and harder to play every day. I'm just happy for what I've been able to do so far."
Asked if he'd retire while close to Aaron, Bonds said, "Probably. It all depends. I've got a timetable because my kids are in high school."
He needs 41 to pass Babe Ruth, which for Bonds is a good month. "I can do that," he said.
Bonds said Ruth doesn't deserve less credit for his accomplishments just because he played before African-Americans were allowed in the majors.
"It's an unfortunate situation," he said. "I think that it's a sore spot for baseball for not allowing it to happen. That's baseball's fault."
Bonds turns 40 in July, and his body aches from all the time spent on the bases and standing in left field, though he would have been the designated hitter last night. His heart aches again after flying into Baltimore yesterday from a friend's funeral in California, 10 months after his father died.
His grandmother is in the hospital, and the BALCO scandal won't go away. Bonds eventually will, but he's not quite ready yet.
"It's been hard, but I have to go to work," he said. "I have no choice."
O's doubleheader today
Opponent: San Francisco Giants in day/night doubleheader
Site: Camden Yards
Game 1 time, TV/Radio: 3:15 p.m., Ch. 45/WBAL (1090 AM)
Game 1 starters: Giants' Dustin Hermanson (2-2, 3.86) vs. Orioles' Rodrigo Lopez (5-2, 2.96)
Game 2 time, TV/Radio: 8:30 p.m., Comcast SportsNet/WBAL (1090 AM)
Game 2 starters: Giants' Noah Lowry (ML debut) vs. Orioles' Erik Bedard (1-2, 5.14)
