Written by Des Bieler at WashingtonPost.com
If spring training games don’t mean much to the average fan, then spring training drills mean almost nothing. Except when one involves Barry Bonds. Then it means something.
And when said drill involves Barry Bonds getting into a bit of a home run derby with Miami Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton — and winning — well, that seems plenty meaningful. Or, at least, pretty darn interesting.
That was the scene that unfolded Wednesday at the Marlins’ practice facility in Jupiter, Fla., before the team squared off with the Washington Nationals. The battle between the greatest slugger of our lifetimes (say what you will about how Bonds reached that pinnacle) and arguably the game’s biggest bopper these days took place on a back field, out of sight of almost everyone except some players and a few media members who quickly scurried over to check it out.
Unfortunately, for Craig Mish, the host of a baseball show on Sirius XM radio, he arrived too late to get some video of the event, but he reported that Bonds seemed “happy” that he won. That would make sense — after all, Bonds is 51, and hadn’t played an MLB game since 2007, whereas Stanton is just entering his prime at age 26.
According to Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald, the Marlins didn’t actually hold a home run derby, per se, but that’s what effectively took place during a hitting drill requiring teams of three to score as many runs as possible. A team with Stanton and Cristian Yelich needed one more member, so Bonds, a batting instructor for Miami, stepped in.
“It was just to see who could score more runs,” Yelich told Spencer. “But a homer scored you a run, so it kind of turned into [a home run derby].”
Of course, Bonds is no ordinary batting instructor. He happens to be the all-time MLB home run king, with 762. And, as it turns out, the San Francisco Giants’ legend still has it (insert BALCO jokes here).
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