Giants To Retire Barry Bonds' Number As Controversy Persists

The Giants on Saturday will retire Barry Bonds' No. 25 in a "ceremony at AT&T Park before their game" against Bonds' original team, the Pirates. A plaque bearing the number "will be hoisted alongside the numbers already retired, on the facing of the suite level in left field." Giants fans have "clamored for this even as they understood the delay spawned by controversy over Bonds’ ties to baseball’s 'steroids era.'" The team "feels the time has come to do right by one of the greatest players in its 135-year history" (SFCHRONICLE.com, 8/10).

Bonds is "immortalized in too many places to count" at AT&T Park. The Giants "clearly" are "proud of their association with Bonds." So "why wouldn't his number be formally retired?" (San Jose MERCURY NEWS, 8/10). Bonds' path to the "place he currently resides has been among the most tumultuous in modern sports/celebrity history, and he will be so regarded for the foreseeable future" (NBCSPORTSBAYAREA.com, 8/10).