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Another day, another Barry Bonds scandal

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I don't know what's funnier, what Bonds said or Ron Kittle writing a book.

 

http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/ds.../pro/311sd2.htm

Ron Kittle is no fan of Barry Bonds — not after his tense encounter with the slugger at Wrigley Field in 1993. Here's an excerpt from Kittle's book, describing how he approached Bonds with a couple of Bonds' game-worn San Francisco Giants road jerseys, asking him to autograph them for an auction for Kittle's charity for children with cancer:

 

"I paid about $110 of my own money for them, so they could be auctioned off at the golf outing. I did that all the time for stars like Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Derek Jeter and Roger Clemens. When I tell them how their autographs help the cause, every player gladly signs — with one exception.

 

I walked up to Bonds at his locker in the Wrigley Field visitors' clubhouse, introduced myself and said, "Barry, if you sign these, they'll bring in a lot of money for kids who need help."

 

Bonds stood up, looked me in the eye and said, "I don't sign for white people." If lightning hits me today, I will swear those were his exact words. Matt Williams and other Giants were in the room and they heard what Bonds said.

 

I stood there for a minute, and the veins in my neck were popping. I've only been that mad a few times in my life. I was going to beat the (heck) out of him, really kick his (BUTT), but Williams saw what was happening, so he came over and got between us. Matt said, "Ron, that's just the way he is."

 

I said, "White guys aren't the only ones who get cancer," but Bonds had turned his back on me and walked out of the clubhouse. Somebody must have run in and alerted Dusty Baker, who was the manager of the Giants then.

 

So Dusty came out of his office, put his arm around me, gave me a big old hug and said, "Aw, Kitty, he's just got that (bad) attitude again." Dusty gave me an autographed team ball for the auction, but I never got the Bonds jerseys signed. Later, I gave one of them to Scott Paulson, the Wilson sporting goods representative, and shredded the other one. But that day, I drove from Wrigley Field at about 150 miles per hour and sat there, fuming.

 

I'll never forget what that man said. So if Barry Bonds is looking for a breath of fresh air to live and I'm the only one who has to give it to him, unfortunately, the man will die. I just don't like guys like that."

 

Asked about the incident, Kittle replied, "It's a true story. How could I make up something like that?"

 

Bonds' spokeswoman declined comment on Kittle's story. A Giants team spokesman also declined comment.

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Dickhead. I really thought he was an asshole in February when he blamed the media for everything. I'm a freelance sportswrite and took what he said personally. However, I hate him more now.

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Now I'm sure most people here know my opinion of Barry Bonds, but if that guy just walked up to him in a locker room and said "sign these for kids with cancer," I might not believe him either.

 

And I think Barry's first wife was European. He got screwed over on his pre-nup because she claimed that she didn't understand what it was when she signed it and the judge agreed. (This was a while ago, so if I'm off-base, someone let me know.)

 

Oh, and I never saw Barry Bonds as a racist, ever ... ever...

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It just sounds like one of those stories where people are like "So I was on my from helping the elderly and was driving a little over the speed limit so that I could get the the childrens hospital where I help out....."

 

Seriously. That doesn't even sound like a realistic response to what he claimed he asked. I mostly don't buy the "Please Mr. Bonds. sign this to help dying children" part of the story. I am not saying that there wasn't some exchange that could have led to Barry saying "I don't sign for white people" (which he obviously does BTW). The set up just screams of someone trying to make a bigger villian out of him.

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Yeah I imagine the conversation was more like:

 

Kittle: "Hey Barry, could you sign these jerseys for me?"

 

Bonds: "Man I just got done playing ball, I'm tired and need to get out of here, maybe later."

 

Kittle: "Come on man, it's uh... for kids with cancer.. or something"

 

Bonds: "Look man, leave me alone, I'm not in the mood."

 

Kittle: "Dude it's just a signature, for the kids you know."

 

Bonds: "Fuck off man."

 

Kittle: "What, don't you care about kids?"

 

Bonds, irritated all to hell: "No, I just don't sign shit for whites."

 

He was probably just in a bad mood (I wonder if they lost the game) and said that because Kittle was pestering him to sign stuff "for the kids".

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Even if there is more to the story that Kittle is indicating, it's inexcusable for an athlete of any race to say that they don't sign for fans of any race. Imagine the blow-up of a white superstar (say, Mike Piazza) were to say, "I don't sign for black people"? I don't care if Kittle was being an uber-prick and goaded Bonds to the point of being furious, to say anything even comparable to "I don't sign for white people" is bullshit.

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And I think Barry's first wife was European. He got screwed over on his pre-nup because she claimed that she didn't understand what it was when she signed it and the judge agreed. (This was a while ago, so if I'm off-base, someone let me know.)

For some reason I know a lot about this. I heard a big discussion about it on the radio not too long ago. His wife was from Sweden and only in America for one month before they were married. Bonds was making something like $100,000 in his first year for the Pirates, his wife didn't have a job at all, and she never got one during the marriage. By the time they got divorced Bonds was making something like $8 million for the Giants after his salary had gone up significantly each year during the marriage.

 

When she first took it to court, the court ruled that she should get half of his assets from during the marriage because of a combination of the huge growth in his salary, her lack of understanding of English, and her not having a lawyer. Bonds took it up to the California Supreme Court who ruled in his favor and said he didn't have to pay her anything. She then appealed that and lost. So she ended up having to pay tons of money to attorneys and court fees and didn't get anything from Bonds after not having a job all those years she was married to him. They ended up making a new law about prenups in California just because of that case.

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Yeah I imagine the conversation was more like:

 

Kittle: "Hey Barry, could you sign these jerseys for me?"

 

Bonds: "Man I just got done playing ball, I'm tired and need to get out of here, maybe later."

 

Kittle: "Come on man, it's uh... for kids with cancer.. or something"

 

Bonds: "Look man, leave me alone, I'm not in the mood."

 

Kittle: "Dude it's just a signature, for the kids you know."

 

Bonds: "Fuck off man."

 

Kittle: "What, don't you care about kids?"

 

Bonds, irritated all to hell:  "No, I just don't sign shit for whites."

 

He was probably just in a bad mood (I wonder if they lost the game) and said that because Kittle was pestering him to sign stuff "for the kids".

 

 

Yeah, that does make sense.

 

I renege what I said, to a degree. I still hate him.

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I'm not gonna give Bonds the benefit of the doubt. If Kittle really just came in and asked him to sign the jerseys, he should've done it, and that would be it. It's not like the guy asked Bonds to take a minute and save a puppy from a burning house over on Waveland before he heads out. He asked him to do a freaking autograph for charity. That's hardly asking a lot, and even if he didn't bend over backwards to act all honored and stuff, he could've just signed the shit and shoved it back at him. "I don't sign for white people" is fucking ridiculous, and you know it isn't out of the question at all for him to say dumb shit like that.

 

As for being pissed that they lost, I doubt it. This was at Wrigley Field, after all.

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Man please. The only thing more certain in life than a Barry Bonds is an asshole story is a person saying ANYTHING to get a book press. Who would have know Ron fucking Kittle wrote a book if it weren't for this little snippit. Plus the fact that he basically floats in on a cloud, humbly takes his Halo off to simply as Barry "Please sir...help the kids" and evil Barry screams "Fuck you WHITEY" makes the whole thing suspects.

 

99% of the time when someone says a person was a asshole to them for no reason, there was a perfectly good reason for the person to be a asshole to them.

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Why do you care so much?

 

Is that directed to me? If so, it's because I detest racism & prejudice, regardless of which side is hating on the other.

 

And, Ripper, do you think Bonds never said that and it didn't happen at all, or that he said it and the scenario just didn't play out the way that Kittle described?

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Why do you care so much?

 

Is that directed to me? If so, it's because I detest racism & prejudice, regardless of which side is hating on the other.

 

And, Ripper, do you think Bonds never said that and it didn't happen at all, or that he said it and the scenario just didn't play out the way that Kittle described?

 

 

I think both are equally probable. I think there is little to no chance that it happened the way that Kittle described. Barry saying it or not...I could see someone saying something like that in the heat of a argument.

 

I also know that Barry Bonds is a easy target, a big name, and people always like to report dirt on him, so if I was writting a book I would tell the story about the time I walked outside and caught Barry Bonds raping my cat. And I am sure I amnot the only one that sees this marketing stragedy.

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Why do you care so much?

 

Is that directed to me? If so, it's because I detest racism & prejudice, regardless of which side is hating on the other.

 

And, Ripper, do you think Bonds never said that and it didn't happen at all, or that he said it and the scenario just didn't play out the way that Kittle described?

 

 

I think both are equally probable. I think there is little to no chance that it happened the way that Kittle described. Barry saying it or not...I could see someone saying something like that in the heat of a argument.

 

I also know that Barry Bonds is a easy target, a big name, and people always like to report dirt on him, so if I was writting a book I would tell the story about the time I walked outside and caught Barry Bonds raping my cat. And I am sure I amnot the only one that sees this marketing stragedy.

 

 

Exactly. Like my imagined conversation put it, I doubt that it played out the way Kittle said it did. Am I saying it's okay for Barry to say "I don't sign things for white people"? No, of course not. Do I think Barry is some kind of racist because of this story? No, of course not. As Ripper said, I think that people are so quick to jump on the Barry Hatewagon that they won't look at things like this objectively. Instead it's all "Barry's such an asshole, blah blah blah same story 345 times." It gets old don't you think?

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When she first took it to court, the court ruled that she should get half of his assets from during the marriage because of a combination of the huge growth in his salary, her lack of understanding of English, and her not having a lawyer.

 

Bingo. I only heard of the story up until this point. I side with Barry on this one. Next thing you know you'll have people trying to pull the plug on someone with a living will that states they want to bleed the State dry in case they're ever in a veggie state...

 

They ended up making a new law about prenups in California just because of that case.

 

Do you know what were some of the changes?...

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Did Kittle even release this article? From reading how it sounds, the hack writer for the Daily Southtown went public with this, not Kittle himself. All Kittle did was put it in his book.

 

Yes, admittedly to help sell the book, but it's possible that he's not even involved in this article getting written and this excerpt getting released.

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