In the ongoing debate on these boards about “being big vs. being small,” here’s an interesting journal entry from Barry Bond’s Web site. Bonds’ own preference (for health reasons, according to him) is to be “smaller” once his playing days are over. Comments?
http://barrybonds.mlb.com/players/bonds_barry/journal/latest.html
Barry’s Journal
March 23, 2005
Thinking back on it, I should have reversed the surgery and had the right knee done first. At the time, the left one was a little bit more irritated than the right one. So I did the one that felt worse first. But I probably should have switched it.
When I’m running bases, my right is my push off leg. Every turn I make, I push off my right leg. So actually, I really have to take my time now. My right leg has to be stronger than my left for me to come back.
There’s a fatigue factor in the rehab and the workouts. I’m 40 and at my age there’s exercises I just don’t feel like I want to do anymore. My wife has even been saying to me, “There’s going to come a time, Barry, when you don’t have to do this. You’ve dedicated your entire life to this. You go from the gym to the house to the ballpark and back again.”
My family has been incredibly supportive of me because playing baseball is what I’ve always wanted to do. But there has to come a time when I take some of this (muscular) weight off and forget what other people think or want me to do.
If I want to live until I’m 80 years old, I’m going to have to become a leaner-type, cardio-type individual who keeps his heart rate up. I’m not going to fight that losing battle against my weight when I’m retired and my metabolism slows down.
My family cares about me being healthy. They want me to be healthy when I’m 50, 70 years old. They want me to think about the long term. They make a valid point. I’m going to be 41 this year. They ask me: “Are you going to keep beating yourself up?”
But all that’s for a little bit down the road. Right now, I’m just trying to get back on the field. I don’t care about this whole record thing. I just care about doing the best job that I can. It’s hard, man, when baseball is all I’ve ever known and all I’ve ever done, to hit the switch and dim the lights a little bit.
Barry