Gary Peterson

LOS ANGELES - Barry Bonds invited a heat-seeking horde of reporters to his corner of Dodger Stadium's Spartan visiting locker room Wednesday afternoon for a poison-tipped Q&A. You have to wonder why he bothers.

Outfielder Fred Lewis looked longingly at his locker, which was rendered inaccessible. Rajai Davis, who only minutes earlier had caught up with his new teammates after being traded from the Pirates, surveyed the scene with wonder. (No Rajai, you're not in Pittsburgh anymore.)

A desperate, sweaty clot of media leaned on one another hoping to catch a stray word or phrase that might ricochet their way. There weren't many. From inside his locker, Bonds spoke in a soft tone only digital recorders could hear. But this much did make it out of the pigpile:

Bonds doesn't like that his family has to hear the nasty things fans have to say about him.

"My daughter already had her breakdown; she's over it," Bonds said of Aisha.

And how has Mrs. Bonds been holding up?

"Very bad, but she's fine now."

Maybe you're tired of perceiving Barry Bonds as a caricature of a cliché. Maybe you're looking for a way to relate, to see him in human terms. Maybe you think you've found it here.

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Children are a common denominator, right? Vulgarity is bad, no? Who would begrudge a father's hard feelings over having his children subjected to what Aisha must hear every time her dad comes to bat in Dodger Stadium?

Approximately no one, that's who. But nothing is ever that simple with Bonds.

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Here's another snippet of conversation that escaped the pigpile: Someone asked Bonds if he would contact the fan who snags one of his next two home run balls.

"No," Bonds said. "I had a little kid come up to me and say he would give it back to me. I said, 'Are you stupid? You'd have more money than your parents.' "

Imagine the enjoyment that kid will have later in life, reliving the magic moment when the great Barry Bonds asked him if he was stupid.

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OK, maybe that was a figure of speech. Maybe Bonds was horsing around.

So let's revisit a moment when Bonds isn't horsing around. It's the spring of 2005. His right knee is causing him huge problems. It's clear he won't be ready for the start of the season. His career may even be at issue.

It is under these circumstances that Bonds meets the media at the Giants' spring training site in Scottsdale, Ariz. He shows up on crutches, his son Nikolai in tow.

"You wanted me to jump off the bridge," Bonds said that day. "I finally jumped."

Then he instructed photographers to include Nikolai in their shots, "so you guys can see the pain you're causing my family."

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If it's legitimate to share Bonds’ concern for his wife and daughter, as they endure the tidal wave of antipathy that washes over him whenever he so much as pops his head out of the dugout, then it’s legitimate to ask this:

What kind of parent uses his adolescent son as a prop?