Bonds handed 7th NL MVP award

By JOE CHRISTENSEN

SAN FRANCISCO — Barry Bonds won his record seventh Most Valuable Player award Monday, putting him back in another batter’s box, where the national media peppered him with questions about the steroid controversy that surrounded his 2004 season.

This is what it’s come to for Bonds. No other baseball player has won more than three MVP awards, and at age 40, Bonds just claimed his fourth consecutive National League MVP award for the San Francisco Giants.

Yet Bonds’ afternoon conference call with reporters included as many questions about the BALCO steroid controversy as it did questions about his place in history.

“I just want to know how come I can’t get on the news for getting better with age,” said Bonds, who became the oldest player to win the MVP award. “It cracks me up.”

Bonds shed no new light into the federal investigation of the BALCO laboratories in Burlingame. His personal trainer, Greg Anderson, was indicted for illegally distributing steroids, and Bonds testified before a grand jury, but he has denied using steroids.

Last month, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that it had obtained an audio recording of Anderson saying Bonds used a performance-enhancing drug during the 2003 season and that Bonds expected advance warning before being forced to submit to a drug test.

Given a chance to refute that story Monday, Bonds said: “I’m 40 years old. I don’t owe you a response.”

He fouled off several other BALCO questions, too, but still managed to find humor on other topics.

In the Bay Area, he’s still revered for his on-field accomplishments. Five of his MVP awards have come with the Giants, and Vernon Glenn of KRON-TV in San Francisco said the local fans haven’t let the BALCO scandal overshadow that.

“I think the general fan who pays for a ticket is there for one thing and one thing only: They want to be entertained by Barry Bonds,” Glenn said. “Let’s face it, there’s nobody like him. I think the averagesports fan turns a blind eye to the BALCO stuff. Everyone loves a winner, especially in San Francisco.”

Winning the MVP at age 40, Bonds surpassed Willie Stargell, who was 39 years, eight months when he shared the NL award with Keith Hernandez in 1979.

In the four major North American sports — baseball, football, basketball and hockey — Wayne Gretzky is the only athlete with more MVP awards than Bonds. Gretzky won nine such NHL awards (eight straight), and the next closest, Kareem Abdul-Jabaar, won six in the NBA.

“I can’t explain it,” Bonds said. “I don’t understand how God has blessed me to do what I’m doing. If I could explain it, I would. I’m as amazed as anybody.

“I had some time with Michael Jordan a couple days ago, and he said, ‘Do you understand what you’re doing?’ I said ‘No.’ I said, ‘Did you?’ He said, ‘No.’ ”

But Bonds noted how Jordan won six NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls. Bonds has yet to win his first.

“I want a championship,” he said. “I think that’s the one thing (preventing) me from enjoying these other accomplishments.”

In the MVP voting, Bonds received 24 of 32 first-place votes from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Adrian Beltre finished second in the voting, and three St. Louis Cardinals—Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds—rounded out the next three spots.

For Bonds, it was one of the best offensive seasons of his career, even though pitchers rarely challenged him, as he shattered his major league record for walks with 232.

Bonds hit .362 to win his second NL batting title and posted an astounding .609 on-base percentage, shattering his record of .582 set two years ago.

He also hit 45 home runs, raising his career total to 703. Next year, he has a chance to pass Babe Ruth (714) and Hank Aaron (755) to become baseball’s all-time home run leader. He drove in 101 runs.

Bonds, who underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee after the season, said he intends to play at least two more years, until his current contract expires.

“I don’t know about becoming the home run king,” Bonds said. “I talked to Henry (Aaron), and I told him, ‘If it happens, it happens.’ It’s not about breaking the record. I want to play a couple more years because I still have game, and I want to win a World Series.”

Bonds insisted he hasn’t let the BALCO scrutiny bother him.

“I’ve been dealing with adversity my whole life,” he said. “My friends say, ‘Why don’t you get upset at what they write?’ I say, ‘They’re just doing their jobs.’ My dad used to say, ‘As long as they’re writing about you, you must be doing something.’ ”

As much as he downplayed the BALCO issue, Bonds was more candid about the difficulty he’s having putting up these offensive numbers with so many pitchers trying to avoid him. He received 120 intentional walks this year, nearly doubling his old major league record of 68 set in 2002.

“I never thought I’d have a chance to win any awards being walked that many times,” he said. “I didn’t even think that was possible.”