Bonds faces tragedy, continues to complete job
by Rawly Bransom, Sports Editor

   Tragedy strikes everyone and everywhere; it ignores race, nationality, financial status and even hits those who seem to shine brighter than most.
   Very few baseball fans will deny that as far as stars go, Barry Bonds shines brighter than almost anyone.
   With every game Bonds moves closer to edging out his godfather, Willie Mays, for third place in home runs for baseball's all-time leader board.
   Yet not everything is great for Barry. His father Bobby Bonds died Aug. 23. He was 57. Bobby had been battling both lung cancer and a brain tumor for almost a year.
   Bobby batted a career .268, had 1,024 RBIs, and he was a three-time all-star. He hit 332 home runs, stole 461 bases and was a three-time recipient of the Gold Glove. Bobby was also considered one of the first players to blend home-run power with base-stealing speed.
   He finished in the top 10 in the league in home runs seven times and in the top six in steals eight times.
   He finished either first or second in runs scored in each season from 1969 to 1973.
   Bonds was the first player to have five separate seasons in which he had 30 homers and 30 steals.
   Only one other player in baseball has ever repeated that feat-his son Barry.
   Yet, while his father was sick, Barry led major league baseball in home runs.
   He was always smiling and waving to the crowd.
   Barry hit extra-inning, game-winning homers against Atlanta on the Tuesday and Thursday before his father's death and then rushed off to see him.
   Bonds was put on bereavement leave from the Giants Aug. 23-29. He reentered the line up and hit a solo shot off the Big Unit, Randy Johnson, for his 40th HR.
   However, just before the next day's game, he began to experience an irregular heartbeat, dizziness and chest pains.
   After doctors diagnosed acute exhaustion, he spent all day Sunday in the hospital.
   "I have to go back to work," Bonds told reporters in Phoenix on Monday. "I have to get back in there. I need a vacation where I can take everything in, but I have no choice. I have to wait on it, deal with it and keep playing. I'm not going to walk away from those guys. There's no way," he said.
   Let them down he did not as he hit a ninth-inning single score two runners off relief pitcher Mike Meyers.
   The hit gave the Giants the 2-0 win over the Diamondbacks.
   Bonds' on-going story and his will to continue to play are as much a tribute to his father as a sign of the man he is.
   Bobby Bonds was a man who loved to watch his son play and often told people earlier in Barry's career that Barry was going to be the greatest player ever.
   If Bonds can stay both mentally and physically healthy, he should become third in all-time home runs.
   Also, Bonds may prove his father right on just how good his son really is.