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January 23, 2006
Hi Fans,
Happy New Year! I hope you all enjoyed your holidays. As a family, we had a great time together, as well as spending time with several close friends. We vacationed in Aspen and the Bahamas, where we enjoyed both snow and sun. Before Christmas, we were in Aspen for a week and then relaxed on the beach for nine days in the Bahamas. This was the first year we celebrated New Years in the Bahamas and experienced our first Junkanoo festival. I just returned from the Dominican Republic for the Juan Marichal Golf Classic. I was honored to have been invited and look forward to exploring this beautiful country again. Thursday night we had dinner at an awesome restaurant, Boca Marina, where our table was literally in the water! One experience I will never forget was the dinner hosted by President Fernandez in my honor at the Presidential Palace. It took place in a beautiful dining room and there were about 50 people in attendance, including the entire Marichal family. President Fernandez is a wonderful man whom I am glad to call a friend. After dinner, we were given a private tour of the palace. The Dominican people embraced me and treated me with genuine respect. I would like to thank all those who helped to make this trip possible, especially my new friend, Dr. Luis Jose Asilis.
Contrary to media reports this past weekend, I did not speak to the press formally nor informally, regarding Felipe's comments about the batting line-up. I didn't speak to the media because I didn't want it to be a distraction. It upsets me that a private conversation would end up published, misinterpreted possibly because of a language barrier and be taken entirely out of context. The reason I took this trip was to support Juan and hopefully bring more awareness to his foundation's causes, as well as visit with President Fernandez.
So many of you have written me and wondered what I've been up to since the end of the season. This winter has been really busy. My time has been spent relaxing, catching up on the latest movies and working on my house. I have also attended quite a few charity functions, the latest being the Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation dinner where I received the "Willie Mays Award" from my godfather.
I can hardly believe that the winter is almost over and Spring Training is right around the corner. Currently, I'm deep into my offseason workouts, doing a wide variety of things from swimming to biking to running the hills around my house. I lift and run six days a week. I feel great and am happy with my conditioning at this point.
When my name was first announced for the WBC, my gut reaction was that I wanted to play. After much thought and discussion with my family I have decided to remove myself from the upcoming World Baseball Classic roster. After the announcement I received a lot of criticism as well as concern from fans and my family and friends. The obvious objections were about my health and whether or not I would beready to play. In the end, I decided that I can't take any chances that might jeopardize my season. I don't want to give the impression that the WBC is not important. I know this means a lot to showcasing our sport worldwide, and the patriotism of playing for Team USA would have been a great honor. I feel what is best for me, my family, the Giants, and our fans is that I sit the WBC out.
As it is every season, my main goal and main focus is for our team to win a championship. I need to be in the best physical shape for the 2006 season -- in what could possibly be my last season. I owe it to the Giants organization, my teammates, and most of all to the fans of San Francisco to give 100 percent this season. I assure you, my decision was not an easy one, but based on my circumstances, I had to put my health and my team first. I wish Team USA the best of luck and even though I won't be in the dugout with them, I'll be definitely be cheering them on to bring our country a WBC title.
Later,
Barry Bonds
| Shout outs: |
The Juan Marichal family
Steven Ankrom
Justin Prosser
Dave Powell
Dylan Abruscato
Johnny Korn
Warren Rosen
Alexander Lapenson
Robert Page
Justin Allen
Tom Fucaloro
Pavel & Gabriel -- Military Asst. to the President
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Dr. Luis Jose Asilis
Luis Jose Asilis Jr.
Hansel Gonzalez
Francisco Torres
John Souchak
Steve Hoggett
Brock Smith
Mark Simmons
Joseph Fusco
Delifus Joseph
Bob Krieger
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Barry, Dr. Luis Jose Asilis and Juan Marichal at the Golf Classic Saturday, January 21.
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Barry and Juan Marichal at Boca Marina for dinner Thursday, January 19. (photos by Anthony Phills)
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President Fernandez and Barry at the Palace for dinner Friday, January 20.
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