Barry Bonds handed out T-shirts, posed for pictures and romped with young patients Friday as the UCSF Medical Center opened a playroom bearing his name.
The home run king said he hoped the Barry Bonds Family Foundation Playroom would provide children a place to relax while staying at the hospital.
Bonds paid about $250,000 for the renovation, according to Roxanne Fernandes, executive director of UCSF Children’s Hospital.
Squeals could be heard as kids burst through the door while a smiling Bonds looked on. Other patients, some of them in wheelchairs, slowly made their way inside and curiously checked out the new surroundings, which include a flat-screen television and audio system, an arts and crafts table and other toys.
Bonds’ donation included a fund that will maintain the toys, purchase new ones and pay for the staff needed to oversee patients in the room for the next four years.
“He really has been a hero for us,” Fernandes said. “He kept saying, ‘I want to do more that will touch all these kids.’ We would tell him about various programs we had, and he walked by this room and said, ‘I want to make that playroom an amazing place for kids.'”
Bonds has donated time and money to the hospital in the past, hosting golf tournaments and visiting patients and their families.
Bonds last played in 2007 with the San Francisco Giants. He did not speak to reporters, but addressed the crowd assembled on a deck outside of the playroom.
“It’s more of a blessing for them to have a place to go to feel normal for a moment … to have time with their family, for whatever that time may be,” Bonds said. “I’m just one piece of the whole team and I’m proud to be part of that team. I just hope that with everyone’s hard work and everyone’s prayers that we’re able to contribute to the children’s lives.”
After speaking to the crowd on a sixth-floor deck, Bonds played with several patients. Children filed in for nearly 30 minutes to see the playroom and meet Bonds, who signed autographs.
Bonds is still facing legal issues.
In September, federal prosecutors urged a federal appellate court to reverse a trial judge and let them present critical evidence they say shows Bonds knowingly used steroids.
In a case stemming from Bonds’ grand jury testimony in December 2003, he pleaded not guilty to 10 counts of making false statements and one count of obstruction of justice. He is accused of lying when he testified that he never knowingly used performance enhancing drugs.
At issue is whether evidence directly tied to Bonds’ personal trainer, Greg Anderson, could be shown to the jury that will hear Bonds’ case.
