Bonds' Son: The Bigger Hat Was Mine

Nikolai explains the real reason his dad's baseball cap size grew
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 5, 2011 11:39 AM CDT
Nikolai Bonds on Barry Bonds' Steroid Use: The Bigger Hat Was Mine
San Francisco Giants' Barry Bonds is congratulated by his son Nikolai, left, after hitting a home run, his 755th, on Saturday, Aug. 4, 2007.   (AP Photo/ Chris Park)

Nikolai Bonds scrutinizes every nuance of dad Barry Bonds' perjury trial from afar: He winces over the ex-mistress's allegations and watches old friends turn on his dad, but for him, the trial's outcome was settled in 2003. "Did you?" he asked the Giants slugger about rumors of steroid use. The elder Bonds told him "no," says Nikolai, and that was the end of it. Highlights of the 21-year-old college kid's interview with the Wall Street Journal:

  • On the real reason Barry Bonds' cap size grew between 2000 and 2002: The larger hat was really his, says Nikolai, who started wearing a bigger cap in middle school and who, as a bat boy, had a locker next to Bonds. "I totally believe [a mix-up] is possible."
  • On ex-mistress Kim Bell's testimony: "I didn't know about these women until now. I love my dad and support him regardless, but I have my own feelings about that—I'd never condone that sort of activity, especially towards the mother of my sister, or my mom."
  • On Bell's contention that Barry Bonds had numerous affairs: "For a dude that has all these (sexual performance) problems, how does that make sense?"
  • On how he knows dad didn't use steroids: "No substance that you put in your body is going to help you see the ball the way he saw it."
  • On his dad's trial: "Nobody talks about it."
(More Barry Bonds stories.)

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