Nevius: Should Barry Bonds get a statue at AT&T Park?

Fans who walk into AT&T Park for the Giants home opener tomorrow are apt to get a quirky greeting from the ushers.

“Happy New Year,” they say.

It’s a cute bit of baseball business that plays into our expectations of the grand old game. We know the season will play out like 162 chapters in a Dickensian novel. There will be fist-pumping home runs, tense 3-2 counts in the late innings, and - most sublime of all - a walk-off hit, maybe even a dinger.

This is a reset, the ushers are saying, a new start. And has there ever been a time when our country could use a fresh start more? Everything away from the diamond seems so fraught. A nice, relaxed baseball game sounds pretty appealing right now.

Of course, every team treats the lid-lifter differently. The Giants revel in the lore. A stroll around the waterfront ballpark is a tour of wall plaques, sidewalk insets and big, bronze images.

We can argue if AT&T is the prettiest park in baseball, but I’m pretty sure it is the most-statued. There are bronze statues of Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Juan Marichal, Orlando Cepeda and - new this year - Gaylord Perry.

There’s only one obvious omission: Barry Bonds. So just to add to the storylines, let’s keep an eye on what the team decides to do with him.

The team has been taking the temperature of the fans on Bonds for a while now, nudging the discussion along with talk of retiring his number. (It kind of already is. No one has worn his No. 25 since Bonds left.)

A plaque on the team’s Wall of Fame would seem to be a no-brainer.

The standard isn’t exactly sky high. There are 40-some Wall-hangers now, including former shortstop Johnnie LeMaster. (Really? The guy who was booed so often at Candlestick that he once took the field with the word “boo” on his jersey instead of his name?)

But Bonds is a different case - tainted by steroid accusations and pretty universally recognized as an irascible jerk during his playing days. Those of us who covered the team experienced his dismissive, entitled attitude. He was a pain to deal with.

In 2012, a writer named Kevin Guilfoile wrote about his experiences as an intern with the Pirates, while Bonds was there.

“Barry,” he wrote, “wasn’t the kind of jerk who was nice to people only when he needed something from them. As far as I could tell, Barry was pretty much an ass to everybody all the time.”

But now the Barry Bonds rehabilitation tour has been ongoing for some time. His claim that he never admitted to taking performance-enhancing drugs is technically true, although it doesn’t pass the smell test, and not just because he grew to the size of a Mack truck.

Friends and associates testified that he did, and his trainer, Greg Anderson, ended up serving prison time for refusing to testify. Bonds was charged with five counts of perjury and obstruction of justice. He was convicted of obstruction in 2011.

In 2015, his lawyers got his conviction overturned, wiping the legal record clean.

With that out of the way, Giants CEO Larry Baer announced this spring that Bonds has joined the team as a “special advisor.” Negotiations for the job were described as “contentious” (now there’s a surprise) but this season begins with Bonds, once again, a Giant.

It will be interesting to see if he’s introduced in tomorrow’s home opener. And if he is, what the reaction will be. He’s still a polarizing figure.

In a perfect world our sports heroes would also be models of humility and grace. The Warriors’ Steph Curry is the modern standard.

For instance, at pre-game introductions, Curry is - naturally - announced last. But rather than wait for the spotlight, Curry hops up and runs on the court with the fourth player. So as the announcer is roaring his name, Curry’s already disappeared into the team huddle. It’s a small touch, but revealing.

Humility was never part of Bonds’ DNA. On the other hand, he wasn’t hired to greet fans at the front gate.

His numbers are unassailable. He holds the single-season home run record with 73 and the all-time mark with 762. (You can claim he was juiced, but he still had to hit the ball.) He was also named Most Valuable Player seven times, won eight Gold Gloves and 14 Silver Sluggers.

The team wants to be sure that the Bonds legacy is their legacy. Baer floated the idea of a bronze Bonds statue a year ago. And his Hall of Fame voting totals are getting closer to admission.

Others in the steroid era are being considered and younger voters seem to be taking a more permissive view. And they never had to deal with Bonds as a churlish player.

So, as opening day looms, we anticipate the drama, the action and the debate over Barry Bonds.

Are the Giants planning a statue for Bonds?

Probably.

But we don’t have to like it.

A fresh start only goes so far.

You can reach C.W. Nevius at cwnevius@pressdemocrat.com. Follow him on Twitter?@cwnevius.