Giants’ Barry Bonds to Begin Rehab

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – San Francisco outfielder Barry Bonds was on crutches when he arrived at spring camp Tuesday to begin rehabilitation after undergoing a second operation on his right knee.

Bonds, 40, had his latest surgery last Thursday in the Bay Area. Though the Giants have not set a timetable for the seven-time NL MVP to return to action, trainer Stan Conte has said it’s unlikely he’ll be ready for opening day.

“I’m not concerned about his age,” Conte said. “Barry is a special person. I’ll refer you to the 1999 season when he missed 47 games in 58 days and he didn’t go to the minors. He did pretty good in the second half that year. I have been so wrong about Barry. I thought at age 35, 36, 38 he would slow a little bit. Sooner or later something will slow down. But that’s not an issue here.”

Bonds, who was accompanied to the clubhouse Tuesday by his son, Nikolai, and a security guard, originally underwent knee surgery on Jan. 31. Four days later he accidentally hit his knee on a table at SBC Park in San Francisco and the knee had periods of swelling. An MRI last week revealed further tears in the knee.

Conte said there was no way of knowing whether the incident on Feb. 4 caused further damage.

“And we don’t care,” Conte said. “We’re starting with a clean slate. We’ll try to get it right.”

Bonds begins the season third on the career homers list with 703, trailing Babe Ruth (714) and Hank Aaron (755).