Updated: 09:56 PM EDT
Bonds Blasts Kittle Over Alleged Racist Comments
Former Player Accused Slugger of Not Signing Autographs for White People
By JANIE McCAULEY, AP



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"Tell him I'm at 24 Willie Mays Plaza and he can come get me anytime he wants to - with pleasure," says Barry Bonds.

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SAN FRANCISCO (June 9) - Barry Bonds blasted former White Sox slugger Ron Kittle, whose recently released book quotes the San Francisco star as saying "I don't sign for white people" before a game at Wrigley Field 12 years ago.

"Who is Kittle? How long did he play? He played in our league?" Bonds said, lying on a clubhouse couch before Thursday's game against the Kansas City Royals. "Ha! Do you guys believe that?... Do you guys know my life history a little bit?... One, you insult my children, who are half-white.

"I was married to a woman who was white, so let's get real. I don't even know the guy. Tell him he's an... idiot. Somebody said he wanted a piece of me. Tell him I'm at 24 Willie Mays Plaza and he can come get me anytime he wants to - with pleasure. Don't insult my family."

In Kittle's book, "Tales from the White Sox Dugout," he writes that he approached Bonds at his locker in the visitors' clubhouse at Wrigley Field about autographing some jerseys to be auctioned for a cancer charity. Kittle retired after the 1991 season, and Bonds and the Giants were in Chicago to face the Cubs.

"It's the truth. I don't lie," Kittle told The Associated Press in a phone interview Tuesday. "I tell it as it is. It's unfortunate it happened. And I didn't bring it up to sell the books."

Kittle said the book's co-author, Bob Logan, asked him to write about the good and bad aspects of the game.

"This was one of the rotten things that happened," Kittle said.

While he was furious at Kittle, Bonds said Thursday he was pleased with the progress of his surgically repaired right knee. But he dismissed a report that he hit soft toss in the batting cage Wednesday, saying he was just playing catch.