This story originally appeared Sept. 28, 2003
As he boarded a flight to Louisville for the baseball meetings in December 1992, prospective Giants owner Peter Magowan was packing big news.
Time has shown he had no idea how big.
Instead of being merely the reigning National League most valuable player and a star attraction to dreary Candlestick Park, the man whose signing Magowan was about to announce has turned out to be maybe the greatest ever to play the game. As fleet as Willie Mays, more complete than Henry Aaron, ready to chase Babe Ruth — that is Barry Bonds nearly 11 years after Magowan signed him to a six-year, $43.