Bonds will try to repair self, image in first WBC

	Injuries limited Barry Bonds to only 14 games last season. AP
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I wish I knew what was in Barry Bonds' heart. (Heck, I also wish I knew what was in his bloodstream, but I will not go there today.) I wish I knew exactly why he decided to play in the first World Baseball Classic, a true world series that may be the most fun the used-to-be national pastime has seen since the first juiced ball was tossed into play.

I'd like to think he's doing it because, well, who wouldn't want to play? It will feature some of the best players in the world representing their home nations in a 16-team tournament in March. Forget those jokes about the Angels, White Sox and Mets being South America's teams, or those digs at the phalanx of media who seem to follow Japanese players everywhere but into the showers.

And who cares that it doesn't count for anything except world-wide woofing rights. This is simply going to be fun, and who doesn't want to see our best go up against the stars from the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Japan? Without Bonds, the event still would have been special: Roger Clemens, Manny Ramirez, Hideki Matsui, Vladimir Guerrero and Ichiro, among others, will be there. The world's highest-paid baseball players playing for national pride? What a concept.

But with Bonds, it becomes must-see. Every opposing pitcher will ache for the chance to go up against him, especially those not currently in the majors. Whether they view their Bonds faceoff as mini-MLB tryout, or they're simply seeking a highlight they show their grandkids, it will be great baseball theater.

Here's one reason he's doing it: Rehabilitation. Not from the three knee operations and bacterial infection that limited him to only 14 at-bats last season. Maybe Barry is initiating Operation Reputation Rehab. Can you blame him?

He wouldn't be the first athlete to make a late-career move aimed at polishing a tarnished rep. Jimmy Connors did it with his fist-pumping run to the semis of the 1991 U.S. Open at the age of 39. Mike Tyson tried hugging babies, but has never pulled it off. Nor has Pete Rose. The ultimate Reputation Rehab? Muhammad Ali. Does any even remember that the most beloved athlete alive today was once reviled and labeled a traitor?

Defiant as he might be, Bonds ain't stupid. He knows full well that his rep has taken one right between the eyes. That his certain Hall of Fame standing is on sinking ground because of the steroid cloud that hangs over him like a comic-strip bubble.

I never joined the fraternity of Barry Bashers. Not even after he reportedly admitted using the cream, which he claimed he didn't know was a steroid. But I ain't stupid, either.

There have been times when I wanted to say, "Barry, if you did, just say so." And as my son pleads for his little sister to say after yet another one of her borderline cute/smart-ass comments to her mother: "Missy, just say you're sorry!"

Bonds hasn't apologized and he may never, but it would be nice if he turned it down a notch. He'll never win his war with the chronicling masses, so why not embark on another tact? Like being open and friendly rather than hostile and brutish.

Whether the Bashers like it our not, Bonds, if healthy, will return to his chase of baseball's most hallowed record. And whether he likes it our not, the Bashers will still get their thrills by slapping an asterisk on every ball he blasts into the stratosphere.

I'd love to enjoy the chase, and I'd love to see Bonds enjoy it, too.

I'm sure Barry Bonds has a heart. He showed it bravely during the illness and subsequent death of his father near the end of the 2004 season. Perhaps, in signing up for the World Cup, he might show it to us once again.