| In the interest of speed and timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press newswire and may contain spelling or grammatical errors. |
Bonds leaves Giants to visit ailing father
Thursday August 14, 2003NEW YORK (AP) San Francisco Giants star Barry Bonds left the team Thursday and headed back to the Bay area to spend time with his ailing father.
Bonds was officially placed on baseball's bereavement list.
``This is an opportunity for him to go back and spend some time with his dad,'' Giants spokesman Blake Rhodes said. ``He didn't really have a chance to do that at the All-Star break.''
The NL West leaders hope their left fielder, who leads the majors with 37 home runs, can rejoin them Tuesday when they play Atlanta at home. The Giants' game at Shea Stadium was postponed Thursday when the power went out through a large swath of New York.
Former major leaguer Bobby Bonds has been ill with lung cancer and numerous other ailments. Last month, Barry Bonds missed a game to be with his father when he had open-heart surgery.
In early June, Bobby Bonds was receiving oxygen to fight pneumonia and spent some time in the hospital. He underwent surgery on a brain tumor in April.
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