Sanchez Retires From Major League Baseball

Former National League batting champion Freddy Sanchez, who had contemplated a comeback in recent years, officially retired from baseball Monday.

Sanchez, 38, made three All-Star teams over parts of 10 seasons with Boston, Pittsburgh and San Francisco. He hit .344 with the Pirates in 2006 and beat out the Marlins' Miguel Cabrera for the NL batting crown on the final day of the regular season.

Sanchez last appeared in the majors with San Francisco in 2011.

He played briefly in the minors with the Giants in 2012, but he was never able to recover from a series of injuries to his back and shoulder.

"I'm so thankful for what baseball [has] given me,'' Sanchez said through his agents, Sosnick Cobbe & Karon. "I appreciate the opportunity the Red Sox, Pirates and Giants gave me.''

Bonds Thankful To Late Father, Godfather

Barry Bonds says his return to baseball is a labor of love inspired by his late father, Bobby Bonds, and his godfather, Willie Mays.

In a wide-ranging interview with MLB.com, Bonds, hired earlier this month as the Miami Marlins' hitting coach, also credited his mother with encouraging him as he questioned whether he was making the right move.

"It was something I had no intention of doing," Bonds said of taking the Marlins job. "And then I started thinking about my dad and everything he taught me. I started thinking about [manager] Jim Leyland and 1986 with the Pirates. We had all these kids sprinkled with a few veterans."

Added Bonds: "I need to try this. I'll never know if I like it unless I try. Baseball, that's my thing, that's who I am. With everything I've done as a hitter, I'm the best at that. I wouldn't have been able to do it unless the opportunity came up. So I figured, if I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it the way my dad would have done it. I've got to be in the trenches with them.

"I could come in for a day or two and give them tips and things, but what happens when a guy really loses it and you're not there? See what I mean? So I kind of want to honor my dad for what he did. Honor my godfather [Mays] for what he did."