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Marc Raimondi, ESPN Staff Writer
Baseball’s home run king has taken up a new craft: martial arts.
Barry Bonds, who holds Major League Baseball records for the most home runs all time (762) and in a single season (73), recently earned his blue belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu from black belt John “J” Janero at Evolve Training Center in South San Francisco, California. On Thursday, the gym posted a video of the ceremony on Instagram.
“I’ve been promoted by idols Rickson Gracie and Xande and Saulo [Ribeiro],” Janero said during the ceremony. “But I’ve never been able to promote my idol.”
Janero then called up Bonds from his group of students, took off Bonds’ white belt and put on the new blue belt, which is the second stage of development in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, followed by purple, brown and then black. Bonds and Janero then bowed to each other and hugged.
Bonds, 58, won seven National League Most Valuable Player Awards and led the San Francisco Giants to the 2002 World Series. He has mostly stayed out of the public eye since his retirement in 2007. Bonds topped out at 66% of the vote in his last year of Baseball Hall of Fame eligibility.