AP)
SAN FRANCISCO Barry Bonds hit No. 756 over the right-center
field wall Tuesday night, and hammered home the point: Like him or not,
legitimate or not, he is baseball's new home run king.
Bonds
broke Hank Aaron's storied record in the fifth inning, connecting on a
3-2 pitch from Washington's Mike Bacsik. Three days earlier, Bonds tied
the Hammer with a shot to left-center in San Diego.
Conspicuous by their absence were the commissioner and Aaron himself.
Bud
Selig was on hand for the tiebreaking homer, deciding to put baseball
history ahead of the steroid allegations that have plagued the San
Francisco Giants slugger. On this night, he sent an emissary, Major
League Baseball executive vice president Jimmie Lee Solomon.
As
for Aaron, he said all along he had no interest in being there whenever
and wherever his 33-year-old mark was broken. He was true to his word,
but he did offer a taped message of congratulations.
Absent,
too, were the fans who held up asterisk signs, sure that Bonds wasn't
the real deal and that his power came from steroids.
Bonds
didn't face such suspicions at AT&T Park, in front of a loyal, home
crowd that included his godfather, Hall of Famer Willie Mays. Bonds has
always denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs.
Yet
even with Bonds at the top of the chart, fans will surely keep debating
which slugger they consider the true home run champion. Some will
continue to cling to Aaron while other, older rooters will always say
it's Babe Ruth.
"It's all about history. Pretty soon, someone will come along and pass him," Mays said before the game.
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