Bonds Breaks The Record*

Well, there it is. Home run number 756*. Bonds lifted a 3-2 pitch off of Washington's Mike Bacsik to "break" Henry Aaron's all-time home run record. Or did he?

Controversy will continue to surround Bonds on this fabled quest for what Bud Selig has called "the hardest record in professional sports" (I vehemently disagree, but will leave that to another post). Has he really broken the record? I personally say no. To me, Hank Aaron still owns the all-time home run record and Roger Maris as the single season home run king. There are many who will disagree with me, of course, namely Cardinals and Giants fans. But when we examine the plethora of evidence in front of us, I doubt how we will come to any other conclusion once Bonds finally does retire.

A sign held up during this home run chase has struck home with me. It said, "Ruth did it on hot dogs and beer." Come to think of it, so did Aaron. So did Maris. But Bonds? No. A guy doesn't go from a size 7 hat size to a size 8 this late in your career (even Alex Rodriguez hasn't done that), your show size doesn't magically grow, you don't go from looking like a stick to a bouncer. Not this late in your career, not this fast.

Unfortunately, we all know that this record will stay Bond's until he retires, and for a time after that. Hopefully, though, after all the hoopla and celebrations, San Francisco fans will wake up and realize they've been conned. Hopefully baseball will wake up and realize they've been conned. And hopefully Aaron and Maris get their records back.

Until then, a nice, fat asterisk will have to do.

P.S. It should also be duly noted that right after Bonds hit his 756th*, Yahoo! Sports had it as their main story with an asterisk next to the number 756. Minutes later, the asterisk was removed.

Ben Amey