756: Barry Is The King
The wait is over. Barry Bonds finally connected on No. 756 on Tuesday in San Francisco, hitting a pitch by the Washington Nationals' Mike Bacsik over the center-field wall at AT&T Park.
Aaron sent congratulations via video, and Bonds' godfather, Willie Mays, celebrated with Bonds on the field. For baseball's sake, it was good that the home run was hit in San Francisco, where Bonds has hit 296 of his home runs, and where fans wouldn't boo the controversial slugger.
The ball didn't go into McCovey Cove, but it did set off a mad scramble of pushing and shoving. It seemed to bounce from one fan to another, and according to the San Francisco Chronicle, a man in a New York Mets jersey came down with the very valuable ball and quickly was helped out of the ballpark.
And the steroids controversy didn't totally go away on Bonds' big night, either. Commissioner Bud Selig even alluded to it in his congratulatory statement. "While the issues which have swirled around this record will continue to work themselves toward resolution, today is a day for congratulations on a truly remarkable achievement," he said.
The Chronicle also pointed out an interesting coincidence. Bacsik's father, also named Mike, pitched for the Texas Rangers on Aug. 23, 1976 and faced Hank Aaron two months after Aaron hit his final career home run for the Milwaukee Brewers. Aaron hit a single that day, and so the Bacsiks are the only father and son to each face hitters with 755 home runs. There's a piece of trivia that will never be matched.
See a photo gallery of Bonds' 756th home run.Above photo: Barry Bonds connects on career home run No. 756 on Tuesday at AT&T Park in San Francisco. (Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)
Below photo: Police escort Matt Murphy, who caught Barry Bonds' 756th career home run. (Photo by Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images)
Comments
In my opinion, Barry Bonds does not deserve this record. Hank Aaron earned this record without steriods, and like most records earned years ago. These athletes are hero’s to our children, and they should act like hero’s. As far as enjoying the moment in history, I think it was a diservice to most of our athletes who play these games without enhancers. Those athletes are the real hero’s.
Joyce, just calm down and be happy for the man. No one knows if steroid usuage attributed to his home runs. If Barry Bonds were white, none of this would’ve ever happened. point blank period. If he would have been found guilty of using steroids, believe he’d would have never had the chance to break Babe Ruth’s record. How do you know that Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth never took steroids? Get off the crap, and either be happy for the guy, or keep your mouth shut…. CONGRATS BARRY…. Hit many many more homeruns, so it’ll be hard for someone to break your record…..
756.. The lucky numbers.