8.08.2007

756

Barry Bonds is the the new Major League Baseball all-time home run king. He hit number 756 last night in San Francisco.

I'm thrilled to have seen this record broken - twice - and I'm so happy for Bonds that he was able to do it in front of his hometown crowd.

I've been lucky enough to see several baseball records broken in my lifetime, and I'd love to see several more change hands. That's what sport is all about.

I watched Hank Aaron break Babe Ruth's record. I was 12 years old, watching in the basement on a little portable TV, by myself, while listening to the Rolling Stones. The memory interests me, as I usually date my interest in baseball back to when I started going to Yankees games with my friends in 1975. But Aaron's home run chase pre-dates that. I saw both his last home run during the 1973 season - then Aaron and the rest of us had to wait all winter - and the record-breaker in 1974.

I've been hoping to see Bonds break the record, hoping it wouldn't happen while I was at work. The Red Sox are on the west coast this week, and - amazingly for me - I've been staying up for the games. We've been switching over to the Giants games for the Bonds at-bats, and last night we got there just in time.

And guess what? I really like Barry Bonds. I don't care about steroid use. I think the whole uproar about it is ridiculous.

I'll write something about that later today, so if you have opinions on the subject, please save them that for that thread.

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