ONTD

For better or worse, Barry Bonds, whose charge toward baseball immortality has been tainted by allegations that he has used performance-enhancing drugs, moved one home run away from becoming baseball's new home run king.

Bonds' homer in the second inning of Saturday's game against the Padres in San Diego was the 755th shot of his 22-year career. The blast tied Major League Baseball's most hallowed record that had been held by Henry Aaron for 33 years.

Bonds swung, took a half-dozen steps and clapped his hands. With no trace of a smile but a strong shot for all the doubters, he caught Aaron and tied the career home run record Saturday night with an opposite-field drive to left field.

The seven-time NL MVP's rapid ascension on the home run ladder ties him a fourth all-time record: Bonds is the game's career leader in total bases, walks and intentional walks. His 71 multihomer games are second behind Babe Ruth's 72, and he is second all time in extra-base hits and fifth all time in RBIs.

Commissioner Bud Selig watched and was on hand for Friday's 4-3 loss to the Padres. Selig spent Thursday home in Milwaukee and missed the Giants' series finale at Dodger Stadium.

Bonds, who holds baseball's single-season home run record of 73 set in 2001, has hit 579 home runs in 15 seasons with the Giants. He had 176 homers in his first seven major-league seasons, all spent with Pittsburgh. In the last five seasons alone, Bonds, 43, has 142 home runs.

Slowed by injuries the last three years, it took Bonds almost three years to make the final push to 755. He hit his 700th home run in September 2004 and tied Ruth's 715 homers for second all-time in May 2006. His 734th homer, on Sept. 23 of that season, broke Aaron's NL record.

Aaron has embraced neither Bonds nor his run at the record. Aaron said earlier this season he would not celebrate the occasion when it came and, as Bonds crept ever closer to the mark, said in May he would not reconsider his decision.

At the time, when asked what he might be doing when Bonds broke the record, Aaron said, "I have no idea, probably playing golf somewhere."

Bonds indeed has long been a polarizing figure among baseball players, former players and fans alike. But his legacy became forever clouded when it was revealed in late 2004 that he testified to a grand jury that he used a clear substance and a cream given to him by a trainer who was indicted in a steroid-distribution ring. Bonds said he didn't know the substances were steroids.

source :: ESPN

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