By Geoff Walter / SNY.tv

 

It was inevitable. Sometime after that 3-2 fastball left Mike Bacsik's hand, after it careened off Barry Bonds' bat 435 feet into the right field stands of AT&T Park, you just breathed a sigh of relief. Not for Bonds of course, who has become the epitome of villainy in all of baseball, for his alleged but never proven steroid use, but the fact that the anticipation, the waiting, the agony that the record would be held by a man who in the court of public opinion has already been tried, convicted and sentenced for all eternity is finally over.

 

Babe Ruth ruled atop the mountain with 714 for 39 years. Aaron held it for just over 33. I doubt that Bonds' title as home run king will last as long, being a mere pretender to the throne. Commissioner Bud Selig, being from Milwaukee where Aaron both began and ended his career and set his mark, seemed content not to wait around for Tuesday's game, sending one of his subordinates to represent the league in his stead.

Aaron's accomplishment gave people hope three decades ago, but I doubt many feel the same way about Bonds in 2007, and I have to agree with them - the homerun itself does not give me hope; two other things did. It is first fitting that the man who caught the ball was not wearing a San Francisco jersey, but the away greys of a New York team, torn open to show a blue t-shirt bearing the orange script screaming out for the world to see on their hi-def screens as loudly as Superman's S shield: Mets; the team that now carries the National League torch in this city after the Giants headed West to follow the Dodgers.

There was one more fan in that pile of humanity groping for the tiny white sphere of No. 756 wearing the jersey of another New York player, serving as a healthy reminder that Bonds' time is limited at the top and that he will someday topple off either by being kicked by something along the lines of a disciplinary action by Congress, the league, both, or another entity, or surpassed by a true all-time home run king named Alex Rodriguez. Yes, you heard that right.

For all the vile heaped on him, A-Rod has to be and must be the true successor to Bonds. Even though Rodriguez is having a terrific year, I do hope he stays in Yankee pinstripes in order to bring the crown back to the Big Apple seven-plus decades after Ruth. When Bonds was at Shea earlier this year, the fans heckled him relentlessly, needling him about his alleged steroid use, even though he has never failed a steroid test. Yet these are the same fools who would boo Alex Rodriguez simply because of the cross-town rivalry with the Yankees whenever the Subway Series is in play. Don't you get it? Or are you just a bunch of idiots like so many up in Boston? Maybe Shea is simply populated by an inordinate amount of hypocrites. If you don't like Bonds, believe him to be guilty of steroid use, global warming, terrorism, or whatever else you want to charge him with, you root for a guy to topple him! You root for Alex Rodriguez!

Selig managed not to cross paths with Barry Bonds during all those Giants games that he attended but somehow managed to find the time to call Alex Rodriguez and congratulate him on hitting homerun No. 500. What does that tell you about who Selig is rooting for? And why aren't you doing the same?

Wanna argue with the Ref? Don't like the call? Go ahead and make your own!