756
Well there you go. Tonight against the Washington National's Mike Bacsik with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning, Barry Bonds hit homerun number 756 to become the all time leader in homeruns in North American Professional Baseball History, passing the Brave's Hank Aaron. I can honestly say congratulations to him. History will say what it want, but I have to say that I admire what it took to accomplish the feat."After Barry came out of the game, I congratulated him by telephone and had MLB executive vice president Jimmie Lee Solomon and Hall of Famer Frank Robinson -- both of whom were at the game and witnessed the record-breaking home run -- meet with him on my behalf. 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."
While Hank Aaron, always a class act, had a message played on the ballpark's jumbotron after the homerun was hit:
"It is a great accomplishment which required skill, longevity and determination," Aaron said in his message. "Throughout the past century, the home run has held a special place in baseball and I have been privileged to hold this record for 33 of those years. I move over now and offer my best wishes to Barry and his family on this historic achievement. My hope today, as it was on that April evening in 1974, is that the achievement of this record will inspire others to chase their own dreams."
You could tell the remarks visibly touched Bonds, which was cool.
For the first time in 33 years (since 1974) we the MLB has a new homerun king, I wonder how long this record will stand?
TomC
1 comment:
From The AP:
Next up on the home run chart for Barry Bonds: Sadaharu Oh.
Oh hit 868 homers in Japan, and congratulated Bonds after the San Francisco star broke Hank Aaron's record by hitting No. 756 Tuesday night.
"Over the past 10 years, I'm sure he has struggled a lot physically, and there no doubt have been many tough days for him," Oh said.
"Hitting home runs requires tenacity and passion for baseball while overcoming hardship, and I want to congratulate him from the bottom of my heart," he said.
Oh now manages the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks. After Bonds homered against Washington, the Giants star said he still had plenty of baseball left in him.
"This isn't the final goal," Oh said. "A lot of baseball fans will be eager to see how many more homers he can hit, and his next milestone will be 800. I wish him all the best in reaching that next goal and will be following his pursuit of that with high expectations."
When asked by a Japanese reporter if he could catch Oh, Bonds' response was simple.
"Congratulations, Sadaharu Oh," he said.
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