Barry Bonds Breaks the All Time Home Run Record [J. Mark English]

Call him a villain, call him a cheater, call him a product of his time...or some may even call him a hero. Whatever you call him, now you must recognize Barry Bonds as the all time home run king. Bonds went yard, causing delirium in San Francisco.

You can watch the video here.

Otherwise here is a write up from the AP... I'd write my thoughts now but I'm too tired from coming home from the Mets loss against the Braves to write anything profound....

This is from Janie McCauley of the San Francisco Chronicle:

Barry Bonds hit No. 756 to the deepest part of the ballpark Tuesday night, and hammered home the point: Like him or not, legitimate or not, he is baseball's new home run king.

Bonds broke Hank Aaron's storied record in the fifth inning, connecting on a 3-2 pitch from Washington's Mike Bacsik. Three days earlier, Bonds tied the Hammer with a shot to left-center in San Diego.

"Thank you very much. I got to thank all of you, all the fans here in San Francisco. It's been fantastic," he said shortly after crossing home plate, his godfather, Willie Mays, at his side.

"I got to thank my teammates. Through all of this, you've been strong and given me all the support I needed and I'll never forget it as long as I live."

After thanking his children, he said: "I'm glad I did it before you guys went to school."

To the Nationals, he said: "Thank you for understanding this game. It means a lot to me."

He saved his late father, Bobby, for last.

"To my dad," he said, his voice broke as he pointed to the sky. Through tears, he added, "Thank you for everything."

Conspicuous by their absence were the commissioner and Aaron himself.

Bud Selig was on hand for the tiebreaking homer, deciding to put baseball history ahead of the steroid allegations that have plagued the San Francisco Giants slugger. On this night, he sent an emissary, Major League Baseball executive vice president Jimmie Lee Solomon.

As for Aaron, he said all along he had no interest in being there whenever and wherever his 33-year-old mark was broken. He was true to his word, but he did offer a taped message of congratulations that played on stadium's video board.

"I move over now and offer my congratulations to Barry and his family," Aaron said.

Absent, too, were the fans who held up asterisk signs, sure that Bonds wasn't the real deal and that his power came from steroids.

Bonds didn't face such suspicions at AT&T Park, in front of a loyal, home crowd. Bonds has always denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs.

Yet even with Bonds at the top of the chart, fans will surely keep debating which slugger they consider the true home run champion. Some will continue to cling to Aaron while other, older rooters will always say it's Babe Ruth.

"It's all about history. Pretty soon, someone will come along and pass him," Mays said before the game.