Barry Bonds recently hit his 700th home run, reaching a milestone that only two others have attained: Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron - (arguably) the two greatest of all baseball legends.
Bonds' feat recalled a moment for me 30 years ago (June 23, 1974) when I was working as a police dispatcher during a slow evening. There were only two of us in the dispatch area and we knew that Hank Aaron was chasing what was considered at the time the insurmountable record of 714 home runs that the Babe had accumulated some 40 years before. We were lucky to have a TV in the area to pass the time.
I had my trusty Minolta SRT-101 loaded and ready, just in case Aaron hit the big one. What you see here are the rather feeble results of my pressing the shutter button at the moment Aaron hit the 715th; then another just as he was rounding third base.
I found these negatives recently among hundreds of others I had stashed away aeons ago, and decided to scan them in with my Epson 3170 scanner. It does a decent job, even considering the poor quality of these images.
Anyway, I thought some here might get a kick out of it - especially considering we now have another baseball legend to watch. Go Barry!!!
Thats pretty cool that you still have those negatives, and photos came out pretty well.
I think it there would have been much more publicity and recognition of this amazing feat is Barry was not such a jerk. Oh, and that steroid controversy does not help either.
...Not as much as it appears here. I just admire great accomplishments.
And, Riggs, keep in mind that Babe Ruth was a womanizer and a boozer - big time on both counts. Now, was there any dirt on Aaron, other than when he slid into bases? ;-)
Good for bonds, but didnt Hank and Babe do it in like HALF the games?
The season was 152 games for most of Aaron's career. When the Babe played, I believe the season was even shorter. Bonds has been playing in 160-game seasons his entire career.
Good for bonds, but didnt Hank and Babe do it in like HALF the games?
It's the other way around ... Aaron's incredible longevity and consistency is what let him capture the total HR record without ever hitting 50 in a season. Ruth is still the all-time leader in HR efficiency (as well as having a career 94-46 record (2.28 ERA) as a pitcher), but Bonds is at least in the "same ballpark" and gaining some ground.
Good for bonds, but didnt Hank and Babe do it in like HALF the games?
The season was 152 games for most of Aaron's career. When the Babe played, I believe the season was even shorter. Bonds has been playing in 160-game seasons his entire career.
Ruth played when the season was 154. Aaron played most of his career (and all of Bonds') in a 162-game season. But check my other post for total games played.
Good for bonds, but didnt Hank and Babe do it in like HALF the games?
It's the other way around ... Aaron's incredible longevity and consistency is what let him capture the total HR record without ever hitting 50 in a season. Ruth is still the all-time leader in HR efficiency (as well as having a career 94-46 record (2.26 ERA) as a pitcher), but Bonds is at least in the "same ballpark" and gaining some ground.
.....keep in mind that Babe Ruth was a womanizer and a boozer - big time on both counts. Now, was there any dirt on Aaron, other than when he slid into bases? ;-)
Womanizing and boozing don't do much for your role-model image and cetainly don't help your on-field performance. The dirtiest thing known about Henry Aaron is that he went thru a bitter divorce from his first wife. If you've followed Bonds career it's not hard to conclude that he is a self-centered jerk who has only bothered to try to improve his public image recently. A lot of interests have quite a bit invested in him and it has been made clear to him that he should clean up his act. All records he sets will be forever tainted. He is the reason that baseball can not, and will not, address it's substance abuse problems. As soon as he is gone from the scene MLB will be able to get clean. Bonds, Rose and the Black Sox stand apart as a measure of the worst the National Pastime can give us.
.....keep in mind that Babe Ruth was a womanizer and a boozer - big time on both counts. Now, was there any dirt on Aaron, other than when he slid into bases? ;-)
Womanizing and boozing don't do much for your role-model image and cetainly don't help your on-field performance.
I think it was Casey Stengel who observed that "it ain't the sex [before the game] that causes problems, it the stayin' up half the night chasin' after it" in one of his more lucid statements.
Oops ... typo. Ruth's ERA was 2.28. He also held (until recently) the record for consectutive scoreless innings in World Series competition.
I'm pretty sure he also held the unofficial records for hot dog eating and heaviest bat.
Yes, I just confirmed that Ruth used a 52-ounce bat.
In recognition of his breaking the single-season hits record, the Hall of Fame has sent Ichiro Suzuki a replica of the bat George Sisler used to establish the previous record in 1920 -- a 36-inch, 46-ounce Louisville Slugger ... nearly two of today's bats.
The really INTERESTING question is whether people will pitch to Bonds enough next year for him to hit 756 on the last day of the season or not. He hit what, 48 this year? He has 703 or something? He'd need a 53 homer season to break the record? It could be done. At least, if people stop fearing the man.
