Iconic Images

With one swing of the bat -- and with half the nation already asleep -- Barry Bonds ended the long, tortured journey towards the most famous number in sports: 756. One small, but unnoticed anecdote in all of this: just 8 years ago, on the 25th anniversary of Aaron's #715, SI's Tom Verducci named his five 'most-likely' to break the then record of 755. Bonds was not even considered on the list (those on the list: Junior Griffey (currently sitting on #589), Juan Gonzalez (out of baseball; finished with 434 homers); Mark McGwire (out of baseball, 583 homers) Alex Rodriguez (youngest man to reach 500); and Vladimir Guerrero (356 homers at age 31)).

One last image from that night in April, 1974:













And, finally, a great quote from Al Downing, who gave up Aaron's record-breaking blast: "I never say 'seven-fifteen' anymore. I now say 'quarter after seven.'"

Downing is now joined by journeyman Mike Bacsik in baseball history -- in least until A-Rod reaches the Bonds mark.

Performance-Enhancers

The story of the day in sports: Performance-enhancing drugs.

In Scotland, Gary Player claimed that at least one player has told him that he uses performance-enhancers, and that Player estimates 10% of the PGA Tour uses them. Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson both said, in response to Player's comments, that they doubted that any players were using.

Meanwhile, across the Channel at the Tour de France, a cyclist (Team T-Mobile support rider Patrik Sinkewitz) tested positive for testosterone in his "A" sample (the "B" sample will now be tested as well, to confirm the earlier finding). In response, German TV stations ARD and ZDF ceased their coverage of the Tour; the Tour then leased the remaining coverage to German stations Sat 1 and Pro Sieben.

Baseball, of course, is facing a continuing steroid story as Barry Bonds grinds towards home run #756, which would pass Henry Aaron on the all-time list. Sports Illustrated this week has a cover portrait of Aaron, and a lengthy story by Tom Verducci, including the following quote from Atlanta Journal-Constitution writer Terence Moore:

[Moore] then cited a quote from a conversation he had on that subject with Harry Edwards, the noted sports psychologist and sociologist. "You'll have the standard and the standard bearer. Then you'll have the record and the record holder. For the first time ever, they broadly will be acknowledged to be totally different people."

The story also has the definitive quote from Bonds:

Said Bonds, in a self-styled epitaph worthy of his tombstone, "I take care of me."

Of course, as Buck O'Neil says near the end of The Soul of Baseball (more about which later):

The only reason players in my time didn't use steroids, is because we didn't have them.