The San Francisco Giants will not bring back Barry Bonds back in 2008. Now that he’s passed Hank Aaron as the all-time home run leader, and given that the Giants desperately need to rebuild, this can’t come as much of a surprise to anyone.

Barry Bonds hit two home runs Thursday in a loss to the Cubs at Wrigley Field. It’s a good thing, too, because Bonds’ pursuit of Hank Aaron’s record is about the only thing going for the Giants right now.
San Francisco is now 39-54 on the season and has slipped “ahead” of the Astros and Nationals in the battle for worst team in the league. The Giants’ lineup is ancient and, with the exception of Bonds and Ryan Klesko, they’re playing like it. The bullpen has been shaky, and the rotation hasn’t been much better (with the weakest link being $126 …read more

Well, I suppose it was only a matter of time. Seems Babe Ruth’s granddaughter wants MLB to bestow upon Ruth the same honor it has given Jackie Robinson. She wants the Babe’s number retired throughout baseball.
Slippery slope, meet can of worms.
The unfortunate truth is that whenever you honor someone in this way, you also make a judgment on everyone else. In San Diego, for example, Steve Garvey’s number 6 is retired essentially because he hit a home run in a playoff game. Garvey spent most of his career with the Dodgers, who have not retired his number. Among Padres, he …read more

He isn’t the player he once was, and he’ll always be remembered as a key figure during baseball’s steroid era, but the Rangers’ Sammy Sosa pounded his 600th career home run on Wednesday against the Chicago Cubs, the team that made him famous. The blast came at the expense of Jason Marquis in the fifth inning of the Rangers’ 7-3 victory and puts Sosa in rare company. Only four other men — Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds, Babe Ruth, and Willie Mays — have hit more homers in MLB history.
Sosa is only a marginally effective player these days — .242/.297/.458 is …read more

Oy. Where to begin. Seems Curt Schilling had some choice words to say about Barry Bonds on the radio the other day. Schilling’s manager, Terry Francona, wasn’t amused:
When I got my 11th e-mail, my buzzer was going off on my phone, and I finally got on and checked it and realized that for a guy that doesn’t talk much to the media, he sure does talk to the media.
How Francona manages to keep his sense of humor during this is beyond me, but good for him. Anyway, it gets better. Now Schilling has posted a public apology on his blog. …read more

I know this happened, like, almost 24 hours ago, but I was doing stuff, okay? Okay?
Right, then. Barry Bonds hit home run #741 Wednesday night off Los Angeles Dodgers’ left-hander Randy Wolf. I love the quote from Wolf: “The guy’s got super-human power.”
Yes, Randy; we just haven’t been able to prove it.
Here at Knuckle Curve we’re using one man’s pursuit of history to highlight the accomplishments of a more deserving man. With that in mind, here’s a little more about Hank Aaron’s 741st career home run.
Aaron had gone nearly three weeks without a homer when he stepped to the plate …read more

Barry Bonds hit two solo homers over the weekend. The first came against Edgar Gonzalez on Saturday, the second against Yusmeiro Petit. With these two home runs, Bonds is now at 740 for his career, 15 behind Hank Aaron’s all-time mark.
Aaron hit his 739th home run off Oakland left-hander Vida Blue on June 12, 1975. With the Brewers clinging to a 4-3 lead, Aaron homered to lead off the bottom of the fifth inning. Blue proceeded to strike out the side in order, but Milwaukee went on to win the game, 9-7.
Two days later, with the Brewers and California Angels …read more

Barry Bonds has pounded home runs #736 and #737 against his original team, the Pittsburgh Pirates. The first came off left-hander Zach Duke, the second off right-hander Shawn Chacon.
On May 9, 1975, Hank Aaron hit his 736th homer in Kansas City against right-hander Al Fitzmorris. With one out in the seventh, Aaron broke a 1-1 tie with a solo shot and helped lead the Milwaukee Brewers to a 7-1 victory.
Aaron’s 737th home run came almost a week later, in Texas. Batting against Rangers right-hander Steve Hargan with runners at the corners and two out in the fifth, Aaron launched a …read more

Barry Bonds hit his 735th homer off the Padres Chris Young in the first inning Wednesday night. Someone suggested (I forget who) that we use Bonds’ pursuit of history as a reason to celebrate Hank Aaron. I think that’s a great idea, so here we go.
Aaron pounded his 735th home run off the late Pat Dobson on April 26, 1975, at Yankee Stadium. With the Brewers trailing, 8-0, Aaron hammered a solo shot in the seventh inning. He also singled and grounded into a double play in the game. Hall of Famer Robin Yount, then just 19 years old, was …read more