San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds passed one of the magical numbers in American sports on Sunday by hitting his 715th career homer and overtaking baseball legend Babe Ruth for second place on the all-time home-run list.
Bonds' fourth-inning blast against the Colorado Rockies' starting pitcher Byung-Hyun Kim came a week after he matched Ruth's 714 career home runs during an interleague game against the Oakland Athletics to end a nearly two-week slump.
The milestone homer was a powerful shot, traveling an estimated 445 feet and landing over the center field wall of the Giants' waterfront AT&T Park.
At age 41, Bonds, a seven-time Most Valuable player who has struggled with injuries over the past year, now trails only Hank Aaron's 755 homers for the Major League Baseball record.
Bonds told reporters he would like to become the home-run king but would not predict if he could do it. 'If you keep playing long enough anything is possible,' he said.
Bonds, whose father Bobby Bonds and godfather Willie Mays were Giants, said it was a thrill to pass Ruth at home. 'There's nothing better than hitting it here,' Bonds said.
Giants fans thought so too. They gave a standing ovation to Bonds, a hero to the Giants faithful who have looked past the outfielder's central role in baseball's steroid scandal. A federal grand jury is investigating whether Bonds lied during a probe into steroid use by professional athletes.
Seventeen-year-old Giants fan Jeff Lee of Hercules, California, went to catch the ball, but it tipped off the top of the baseball glove he had brought to the game.
'I should have brought my first-base glove, then I would have caught the ball,' Lee told Reuters.
The ball fell below the stands and into an area with concession booths, where 38-year-old Andrew Morbitzer of San Francisco was standing. Morbitzer, who had gone to buy beer and peanuts, said he heard the roar of the crowd, looked up and Bonds' home-run ball fell into his hands.
'It's just fun to be a small part of a big day,' Morbitzer said, adding he will hold on for a while to the ball, likely worth tens of thousands of dollars at auction.
