Barry Bonds Ties, Breaks HR Record In Front Of Congress

Barry Bonds tied, and eclipsed the all-time HR record previously held by Hand Aaron with home runs on July 9th and July 10th at home in Washington, D.C. The shot that tied Aaron came in the 2nd game of a 3-game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates, the team Bonds began his career with. With the game scoreless in the bottom of the 4th, Ray Durham was on first base with one out when Barry came up to the plate. An 87 mph Sean Burnett fastball soon found itself in the right field seats as Bonds homered for the 755th time in his career. The two runs provided by Bonds were all the Nats would need as they went on to defeat the Pirates by a score of 4-0. Richie Gardner earned the win, going 6 scoreless innings as Washington continues to try and use all-star closer Joe Nathan as a starter. Nathan was only able to go 2 innings but was dominant as he struck 6 batters. Bonds interviewed after the game had this to say, "I'm so glad that I was able to tie Hank Aaron's record here in Washington, D.C. right in front of Congress. I know we have a long road series coming up so I'd love nothing more than to be able to break the record tomorrow. I know a lot of people thought they could prevent me from breaking this record by making accusations and trying to make me feel uncomfortable but the baseball diamond is where I am most comfortable. This record means so much after all I've been through."

The very next day, Barry Bonds delivered in typical Barry Bonds fashion as he once again provided the game-winning RBI in the third inning with the score tied 3-3. Joe Kennedy, the starter for the Pirates threw a 1-2 curveball to Bonds trying to get the strikeout. Bond was able to go down and get the pitch and show his still remarkable strength as he put the ball in the center field bleachers for number 756. The pathetic crowd of only 16,854 on hand still did go crazy. You'd think that a record chase such as this would be able to draw more fans but the fans in this town just seem to be apathetic towards baseball as Washington tries for the 3rd time to support a baseball franchise. The game was stopped for a brief 5 minutes as Commissioner Bud Selig presented Bonds with a placque commemorating him as the new all-time HR leader. There had been much speculation that Selig would not even attend the games honor Bonds for reaching this mark. The Nationals and Bonds were not done for the day as they went on to win 12-3 and Bonds added another HR in the 6th, a two-run shot.

Currently on the season Bonds is hitting .304 with a .486 OBP and 17 HRs. Despite being 43 years old Bonds leads the entire Major Leagues in On Base Percentage and is 3rd in production with a 1.093 OPS.