Hank Aaron hits record-breaking 715th homer 40 years ago today

So 40 years ago today, Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run to break Babe Ruth's career record. 

He's still the home run king in my book ... 

Here's a good read about how Dusty Baker, Al Downing and Davey Lopes recall witnessing Hammerin' Hank passing The Babe. And here's the legendary Vin Scully's call.

And here's a great clip of Hank appearing on David Letterman's show in 1982.

No. 756 going into Hall with asterisk

This is awesome ...

No. 756 going into Hall with an asterisk

... And seriously. If I have to watch Sportscenter run one more montage of Bonds' most memorable home runs, I'm gonna ...

No. 756

So I just watched Barry Bonds hit No. 756.

Ugh.

Seriously. I think I’m gonna be sick.

He hit it, and there I sat motionless and e-motionless on the couch. My stomach started churning, watching him round the bases …

A far cry from the way I felt or reacted as I watched Mark McGwire hit No. 62 in ‘98. Granted, the times and what we know about those players has changed …

Sigh.

Then, the guy can’t even finish the game! The special treatment Bonds gets is just wrong.

… The only awe-inspiring part of the whole thing was the surprise video Hank Aaron delivered on the video board. The dignity and respect he showed was truly awesome … and, boy, did he choose his words carefully …

I’m done. I turned off the game …

What a croc …

Sunday reading

It's been a gorgeous Father's Day. Kates and I slept in this morning. I worked the yard. We spent the latter half of the afternoon drinking some tasty meads at a get-together with friends and co-workers. We came home tonight and called our dads ...

Now I've got my Sunday night baseball on the TV ...

In the meantime, are some of the stories and headlines that caught my eyes recently ...

TV & movies ...
a Movie studios fear the sequel to iPod
a HERE'S THE STORY: TV theme music plays a vital role

Sports ...
a Aaron's greatest hits: Man's sports collection includes famous bats
a The Stanley Cup champions belong in a city (and a country) that isn't pro-hockey illiterate

Politics ...
a The first lady’s $12,000 ‘pin money’ disclosure
a Giuliani's Ties to Black New York Troubled

Other stuff ...
a Reader's Digest Probes at Normal Folks' Nutty Center
a Hawking goes zero-G: ‘Space, here I come’
a Getting rattled on 'the Rock'

Sunday reading

Some of the headlines and stories that caught my eye this week ...

Life, history & politics
a From Here to Eternity
a Happy 50th, Helvetica
a A Law Day Unto Himself: Beyond Presidential Power, What Is Bush Upholding? a Obama reaches out with tough love
a I'm sorry, Barack, we're through: Obama may make a good president, but he's a bad MySpace friend. ... I decided to cut him loose from my Space for a short time this week too, after hearing and reading about this ...
a Pastor: Stop Complaining ... a rule to live by.
a Need It or Want It? ... Fickle consumers' constant itch to refresh and remodel their homes keeps the makers of toilets, cabinets, countertops and more in business, which in turn helps keep the economy humming. Never mind if many of these things do not need replacing.
a Tall building with a twist: Calatrava design carries Chicago's lofty aspirations
a 70th Anniversary of Hindenburg's End

Baseball
a The Dignified Slugger From Mobile
a Brewers giving fans reason to believe

TV
a In Depth, and in the Elements: Weather Channel Marks 25 Years on the Nation's Radar Screen ... Hey, it's my mom's favorite channel. And Kates and I now find ourselves tuning in regularly too.
a Special reveals how 'SNL' got its 'schwing!' back in '90s

Music
a Britney Spears swirls up another flash in the pan

Movies
a Sony spins Web to pitch Spidey ... I didn't see Spider-Man 3 this weekend. And I probably won't see it for awhile ... The fact is I was turned off by the first one. I saw it in the theater, thought it was a bland film with less-than believable computer graphics and special effects (believe it or not, I've read similar reviews about this third installment, now five years later), and I haven't looked back ...
a Take a dream and bake till golden: In 'Waitress,' a zany and touching film by the late Adrienne Shelly, a server takes out her life's frustrations by creating luscious pies.
a For 'Waitress' actress, pregnancy is a way of life ... More on Keri Russell, who, by the way, was pretty good in Scrubs the last couple weeks ...
a Show house: Let outdoor movies light up your yard

Onion reads

MLB Credits Hank Aaron With 50 Lost Home Runs

MILWAUKEE—In what Major League Baseball officials are calling a "long overdue correction of a gross oversight," Commissioner Bud Selig announced yesterday the discovery that Hall of Famer Hank Aaron had in fact accumulated 50 previously...

Middle East Conflict Intensifies As Blah Blah Blah, Etc. Etc.

MIDDLE EAST—The U.N. has issued a strongly worded thingy denouncing someone or something having to do with the vicious suicide whatevers that tore across some city this week.

Sunday reading

Some good reads from the past week ...

a Peter Tork defends the Monkees' viability for Rock Hall of Fame ... Let 'em in.

a Aaron's 755th homer: Plaque will be placed where ball landed ... looking forward to it.

a Piniella not comfy in new home—yet

a Social-networking sites snag 'tweens

a Climate Change Scenarios Scare, and Motivate, Kids

a Every night on Alcatraz is a dance with the devil

a Good Night, Sleep Tight, Don't Let the Blue Whale Bite

a Don Imus' darkest hour allows Katie Couric to escape the glare

a Pint-sized landlord sticks it to Will Ferrell

a TV shows use blogs to connect with viewers

a We have just 24 hours. Move it! ... A certain Fox show is supposed to be TiVo-proof, but this season it could benefit from this handy hidden remote feature.

Sunday reading

Good reads from the past week ...

Baseball ...
a '82 Brewers expect team's 25-year playoff drought to end ... me too.
a Already, Selig has an allergy to No. 756 ... me too.

Music ...
a Al Gore to Sound Off On Climate Change With Concert Event
a Country radio won't forgive Dixie Chicks
a Lily Allen: First the Web . . . Now the World
a The Cameras May Be Off, but the Heat Is Still On: Finally, television's top-rated series gets to the meat and potatoes: The 12 male semifinalists take the stage Tuesday and the 12 female semifinalists Wednesday in two-hour sessions of "American Idol."
a Bands come alive on Web
a 'Crazy' over an 'instant classic'

Everything else ...
a Interactive night at the Oscars
a Midday Naps Found to Help Fend Off Heart Disease
a Obama offers to bridge an enduring divide
a I'd Do Anything for You, or to You: They Clicked, Then She Snapped

Barry Bonds doesn't get it

From SI's morning newsletter ...

Tom Verducci says this season might not be the last hurrah for Barry Bonds. "Given Bonds's strong intention to extend his career into his mid-40s--he turns 43 in July -- it is inevitable that he will exceed Hank Aaron's record 755 home runs, and maybe by a lot," Verducci says. "His agent, Jeff Borris, has raised the notion of 1,000 home runs. Commissioner Bud Selig and much of the rest of major league baseball will hold its nose and salute Bonds with as little enthusiasm as possible. As one baseball executive put it when it comes to the weariness of all things Bonds, 'Barry just doesn't get it and never will.' He points out that Bonds is so out of touch with reality that he has tried enlisting Selig -- of all people -- to lobby Aaron, a longtime personal friend of Selig's, to show more public support for him, especially when it comes to a blessing of the new record as legitimate."

I think I'll go throw up now. For more click here.

Sunday reading

A sampling of good, interesting reads ...

From the tube ...
a NBC's '2.0' may be a zero
a Couric needs some urgency ... uh, ya think? This story says it all ...
a Roseanne Barr Returns to TV Comedy

From the diamond ...
a Krazy George celebrates starting the Wave cheer 25 years ago
a Dave Krieger: Aaron a reminder of what baseball was
a The game's benefited from Selig's tenure ... I've never been a big Selig fan, but this one makes some good arguments to like him, including the eye-popper that gives way to an eye roll in the last line ...
a Poll: Half of Fans Rooting Against Bonds ... and I'm one of them.

And from the World Series ...
a Cardinals fans revel in first title in 24 years ... Yeah, so I was rooting really hard for the Tigers. But being a Missouri native and having a lot of friends who are Cardinals die-hards, I have to smile a little at the sight of it all ...
a It's OK to say it out loud now, Cardinals fans
a MITCH ALBOM: Dream over ... it was fun, while it lasted.

A sad affair

.... so Barry Bonds passed Babe Ruth yesterday. whoopie.

so sad. ... I caught Krukie and Harold having a great conversation about it on 'Baseball Tonight,' saying what a wonderful event Bonds' 716th should've been for Major League Baseball. But given the steroids cloud hanging over Bonds and baseball, there's more fans cringing about Bonds' feat then there are celebrating ...

Count me among those hoping Bonds won't play long enough to catch Aaron ...

Doh!

So I had Barry Bonds on my mind, and I'm sitting down to write quick post about it ... and then I spot the headline that Bonds hit No. 711 early today ...

ugh.

And I thought it was bad enough that last night he hit No. 710. ... This from Sports Illustrated's 'Morning Call' ...

Rare is the morning that Barry Bonds, Babe Ruth and Brett Favre share the front page of the sports section, but the Three B's made some noise last night. First, ESPN.com reported that the 36-year-old Favre has told Packers officials that he will return for the 2006 NFL season, presumably ending the "What will Brett do?" talk that has enveloped Green Bay over the winter. By the end of the night the sports spotlight had moved to San Francisco, where Bonds hit his 710th career home run, knocking a 1-1 pitch from Mets' righthander Steve Trachsel (who as a Cub gave up homer number 62 to Mark McGwire in 1998) into the leftfield seats. The solo shot in the second inning was the only run the Giants could muster in a 4-1 loss. It was Bonds's first homer in San Francisco since Sept. 18, 2005, but the night ended on a sour note for the Giants leftfielder: Closer Billy Wagner induced Bonds to fly out to center for the final out. Bonds now trails Ruth by four home runs for second on the alltime list. Career leader Hank Aaron is 45 away. The Giants are home for another six games before heading to Milwaukee (otherwise known as commissioner Bud Selig's hometown, and a couple hours from Green Bay) for a two-game series. Somehow we get the feeling that's when Barry will pass the Babe

... God, for the love of baseball, I hope he doesn't break it ... at least Hank Aaron's record is quite a bit more out of reach.

Besides his recent homerun barrage, I'm riled up about Bonds again mostly because I finally fired up the DVR today and started watching the ESPN series 'Bonds on Bonds' (... I had yet to watch an episode until today, but last night when the DVR warned me it had no more disk space, I had to make some quick choices and delete off the last three Commander-in-Chief episodes I had to watch -- no matter, the series seems to stink more each week, and I was only watching it out of habit -- and a few Saturday Night Live episodes I'd been saving for Kates. Alas, 'Bonds on Bonds' and Love Monkey -- thank you VH1! -- among others survived the cuts ...).

... While guys like Peter Gammons and Mike Schmidt raised some interesting points about Bonds alleged steroid use during the documentary -- when he started taking them there were no rules, no tests and yada, yada, yada -- the rest of the clips and Bonds sit-downs left me feeling little sympathy for him and more as though it's all one big act for him. He speaks repeatedly about his lack of care for others and it comes through in shining colors ... That and the fact his father pushed him so hard he developed an attitude of stopping at nothing to beat anyone who challenges him ... even if it means 'killing' his kids ...

Lovely.