USA: Baseball slugger Barry Bonds talks about hitting his record-breaking 755th home run

Barry Bonds, the San Francisco Giants outfielder who has been dogged by allegations he took steroids, ties Hank Aaron's record of 755 home runs. In a post game press conference, Bonds says he is 'relieved' the record chase is over. San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds hit the 755th home run of his career on Saturday (August 4), tying the Major League Baseball all-time record held by Hank Aaron since 1974. The controversial slugger slammed the landmark homer, a 382-foot blast into the Petco Park leftfield stands, off San Diego Padres right-handed pitcher Clay Hensley in his first at-bat of the game in the second inning. "I didn't even have any idea where that ball went. I knew I hit it, I knew I hit it good enough to get out, but I had no idea where it went, I was just relieved," Bonds told reporters after the game, won 3-2 by San Diego in 12 innings. A majority of the sell out crowd cheered as Bonds circled the bases and was greeted by team mates before he hugged his 17-year-old son Nikolai at home plate. The same crowd had lustily booed the outfielder just moments earlier when he strode to the plate. Bonds was asked if hitting the next home run in which he passes Hank Aaron will be as difficult. "The hardest part is over now. That's the hardest part, that was the hardest one," said Bonds. The record-tying hit came at a venue where a giant syringe was thrown on the field by a fan last season in protest of Bonds' long-rumoured use of performance-enhancing drugs, which critics claim has fueled his surge in the past few years. However, Bonds would not be drawn into questions about steroids, saying: "I don't think we're here to discuss those matters. We have a great steroid policy in the sport of baseball. We should leave it at that." The slugger said he would sit out the final game of the series on Sunday, giving him a chance to break the record in a seven-game homestand that opens against the Washington Nationals on Monday. The left-handed hitter had gone to bat 27 times since he struck his last home run in San Francisco on July 27. While some still jeered as Bonds took his position in leftfield for the bottom half of second inning, most gave the 43-year-old a standing ovation and he responded by tipping and waving his cap to the stands. "I think that if he didn't take steroids he still would have hit 755 home runs. I might have took a little bit longer, but the guys a good home run hitter, so we got to give him that," said one baseball fan after the game. Bonds, who points out that he never tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs, is under investigation by a San Francisco grand jury for tax evasion and perjury.

ITN Source | August 5, 2007

Tags:. .giant. .career. .allegations. .protest. .matters