SAN FRANCISCO -- The best seat in San Francisco's Pac-Bell Park is not actually inside Pac-Bell Park.

The Bonds Watch

Up to bat First inning, versus right-hander Brett Jodie, two out, nobody on. Hard stuff, nothing close to a strike. Ball, ball, ball, ball four in the dirt -- walk. Fourth inning, versus Jodie. Leading off inning. Strike, ball, ball, fly out to left. Sixth inning, versus LH Chuck McElroy. Leading off inning. Fastballs. Ball, strike, ball, home run into McCovey Cove. Eighth inning, vs. Jose Nunez. Leading off inning. First-ball swinging, hit a little dribbler in front of the plate, out at first base. Overheard Bonds on seeing McElroy enter the game, "I thought my day was over, to be honest with you. He's always given me problems, he's always pitched me well. Even when he's made mistakes and I've had some opportunities, I haven't taken advantage of it. But everything is just working right now. "We've joked a lot about (his success) but unfortunately, he's had the better side of the jokes. And he still does. Even though I hit a home run today, bar none, he still has the upper hand." Ballpark figures The home run was the 563rd of his career, tying him with Reggie Jackson. Jackson is a cousin of Bonds, who has an impressive family tree. His father, of course, is former major leaguer Bobby Bonds. Jackson is a cousin and former big leaguer Reggie Smith is an uncle. "I have a lot of family who played professional baseball," Bonds said, adding that because of the way he's caught or passed everyone else in the family, "It's a good feeling to get a lot of those family baseball conversations off my back." Around the ballpark Bonds said that most of his friends don't know much about baseball so they don't talk to him about the home run chase. His family is a different matter. "I think my two-year-old daughter is into it more than anyone," he said. "She just jumps up and down all the time. I think she's the only two-year-old who will sit through all nine innings." Up next Sunday, at San Francisco, vs. San Diego RH Brian Tollberg. Bonds has a three-homer and a two-homer game his past two Sundays. He'll need another multi-homer gamne to break the record this homestand. The Giants go to Houston for three games following Sunday's game. "I don't feel any pressure (to break the record) but you want to do things at home," he said. "The fans deserve it." Bonds is 1-for-3 against Tollberg in his career.

It's in a rowboat in McCovey Cove about 430 feet from home plate, with an able student manning the oars, the September sunshine warming your body and a chance for a nine-ounce sphere of history to sail over the stadium wall and splash you in the face.

No, this year's Home Run Derby doesn't come close to matching the great race of 1998. But there weren't a couple dozen guys floating on surfboards, kayaks and rubber dinghies on the Mississippi River whenever Mark McGwire stepped to the plate, either.

"McGwire could hit them a long way, but . . . " said Kevin Hallinan, baseball's director of security.

But Busch Stadium is an enormous, enclosed circular stadium that even Roy Hobbs on Andro couldn't clear with a flubber-cored baseball. Pac-Bell Park, on the other hand, is a little park specifically designed so Barry Bonds could homer into McCovey Cove, the little inlet outside the right-field wall.

Bonds has hit only 15 home runs into the water the past two seasons, but even with several dozen floating ball hawks, there isn't as much competition for his home run balls into McCovey Cove as there is in the packed bleachers.

"Here, we've all got about 10 feet to ourselves," said Tommy Jarvis, who was crammed in a rubber dinghy with two friends.

"This is my first time," said Julian Brock, who was on a surfboard. "This was so spur of the moment I didn't even have time to put a wetsuit on. I'm battling hypothermia but a man's got to make money."

I caught up with Brock and Jarvis in the seventh inning Saturday, when I left the press box and Sausalito high school student Nick Olson generously offered me a ride in his rowboat for Bonds' last at-bat. That, alas, was not until after all the day's action.

The first ball hit the water in the fourth inning when Jeff Kent homered. Mike Smith recovered the ball on his surfboard, or so he thought. Kent's ball actually landed in the left-field bleachers. The ball Smith grabbed out of the water had been thrown by a fan as a prank.

"We were celebrating for about two minutes," Smith said, "until we looked at the ball and it had 'Sucker' written on it."

It was no prank in the sixth inning, when Bonds blasted a 2-1 pitch from Chuck McElroy over the wall and into the cove. My skipper said he was about 10 feet from that ball when it splashed down.

"I looked up and the ball was coming in at an angle. And then it just stopped and dropped," Olson said.

Three people had a chance for that ball: Scott Siciliano and Brock on surfboards and Jarvis in his dinghy. All three were splashing for the ball almost immediately. The rules printed on nearby signs that say "No swimming allowed" are not strictly enforced at such times.

Siciliano got to the ball first, and the other two said he added a shrewd deke to secure his catch.

"I couldn't leave the boat until I saw where the ball hit because I didn't want to get stranded away from it," said Jarvis. "He pretended he was still looking for the ball so we kept looking for it, too, while he swam away.

"I got just close enough to get a little taste of it. Barry should lift some more weights so he can hit it about five feet farther."

As part of baseball's plan for retrieving the home run balls, Siciliano paddled to nearby harbor police to safeguard the ball. I didn't get the chance to speak with Siciliano, but Hallinan said he told him a couple homeless men pointed him to where he should position himself just before Bonds hit the ball.

Bonds has said he wants the home run balls from his record approach, but his agent, Scott Boras, said right after the game that he had not yet contacted Siciliano. "You mean surfer dude? No," he said with a smile before adding, "Did you ever think we would be talking about surfer dudes catching baseballs in the water?"

Well, it's a new century.

The ball, specially marked with an infra-red (and, thankfully, waterproof) stamp, won't come cheap. Jerry Zuck, who floated in McCovey Cove on a surfboard, said he had partnered with Siciliano and that his cut would be $10,000.

"He's going to sell it for whatever he can get," Zuck said. "McGwire's record ball went for $3.5 million."

Actually, it went for $3.05 million and the man who bought it, collector/cartoonist Todd McFarlane, says he doesn't expect a 71st home run ball to go for more than $1 million, especially not in the national climate following Sept. 11.

So who knows what Siciliano could get for No. 69. Or what someone else would get for No. 70 or 71?

Whatever that ball will be worth, everyone in McCovey Cove was prepared in the eighth inning when Bonds stepped to the plate with a chance to tie McGwire's record for the first time. The crowd roared inside the park, the sound from Barry's introductory music followed and we all looked toward the stadium wall, watching and listening for the sound of history.

Instead, all we heard was the crowd's disappointment when Bonds bounced back to the pitcher, still one home run shy of the record.

McCovey Cove is going to be crowded Sunday.

Jim Caple is a senior writer for ESPN.com.