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| Monday, October 8 Bonds: Sosa has best chance to break homer mark Associated Press |
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SAN FRANCISCO -- In the 70 seasons from 1928 to 1997, the home run record was broken once. It now has been smashed twice in the last four years, and Barry Bonds says he's not sure his new record of 73 homers will even last a season.
"I don't know if it is going to exist next year," Bonds said after capping his remarkable season by slamming No. 73 in the San Francisco Giants' season finale Sunday against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
When Babe Ruth broke his own record by hitting 60 homers in 1927, no one seriously challenged the record for more than three decades. It took until 1961 for Roger Maris to hit 61, a mark that stood for another 37 years.
When Mark McGwire hit 70 homers in 1998, that record seemed safe. But Bonds is much more realistic about the longevity of his record.
Speculation has already begun about who can break the record, with the focus on McGwire and Sammy Sosa -- who hit 64 homers this season -- as well as some younger sluggers.
"I think the most impressive person right now is Alex Rodriguez. Jason Giambi has developed into an outstanding power hitter, as well as average. Obviously, Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire are in an elite class by themselves," Bonds said.
"These young guys are big kids and they are strong kids, and with the new stadiums being converted to a little smaller than in the past, you guys are going to see a lot of wonderful things happen in the game of baseball in the future."
Rodriguez, who at 26 is more than a decade younger than Bonds, hit an AL-leading 52 homers for Texas this year. Giambi had 38 homers for Oakland and led the AL in slugging percentage. Colorado's Todd Helton homered 49 times.
Shawn Green, who set a Dodgers record with 49 homers this season, said it will take just the right combination for someone to break Bonds' record.
"The person doing it would have to be on a team like the Giants, with a solid lineup behind him. The man had (Jeff) Kent hitting behind him, you couldn't pitch around him," Green said.
"I think Sosa has the best chance, McGwire if he's healthy. It might be a guy in Denver, (Todd) Helton's almost there. My odds are on Sosa. But that number is an insane number to beat."
Bonds was ahead of McGwire's pace for much of the summer, but said he only started believing he could break the record when he hit three in a Sept. 9 game in Colorado to reach 63.
He had reached 69 when the Giants headed to Houston last week for a three-game series in which the Astros continually pitched around Bonds. But in his final at-bat of that series, he homered to tie McGwire's mark.
"I figured if I got stuck on 69 in Houston and we played the Dodgers, it would be really, really tough, just due to the fact that I have not hit the ball that well against them all year, so I was really concerned," he said.
"When I tied it in Houston, I kind of felt relieved and I said, `I've got a chance to keep going."'
Bonds, 37, who is eligible for free agency, said his biggest home run of the season came in mid-April -- long before anyone thought he'd be challenging McGwire's record. That's when Bonds hit his 500th career homer.
"I never dreamed of hitting 500 home runs in my career. That's an exceptional class, when you're all of a sudden in a 500 Home Run Club," he said. "Everything after that is like icing on the cake."
Bonds, who began this season 17th on the career homer list and ended it seventh, will have a chance to join an even more select club next year. He'll begin the 2002 season 33 homers shy of becoming the fourth member of the 600 Home Run Club. |
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Los Angeles vs. San Francisco
Rounding out 73
