DALLAS -- Barry Bonds shattered the single-season home run record this year, and now the San Francisco slugger hopes to hit it big with commercial endorsements.

Advantage Marketing Group and its partner, Pro Access Inc. of Miami, will become Bonds' sole outside marketing agency under an 18-month agreement.

At first glance, Advantage's job would seem an easy one. Bonds hit 73 homers this year to pass Mark McGwire and claim one of baseball's most hallowed records. Earlier this month, Bonds won his record fourth MVP award.

Many baseball people consider Bonds the greatest player of his generation, but fans have never liked him the way they have adored Cal Ripken Jr., Sammy Sosa and Ken Griffey Jr. -- who, not coincidentally, are featured in soft-drink ad campaigns.

Rick Burton, director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon, said advertisers consider Bonds lacking in "likeability," especially compared to basketball great Michael Jordan, soccer star Mia Hamm and golfer Tiger Woods.

"I don't think he'll be huge," Burton said of Bonds' endorsement potential. "He'll get some. But he's going to make enough money on the field."

Bonds is a free agent who figures to improve his $10.3 million salary when he signs a new contract before next season.

Bonds showed signs of warming to the press and public this year as he chased McGwire's 3-year-old home run record. He held more press conferences and downplayed his Ruthian accomplishments while praising teammates and opponents. After Sept. 11, he pledged $10,000 to the Red Cross for every homer.

At the end of the season, Bonds appeared in a Disney World spot and on a box of Wheaties cereal. But the big bucks endorsements -- fast food, soda, cars and athletic shoes -- have eluded him.

"True endorsements, where a company is really linking its image to the star, may be tougher for him to nail down," said David M. Carter of The Sports Business Group in Redondo Beach, Calif., who added that Advantage's job is "to make him seem less of a curmudgeon."

Mark Leonard of Integrated Marketing Solutions in Chicago said Bonds should settle for $250,000 to $500,000 for national ad campaigns -- far below the huge deals for Jordan and Woods.

Marketing pros said Bonds might have waited too long to get serious about endorsements.

"The excitement of the baseball season has passed. How do you continue the excitement of what Barry Bonds achieved on the field?" said Leonard, who represented Sosa when the Cubs slugger hit 65 home runs in 1998.

In a statement, Bond said he was seeing the bigger picture of his game's appeal.

"Early in my career, my sole focus was on baseball and helping the team win," Bonds said. "Over time, I've come to realize that, in addition to on-field performance, marketing plays an important role with the league, the team and the fans."

In signing with Advantage, Bonds left Atlanta-based Impact Sports Marketing after about a year. That agency is run by agent Scott Boras, who still represents Bonds in negotiations for a new contract.

Irving-based Advantage thinks it can find off-field work for Bonds just as it did for Dallas Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith and former Detroit Lions running back Barry Sanders.

Advantage officials were not available for comment. In a statement, Eric Levin, president of the company's partner, Pro Access, said the firm's formula was to find clients who are outstanding athletes with a sense of community responsibility.

"And Barry definitely fits that mold," Levin said. "He is perhaps the greatest baseball player of all time. But more importantly, he's a family man, a philanthropist."