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There was a news report that came across the wire yesterday (4 Jun 2007) about a farmer in Germany who sued some kids who were lighting off firecrackers. The farmer claimed that it made his ostrich impotent. The judge ruled against the farmer, stating he could see no connection between the firecrackers and the impotent ostrich. I read on and on with great amusement as the mainstream media tries to decide what to do about the Barry Bonds problem. The rumors have been swirling around Bonds since 2004, and the tide is rising these days to a crescendo. His crime?...

ST. LOUIS. -- Hank Aaron refused to answer any questions put to him yesterday at Busch Stadium about Barry Bonds, the San Francisco Giants slugger who is closing in on Aaron's cherished record of 755 career home runs. But that didn't mean the Hall of Famer didn't have something to say about Bonds.

Bonds: "I won't stop until I beat Oh" San Francisco , CA - It's one of the benefits of being personal friends with a baseball legend - he gives you what he won't give others. Back when we both played for Serra High, Barry used to boast that, one day, he'd be the Home Run king. Just days after hitting number 714 to tie Babe Ruth's 2nd place number, I gave my old friend Barry a call and asked him how it felt. "This ain't nothing," He said. "I'm not going to stop until I'm the best." Does that mean...

Just as Henry Aaron has learned, Barry Bonds will find out that even though he has matched Babe Ruth's career home run total, he will not be able to catch Ruth in enduring eminence. Bonds hit his 714th career home run today. His next home run will send him past Ruth into second place behind Aaron and his 755 home runs. Aaron broke Ruth's record 32 years ago, in 1974, which was 39 years after Ruth had hit his last home run and retired. That means that Ruth hasn't hit a home run for nearly 71 years, but the number...

(AP) PHILADELPHIA -- Barry Bonds is heading home, one behind the Babe. Bonds hit his 713th homer Sunday night, moving within one of tying Babe Ruth for second place on baseball's career list. The San Francisco Giants' slugger hit a mammoth shot in the sixth inning off Philadelphia right-hander Jon Lieber, sending a 2-1 pitch off the facade of the right-field upper deck during a 9-5 loss to the Phillies. "They tell me that's the way the Babe used to hit them," Giants manager Felipe Alou said. Bonds' fifth homer of the season was estimated at 450 feet, one of...

NEW YORK (SI.com) -- Beginning in 1998 with injections in his buttocks of Winstrol, a powerful steroid, Barry Bonds took a wide array of performance-enhancing drugs over at least five seasons in a massive doping regimen that grew more sophisticated as the years went on, according to Game of Shadows, a book written by two San Francisco Chronicle reporters at the forefront of reporting on the BALCO steroid distribution scandal. The authors, Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, describe in sometimes day-to-day, drug-by-drug detail how often and how deeply Bonds engaged in the persistent doping. For instance, the authors write that...

Sammy Sosa has turned down the modest offer of the Nationals, which is just as well. There is a noticeable stench emanating from his 588 career home runs, just as there is with the numbers of Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire. The three are forever linked because of their eclipsing Roger Maris, who lost several heads' worth of hair because of the stress associated with his pursuit of Babe Ruth's single-season home run record. Or so it goes with each retelling. We only can imagine the potential physical damage to the three hulks who transformed their upper bodies with suspicious...

The sports world needs to take illegal steroid use serious. Sports officials are again on Capitol Hill since sports are not taking the problem seriously. The ill effects of steroid use can be fatal. Unfortunately, athletes are being pressured to use steroids to remain competitive. Senator John McCain has sponsored the "Clean Sports Act," which is companion to a House Bill presented by Tom Davis. Both call for a 2 year suspension for first time offenders of steroid use and a lifetime ban for a second offense. It's time to put these measures into law before more athletes destroy themselves...

It sure didn't take very long for Barry Bonds to start setting records. With his first home run of the season, Bonds broke Babe Ruth's 70-year-old record. No, not that record. Bonds most likely won't hit No. 715 until next season. But he erased Ruth's standard for most home runs as "as an outfielder," according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Bonds' first HR of the season was the 704th of his career, but more significantly was his 693rd as an outfielder, Elias says. All totaled, Bonds is credited with 696 as an outfielder, eight as a designated hitter and three...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Barry Bonds' 700th home run ball brought a top bid of $804,129 Wednesday after a 10-day online auction. The ball had received 240 offers by the time Overstock.com closed the bidding. The identity of the top bidder, nicknamed "bomasterj," was not immediately made public. Steve Williams of Pacifica got the ball after a scramble in the left-center field bleachers at SBC Park on Sept. 17 - a mad dash that has fattened his wallet but also landed him in court. Timothy Murphy has sued Williams, contending he should get the ball because he locked it behind...

(04-05) 14:33 PDT ATLANTA (AP) -- Thirty years later, Hank Aaron is a bit fuzzy on the pitch Al Downing threw that night in Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. "Downing was more of a finesse pitcher," Aaron said. "I guess he was trying to throw me a screwball or something. Whatever it was, I got enough of it." As the ball sailed over the left-field fence, the Hammer trotted into history, having passed the Babe as the greatest home-run hitter. No. 715. It's a figure that still resonates as one of sport's magical milestones. Aaron would go on to hit 40...

<p>Heard the one about the motorist lost in upstate New York? He pulls into a gas station and asks the attendant, "How do you get to Cooperstown?"</p> <p>"Hit 500 homers," the pump jockey said, not missing a beat.</p> <p>It's one of baseball's most sacred numbers and, for the moment at least, it's a sure ticket to the Hall of Fame. But now that Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmiero have joined the 500-homer club, let's take a closer look at who else is aiming for it.</p>