756: You Make The Call
TOWER GROVE — He’s sitting on 714 …
Milo Hamilton’s call of Hank Aaron’s historic home run No. 715 echoes through my head tonight even as it echoed through my childhood. I didn’t hear it live, but I’ve heared it so many times on tape and in highlights that I’ll never forget it — its tone, its cadence, its measure, its beauty.
He’s sitting on 714 …
One of the calls made tonight of Barry Bonds’ No. 756 will probably do the same — reverberate through time to capture the moment a hitter became the new Home Run King. The several that I’ve heard this evening were surprisingly tame. There were no qualifiers and not a reference to the cloud above Bonds that I heard. On the subtly beautiful call of 755 by San Diego’s voice Ted Leitner – who said he didn’t want the record to happen “on my watch” — he was deadpanned and qualified galore. It was, for many, pitch perfect.
This past Sunday on KMOX I asked Ron Jacober what his call would be for No. 756. We had some fun. I figured if you’re going to say the home run is gone, then you have to say something like “questions remain”. Ron said the home run had to go into McCovey Cove because that would be fitting. If the ball splashed down, the call could say: The ball is clean, but is the record?
Or do you play it straight?
There didn’t seem to be much of that this evening. Nothing snarky. Mostly sober. Colorado manager Clint Hurdle had a striking comment on the record, reinforcing his belief that Babe Ruth and Aaron are the kings. (”I’m indifferent,” Hurdle said. “My home run chase was Hank Aaron and the Babe. I’ll congratulate him professionally, but that’s about it for me.”) Jim Edmonds, an hour or so after the Cardinals’ game was over, was still in the clubhouse and told reporters a paraphrase of what Bonds said during the All-Star festivities: “Like people say, this is a fraternity and some of these guys have let that slip.” In restraint’s stunning upset against loose lips, Curt Schilling had very little say, claiming: “No comment. None whatsoever.”
A sharp lead came in The Associated Press article out of San Francisco:
SAN FRANCISCO — Barry Bonds raised both arms over his head like a prize fighter in victory, fists clenched — and then he took off. It was over at long last. Like him or not, legitimate or not, he is baseball’s new home run king.
Here’s your chance. Open forum. Write your calls below. Be sassy. Be reverential. Be sarcastic. Be, best of all, subdued. Be wary that it has to be something that will be replayed. Just please, keep it PG.
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Derrick Goold said he was going to Mizzou for capital-J journalism, but after growing up in the Time Zone Baseball Forgot he was really drawn to MU sitting between two major-league cities. Goold joined the Post-Dispatch in 2001 after working for The Times-Picayune and Rocky Mountain News, covering sports from LSU to NHL and every level of baseball in between. 
Here’s the 3-2 pitch. It’s a long one! It’s gone! Bonds is rounding the bases and fading into the background. Our long national nightmare is over.
I noticed when Big Mac set his record it was congrats from all on the field but for Barry, not a bit of recognition from the other players as he rounded the bases. How fitting.
As a former college baseball broadcaster (Mizzou and Arkansas State), I would have played it “straight”, assuming I was working for someone OTHER than the Giants.
“Here’s the pitch… Bonds SWINGS… it’s a long fly ball to right-center! At the track, at the wall… GONE! Bonds raises both fists in the air as he’s hit Number 756!” (Long pause to allow the listener to hear the crowd’s reaction, the fireworks, and so forth.) “No matter the questions in some circles, these Giants fans are on their feet, cheering the man who has now hit the most home runs in Major League Baseball history! And they’re throwing a party outside the ballpark in McCovey Cove!”
To quote the late “Red” Barber on covering Jackie Robinson’s first year as a Dodger, “Just report. I wasn’t supposed to add my opinion to the broadcast; just report what happened on the field.”
Here’s what I hope to hear in 5 or 6 years from now, so we can forget about Bonds forever:
“There’s a drive way back in left, it is high, it is far, it’ssssssssss gone! Another A-bomb for A-Rod! It’s number 763, and Alex Rodriguez is the new home run champion! Good bye, Barry, you are now irrevelant!”
And I’m not an A-Rod fan at all, but I hope something like this happens so we can cleanse MLB of it’s biggest cancer. Unless, of coure, Rodriguez is fond to have used steroids, too.
“Swing and a long fly ball to straightaway center field . . . high, and deep, and gone. Number 756 for Barry Bonds.
“Bonds’ pursuit of Henry Aaron has ended with this home run in the bottom of the fifth inning. And the Giants take the lead, 5-4.”
The less said the better. I would rather dwell on the accomplishments of players who play the game with respect for it. There is so much good in baseball that deserves our attention. I have been a Cardinal fan for 45 years, but I enjoy the feats of players through out the game. This is a feat I chose to ignore.
We forget that the 90s were tainted but you would have never known it based on our (St. Louisians’) reactions. And to set the record straight, during the 70s there were loads of amphetamines and God knows what else. And what about all the scuffed balls, spit balls, balls with Vaseline, Brylcream and who knows what else. Hank Aaron is the one who showed true class. Congratulations Barry now I have other things to worry about.
Heeeeeeeeeere’s the pitch…. swiiiiiiiiiing and a looooooooong one, it’s, it’s, CLEEEEEEAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR…….ly outta here…….
“Bonds homers! Jesus wept…”
this is my version of barry’s #756:
“……………………….(more silence)…………….”
who’s next in line for the run? go a-rod and/or big al