The All-Time homerun record: 756 and counting. It's been called the most hallowed record in sports and Barry Bonds has finally broken it. Bonds can now place this accomplishment alongside the single-season homerun mark he already held with 73 round-trippers in 2001.  Let's call that the most hallowed record in sports 1A. For some reason whenever a player approaches any significant homerun milestone, the atmosphere becomes more Halloween-like than hallowed. Why is that?

It all starts of course with Mr. George Herman Ruth. (714 career HRs, 60 HRs in 1927) The one and only Bambino. There began what can only be considered a sinister trail of long-ball woe. This is the true "Curse of the Bambino". If Babe could "keep" World Series conquests away from Boston for 86 years he surely was capable of making a plague out of all future homerun records. Unless you don't believe in curses of course. Then we just call it "an unexplainable and coincidental string of bad luck that feels like it will never end".

Most people admit that Babe Ruth was arguably the first ever superstar athlete. He was Hollywood while everybody was still watching silent films. He partied like a rock star before they existed.  He lived to excess when there was little excess to be found. People loved him for it and created a legend not always fabricated from truth.

Did you know that Little George Ruth was placed in the St. Mary's Industrial (i.e. reform) School for Boys at the age of 7 by his parents because he was "incorrigible and vicious" beyond their control?  He lived there for the next 12 years of his life. It's also where he learned to play baseball. If not for the Xaverian Brothers of the school, Ruth likely wouldn't have amounted to much.  Even so his wild spirit was never tamed.

During his playing days Babe was just as famous for his gluttonous activities off the field as for his exploits on it. He was a regular visitor to the illegal speakeasies of the day during the era of prohibition. He lavished himself with expensive automobiles that were frequently wrecked in high-speed escapades. He was most likely an alcoholic as well as a serial adulterer. He thumbed his nose at authority and openly defied direct instructions from the commissioner of baseball resulting in suspensions. He publicly feuded with the legendary Ty Cobb and they often had to be physically separated from one another. The Babe was no saint. In fact I'd say he'd fit right in with many of the athletes of our modern day. The press was far different in his time though.  Back then his antics were glossed over or ignored entirely.  In our era the media would probably have torn Mr. Ruth in half.   

Not surprisingly Ruth's fame and fortune couldn't buy happiness. According to his daughter Linda, The Babe "died with a saddened soul and took the grief to his death-bed". His only wish during the years after his retirement was to manage a team.  How could a man with no self-control lead a group of players? No club ever gave him the chance to find out. In essence he was forsaken by baseball. The very same game that he'd once played with the privilege of a crown prince. Seems even the Babe had to pay a price for the glory of homerun records. A price that would be passed to many others. Consider these:

1932: Jimmie Foxx hit 58 homeruns. Oddly enough he lost 2 additional homeruns that year when games were called due to rain before becoming official. Technically the Babe was the record holder. Truthfully he should have shared the honor. Foxx became just another old-time slugger most have forgotten.

1938: Hank Greenberg tied Jimmie Foxx with 58 homeruns.  The Jewish baseball star was stuck on this number during the final week of the season. He had long faced taunts and insults because of his heritage and this season was no different. The thought of a Jew passing Babe did not sit well with many. It's been widely speculated that some pitchers refused to give him any good pitches to hit. Greenberg was later quoted as saying, "When I was playing, I used to resent being singled out as a Jewish ballplayer. I wanted to be known as a great ballplayer, period. Lately though, I find myself wanting to be remembered not only as a great ballplayer, but as a great Jewish ballplayer."

1961: Roger Maris was the first player to initially surpass Ruth's single season homerun mark as he became famous for hitting 61 in '61. The abuse he withstood from fans who openly rooted for teammate Mickey Mantle was unmerciful.  He not only persevered and broke the record but also won his second MVP Award in a row. The permanent side effects were the loss of his hair, aging ten years in one season and a heart embittered for the rest of his life. 

1974: Hank Aaron passed Babe Ruth with homerun number 715. Along the journey he handled death threats, racial epithets and hate mail with dignity and class. It certainly ruined the experience for him and his family, as well as robbed them of much-deserved happiness. Like Roger Maris, and probably worse, Hank was no doubt affected for the rest of his life. So much in fact that he showed zero desire to participate in Barry Bonds' controversial chase of his own record. Even 30+ years after the fact, once was enough for Mr. Aaron. Can you blame him?

1998: Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa engaged in an epic homerun race and were credited with "saving baseball" after player strikes and owner lockouts had infuriated fans across America. Big Mac clubbed 70 and Slamming Sammy stroked 66, as baseball was reborn.  Along the way a reporter noticed a bottle of Androstenedione in McGwire's locker (then legal) and one could say the "steroid era" officially bared its ugly head. Still unresolved, Mark and Sammy may find themselves permanently black listed from the Hall of Fame.

Yesterday 8/7/07: Barry Bonds broke Hank Aaron's all-time homerun mark. No more needs to be said other than most fans will NEVER recognize his achievements even if he is NEVER convicted of anything. That's tragic. 

Not so distant future: The Alex Rodriguez watch has officially begun. How ironic this is indeed. How can possibly the most openly despised and reviled baseball star ever, assume the mantel of "peoples' choice" for homerun king?  Personally I call it "Hatred-Displacement-Theory".

Ahhhh...CURSES!!! Who knows why foul air has followed homerun chases throughout time? It's worse than trying to figure out that Madden Jinx. Maybe "Chicks digging the long ball" wasn't such a good thing after all. I remember a certain story about an apple in a garden somewhere that some chick really "digged" too.  Yeah...that's the ticket...let's just blame it on women. Although for the record that never works either (Shrugs shoulders...sighs... walks away... but never stops wondering why).