Barr-oid Bonds has tied Babe Ruth's regular-season home run total of 714. Ruth, assisted only by his over-indulgence in food and drink, compiled his 714 home runs in 8,399 at-bats. In spite of steroids, it took Bonds 9,236 at-bats to hit 714 home runs. That's about two seasons' worth of additional at-bats to. Big deal.
P.S. (05/21/06): On September 30, 2004 ("Back to Baseball -- Hyping the Heroes"), I wrote:
Remember when Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's all-time home run record by hitting his 715th? Well, Ruth hit 714 in 8,399 official at-bats. By the time Aaron got to 714 home runs he already had more than 11,000 official at-bats.
Then there was Pete Rose eclipsing Ty Cobb's all-time record for base hits. Rose surpassed Cobb's record (4,191 hits) but it took him about 2,400 additional at-bats in which to do the trick. That's why Rose's lifetime batting average is only .303 to Cobb's .367.
Aaron hit 41 more home runs than Ruth in about eight seasons' worth of at-bats, and Rose "amassed" 65 more hits than Cobb in about four seasons' worth of at-bats.
Triple ho-hum.
