New York Mets outfielder Gary Sheffield becomes the 25th player in major league history to hit 500 career home runs. You can see Sheffield's stats here.
Major League Baseball umpires are going to be allowed to use instant replay technology on home run calls. It seems like a wise move. Home runs are important and limiting instant replays to homers should not increase game time length too much.
Barry Bonds recently smacked the 756th home run of his career making him the all-time home run record leader. He has more home runs than any other player including the former record holder Hank Aaron who hit 755 homers during his career. Aaron was steroid free but Bonds' record is tainted by allegations that he used steroids.
Bonds claims that "This record is not tainted at all. At all. Period." This clashes with what many sports writers are saying about his record. John Donovan writing for Sports Illustratedsays, "Bonds holds the home run record, but he's no hero." CBS News Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer also thinks the San Francisco Giants left fielder slugger is not a hero. Others not calling Bonds a hero include Daily Sally, Sportingo, Urbangrounds and DavidandKelly.com. A blog called The Game of Baseball says Bonds is the home run king so deal with it. Washington Post's Eugene Robinson says Bonds is a hitter not a hero.
When a historic sports event occurs there are other important things to consider such as the value of the ball caught by the fan and the pitcher who will be immortalized for coughing up the record breaking homer. The pitcher was lefty Mike Bacsik and you can read an in-depth article about him here from the Washington Post. 22-year old Mets fan Matt Murphy was the guy who caught the home run ball. The word is that the ball might be worth as much as $1 million or maybe not. Either way we expect to hear more from Mr. Murphy especially if he intends to sell the valuable baseball.
Another remaining question is will Bonds try to put the record far out of reach? The New York Times' Bats blog blogs about whether Bonds will go for 800 homers.
