Bond’s stands alone…. for now.

The chase is over, Tuesday evening during his third at bat of the night; Barry Bonds staked his claim for baseball history, asterisks and all.

Bonds crushed a pitch from left hander Mike Bacsik over the right field fence at A T and T Park, and upon crossing home plate jumped one home run ahead of Hank Aaron who had held the record for 33 years.

The hometown crowd, not weighed down by concerns over possible past steroid use, nor the controversial nature of the chase these last few years, showered him with the affection that such an occasion would demand. Bonds would take his bows, thank his family, friends, team mates and fans and finally shed the burden of sports most examined records chase.

Baseball as a business and sport, has never seemed to understand how to handle this chase or its inevitable end. Commissioner Bud Selig who had been following Bonds across the west the last two weeks, was nowhere to be seen, having decided to stay back in Milwaukee for the momentous moment. It provided a parallel to the days of Bowie Kuhn and Hank Aaron, when Kuhn was not in attendance for Aaron’s record setting blast for number 756. It was a misjudgment by Kuhn that would haunt him the rest of his days in baseball, a slight on a pivotal moment for baseball history.

While the weight of history isn’t apparently quite as burdensome on Selig, none the less his absence was noted. Especially after the rather bizarre showing he displayed in San Diego, when Bonds tied the record. On that occasion, Selig seemed caught by surprise by the at bat, let alone the historic homer that tied the record. He showed no emotion and in fact as the ball crossed that wall in San Diego he seemed somewhat detached from the development.

The length of the chase perhaps having stretched his patience, as he became a bit of target for comedians and would be comedians making light of his travels with destiny. Bonds had struggled at the plate over the last few weeks as the record became closer and closer, but he didn’t struggle as much as Selig did in trying to display enthusiasm.

The taint of the steroid scandals will always be in the background of the new home run record, though baseball only has itself to blame for that. Over the years baseball seemed to choose to close its eyes to the abuse of steroids, only recently coming to some kind of awareness that the issue needed to be addressed. The images of bulked up batters of the past still a strong image, combined with past testimonies that may one day be perjurious, paints a sport that has had controversy ride shotgun for a number of years now.

Banned substances today, weren’t banned in the past, and that leaves baseball with a legacy to try and resolve along with its record books.

Still, until otherwise notified a record is still a record. 33 years ago hank Aaron fought off racism to claim a long cherished record one of the Holy Grails of baseball, on an August night in San Francisco Barry Bonds exorcised the demons of suspicion for a night, to claim Aaron’s record.

In the end, Bonds stood with his team mates, family and friends. Baseball made no special mention of his achievement at the game, though his godfather Willie Mays was at the park to provide the official congratulatory handshake. Aaron passed on the torch with a recorded message that exhibited the class and honesty of the man who held the record for so long. His time in the record books came to an end on August 7th of 2007.

As of today, the record books will list Barry Bonds as baseball’s home run leader, until the next challenger arrives.

Already Alex Rodriquez currently of the Yankees is tagged as the one to usurp Bond’s name from the record books. For A Rod, who recently hit home run number 500 the spotlight will only get brighter, the heat a little hotter!

It’s a long hard trail to follow, some will wish him well and others will pray he fails. The home run chase seemed to leave many a little cold, disturbed by the allegations on steroids and put off by Bond’s stand offish nature. Yet through the years, baseballs heroes have had their vices and some have been a most miserable bunch.

In the end as it is with baseball, it’s all about the numbers. Baseball is a sport of statistics, a mathematicians dream activity.

Numbers rule the sport, and no number looms larger than the new standard for home runs.

It’s still be determined what the final tally will be that all challengers will be chasing, for now its magic number 756 and counting.