April 12, 2004
By JANIE McCAULEY
AP Sports Writer
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Barry Bonds hit his 660th home run Monday to tie godfather Willie Mays for third on baseball's career list.
Bonds connected in the fifth inning on a 3-1 pitch from Milwaukee's Matt Kinney and sent the ball over the right-field wall into McCovey Cove for his second homer of the season, a three-run shot that traveled an estimated 442 feet . It was the 28th time Bonds has homered into the cove.
The 39-year-old Bonds was greeted at home by several teammates and he stepped on the plate and raised both hands in the air.
Mays also greeted the six-time NL MVP with a hug and a kiss outside the dugout and presented his godson with a torch decorated with 25 tiny diamonds, symbolic of the number Bonds wears. Both Bonds and Mays carried the torch before the 2002 Olympics.
Bonds came back out of the dugout and waved to the fans in each direction as they cheered, "Barry! Barry!" and gave him a standing ovation.
Children along the left-field wall bowed to Bonds when he came out to play the field in the top of the sixth.
In his next at-bat, Bonds blooped a double to left field in the seventh.
Hank Aaron leads the career list with 755 home runs, followed by Babe Ruth with 714.
When asked during spring training whether he can pass Aaron, his hero, Bonds quickly answered: "I think I can do anything. ... I'm going for it all."
Mays hit his 660th on Aug. 17, 1973, as a member of the New York Mets at Shea Stadium off Cincinnati's Don Gullett.
Bonds, who holds the single-season homer record with 73 in 2001, went five games without a homer after hitting one last Monday at Houston.
He has repeatedly said he'd like to pass Mays at home, and the Giants began a 10-game homestand Monday with a three-game series against the Brewers.