Free Republic

NEW YORK - Barry Bonds would boycott Cooperstown if the Hall of Fame displays his record-breaking home run ball with an asterisk. That includes skipping his potential induction ceremony. "I won't go. I won't be part of it," Bonds said in an interview with MSNBC that aired Thursday night. "You can call me, but I won't be there." The ball Bonds hit for home run No. 756 this season will be branded with an asterisk and sent to the Hall. Fashion designer Marc Ecko bought the ball in an online auction and set up a Web site for fans to...

(AP) PHILADELPHIA -- Barry Bonds is heading home, one behind the Babe. Bonds hit his 713th homer Sunday night, moving within one of tying Babe Ruth for second place on baseball's career list. The San Francisco Giants' slugger hit a mammoth shot in the sixth inning off Philadelphia right-hander Jon Lieber, sending a 2-1 pitch off the facade of the right-field upper deck during a 9-5 loss to the Phillies. "They tell me that's the way the Babe used to hit them," Giants manager Felipe Alou said. Bonds' fifth homer of the season was estimated at 450 feet, one of...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Barry Bonds will have to wait until he passes Hank Aaron before baseball throws a party for him. Major League Baseball is not planning any celebration for Bonds if and when he tops Babe Ruth's mark of 714 home runs, commissioner Bud Selig said Thursday. "Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's record," Selig said. "We don't celebrate anybody the second or third time in." Bonds has been the subject of steroids speculation for several seasons. The recent book "Game of Shadows" detailed allegations against him, and a federal grand jury is investigating whether he committed perjury when...