Barry Bonds

Fittingly enough, Sam Holman stood under the shade of a giant maple tree in his front yard last weekend and proudly held what could soon become a piece of baseball history. The bat in Holman's hands was carved from a piece of maple - not the customary northern ash used in other bats - just days before in the small, dusty shed next to the tomato patch behind his red-brick house. The barrel of the bat was stained black and the handle cherry. The bat measured 34 inches and weighed precisely 31.7 ounces.

Four years ago Sunday, Barry Bonds of the Giants, whom the Phillies are playing this weekend, became the all-time home run king. Match this list of players with their career home run total. Answers: C3. 1. Hank Aaron. 2. Barry Bonds. 3. Ken Griffey Jr. 4. Reggie Jackson. 5. Mickey Mantle. 6. Willie Mays. 7. Frank Robinson. 8. Babe Ruth. 9. Mike Schmidt.

BARRY Bonds' record doesn't impress me. He offered 9/11 victims $10,000 a home run, then got mad when pitchers didn't put the ball right down the middle so he could hit a home run. I'm glad I was around when Aaron broke Babe's record, and I hope I'm here when A-Rod breaks this record. Walt Van Horn Philadelphia

Barry Bonds hit his 30th home run last night, reaching the mark faster than anyone in major league history. Bonds connected in the fourth inning for a solo shot in the San Francisco Giants' 3-1 win over visiting San Diego. Bonds has hit 30 home runs in 57 games. Babe Ruth reached 30 homers in 63 games in 1928. Bonds' 524th career homer came against Bobby Jones. After the shot to centerfield, Bonds rounded the bases as the crowd at Pacific Bell Park chanted "Barry! Barry!"

The ballots are in. The name of the National League's Most ValuablePlayer, as voted by the Baseball Writers Association of America, will beannounced this evening. It appears likely that Giants leftfielder Barry Bonds will win the awardfor the third time in four years and that Phillies centerfielder Lenny Dykstrawill finish second. Even Dykstra concedes that. Not that he necessarily agrees. "You can look at it a couple of different ways," Dykstra said. "One thingis that the Philadelphia Phillies won the division and went to the WorldSeries.

It was like old times for Bobby Bonds last night, but, then again, it was like old times for a small crowd of former major-leaguers who played a four- inning exhibition game before the Phils met the Pirates. Bonds homered for the National League side, a crashing solo shot to left field in the third inning that couldn't prevent a 3-2 American League win. After the exhibition, Bonds got to sit back and watch his son, Barry Bonds, lead off the game for Pittsburgh with a home run to right field and then hit another homer, a two-run shot, in the sixth.

The Daily News asked 10 baseball writers how long they thought Barry Bonds would stand as the career home-run king and who might eclipse him, assuming Bonds breaks Hank Aaron's record. Here are their responses: BILL CONLIN, Daily News Barry Bonds' record will fall some years after the legal Bio-Tech sector and Major League Baseball get together and finally end the stain of illegal steroids sold from underground labs. BALCO will be legalized as BALLCO Inc. Safe and legal steroids and human growth hormones will be developed, tested and approved by the FDA in 2025.

BARRY BONDS has broken Hank Aaron's home run record. Instead of a sense of wonderment we feel . . . well, ho-hum. Blame the hype, the accusations of steroid use, Bond's personality, whatever. There was no adoration, only relief that it was over. Bonds sent No. 756 (with an asterisk) over the right-centerfield fence. Fireworks exploded. Bonds circled the bases, and a New York Met fan named Matt Murphy emerged with the baseball that will be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The San Francisco Giants acknowledged that slugger Barry Bonds has a slight tear in his right hamstring, but said that he will play tonight at Houston and that there are no plans to place him on the disabled list. Bonds was hurt in the third inning of Sunday's loss to Milwaukee, but has played all week. He first got hurt during the final week of spring training. Bonds told the Contra Costa Times, in Walnut Creek, Calif., his hamstring is torn. "I'm playing on one leg," he said.

Barry Bonds entered play against the San Diego Padres last night hoping to tie a major-league record by hitting a home run in his eighth consecutive game. The record is shared by Dale Long (1956), Don Mattingly (1987) and Ken Griffey Jr. (1993). Bonds homered for the seventh consecutive game late Tuesday night, but the Giants lost for the fourth time in those seven games, muting excitement over Bonds' rampage. "It doesn't matter; we're losing," Bonds said after the Giants fell, 9-5, to the visiting Padres, a loss that came despite Bonds' 667th career home run and major-league-leading ninth of the season.

SAN FRANCISCO - Barry Bonds will remain free while he appeals his conviction for giving misleading testimony before a grand jury. A federal judge handed Bonds a sentence of 30 days of house arrest, two years of probation, and 250 hours of community service on Friday - then delayed the sentence pending an appeal likely to take a year or more. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston also put on hold a $4,000 fine against Bonds for his obstruction of justice conviction. Prosecutors wanted the home run king to spend 15 months in prison.

Barring an appeal, the sentencing of Barry Bonds on Friday in a San Francisco courtroom will bring the federal government's nearly decade-long investigation of a Northern California-based steroids ring to an anticlimactic end. Federal guidelines suggest a prison sentence of 15 to 21 months and prosecutors want the home-run record holder to serve time - but federal probation officers have recommended probation and a period of house arrest....

It didn't take Mike Trout long to make an indelible impression since he was first promoted to the Los Angeles Angels in July. Trout, the 20-year-old rookie outfielder from Millville, N.J., homered twice and drove in five runs to lead the Los Angeles Angels to a 13-6 rout of the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night. Trout started the onslaught in the second with a solo shot into the left-field bullpen on a 3-2 pitch from Anthony Vasquez . He added a three-run blast into the left-field seats for a 4-0 lead.

Home run king Barry Bonds will be back in federal court in San Francisco on Dec. 16 to be sentenced for his felony obstruction of justice conviction. A jury convicted Bonds in April of giving an evasive, rambling reply when asked whether he received drugs that required a syringe. Jurors couldn't unanimously decide three other perjury charges alleging that Bonds lied to the grand jury when he denied knowingly taking human growth hormone, steroids, and receiving shots from anyone but his doctor.

Four years ago Sunday, Barry Bonds of the Giants, whom the Phillies are playing this weekend, became the all-time home run king. Match this list of players with their career home run total. Answers: C3. 1. Hank Aaron. 2. Barry Bonds. 3. Ken Griffey Jr. 4. Reggie Jackson. 5. Mickey Mantle. 6. Willie Mays. 7. Frank Robinson. 8. Babe Ruth. 9. Mike Schmidt.

SAN FRANCISCO - The world is full of heroes and villains. Barry Bonds somehow qualifies as both. Nationally, Bonds was long ago dismissed as a Giant caricature, a PED-popping phony who refuses to abandon his ridiculous charade and cop to what everyone already knows. Locally, the opinion is different. The Giants could have picked anyone to throw out the first pitch of the first National League Championship Series game held here since 2002. Willie Mays. Will Clark. The guy whose name was lent to the cove with all the kayaks.

Court documents show Barry Bonds tested positive for three types of steroids, and his personal trainer once told his business manager in the San Francisco clubhouse how he injected the former Giants slugger with performance-enhancing drugs "all over the place. " Prosecutors plan to use those 2000-03 test results and other evidence, detailed in documents released yesterday, during Bonds' trial next month to show he lied when he told a federal grand jury in December 2003 that he never knowingly used steroids.

Former major league catcher Bobby Estalella has been subpoenaed by federal prosecutors to testify at Barry Bonds' trial, ESPN.com reported yesterday. Estalella, a former Phillie who was on the San Francisco Giants with Bonds in 2000 and 2001, is expected to testify to firsthand knowledge that Bonds used steroids, the Web site said, citing an unidentified source with knowledge of the evidence. The Web site attributed knowledge of the subpoenas to two unidentified sources. Estalella testified before a federal grand jury in November 2003.

The lack of offers to Barry Bonds will be examined by the baseball players association as part of its annual review of the free-agent market. Less than 2 weeks before Opening Day, the 43-year-old home-run king remains unsigned. "He's in playing shape right now. He just hasn't hit off live pitching," Bonds' agent, Jeff Borris, said yesterday. "I've had conversations with Barry. It would probably take him about 2 weeks to get ready. " Bonds was indicted in November on four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice, charges stemming from 2003 grand jury testimony in which he denied knowingly using illegal performance-enhancing drugs.