715

On this day in 1974 - Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run to break Babe Ruth's career home run total and become the new Home Run King.

Dodgers pitcher Al Downing gave up the historic blast and as a humorous sidelight because of his place in history he never tells the time as seven-fifteen. That's out of Downing's vocabulary. He now says "quarter past seven."

The anniversary probably won't be noted much because the controversy over steroids has muted the glory of home runs and home run records. Chicks no longer dig the longball (or outsized men with shrunken testicles). This a shame because Aaron's home run was truly "historic" in every meaning of the word.

It disgusts me to hear a dirtbag like Barry Bonds play the race card knowing what Aaron went through (and what priviledge Bonds was born into). It was so bad for Aaron that his mother rushed the field on this day in 1974 because she thought her son had been shot rounding the bases because he had broken the white man's hero Ruth's record.

Here's to you Hammering Hank on this day of days for you.