Baseball's Barry Bonds made history this past week. The Giants' slugger solidified his place in history when he surpassed Mark McGwire's 1998 record of 70 home runs in a single season on September 5 by belting out not one, but two home runs at San Francisco's Pacific Bell Park. Bonds blasted number 71 in the first inning and number 72 in the third off of Los Angeles Dodger pitcher Chan Ho Park. Park also gave up Cal Ripken's memorable homer in the All-Star Game earlier this season. Bonds, whose Giants missed making the playoffs by two games in the National League West, bolstered his record with a 73rd dinger on the final day of regular season play, October 7, again versus Los Angeles.

In addition to setting the new home run mark, Bonds enters the record books with several other achievements, boasting an .863 slugging percentage, an unprecedented 177 walks and an astonishing 15.34 home runs per 100 at bats. His performance this season also moved him to seventh on the all-time home run list, trailing only legends Aaron, Ruth, Mays, Robinson, McGwire, and Killebrew.

Bonds fought hard towards the end of the season, braving a barrage of intentional walks and disproportionately more balls than strikes thrown his way. In fact, Park had walked Bonds three times in a game at Dodger Stadium just one week before Bonds took him deep for his two historic home runs. The historic home run was bittersweet, though, as it also came in the game in which the Giants were eliminated from playoff contention

Bonds had long maintained that making the playoffs was more important than breaking the home run record. The notoriously quiet left fielder had little to say about his record. Teammate and reigning MVP Jeff Kent remarked, "Barry has been great this year and over-achieved while pushing this team. He should be very proud. He's been telling you guys all year that all he wants to do is win. I'm sure just like all of us, he is disappointed we couldn't beat the Dodgers tonight."

Bonds' accomplishment comes at a point in time when sports and entertainment are being looked at to lift the spirits of Americans. Last week, basketball great Michael Jordan announced his return to the NBA and baseball player Rickey Henderson broke the all-time record for runs scored. The sports world has in the past few days done an excellent job of bolstering the nation's overall sentiment, due in no small part to Bonds' truly remarkable season.