Baseball: Bonds fails to match The Babe

SAN FRANCISCO - Baseballer Barry Bonds, just one short of Babe Ruth's 714 career home runs, failed to homer yesterday, although he came within centimetres of powering the ball over the wall near centre field.

With two players on base in the fifth inning, the controversial San Francisco Giant hit the ball towards the top of the outfield wall, only to see Chicago Cubs centre fielder Juan Pierre leap up to grab it for an out in their Major League Baseball match.

Giants fans, many of whom fired off camera flashes to record the moment, reacted with disappointment.

Bonds also briefly went into a skipping run after an earlier long drive to centre right, apparently thinking the ball was headed for the fences.

The holder of the single-season home run record at 73, Bonds recorded one single in five at bats, delaying his quest to tie Ruth for one of the best-known numbers in American sports history at second on the all-time list. He also walked once.

Among the 39,357 people at the game was baseball great Willie Mays, Bonds' godfather, who hit 660 home runs in his career.

The hometown fans loudly cheered Bonds in a game the Giants won 6-1, chanting, "Barry, Barry," on several occasions.

Bonds' future is clouded by a federal investigation into whether he lied to a grand jury in the Balco steroid probe.

Bonds' lawyer has said he could have inadvertently taken substances with steroids given to him by his trainer, who later served a jail term on doping distribution charges.

A book alleging Bonds knowingly used steroids during the most productive seasons of his career has prompted Major League Baseball to investigate steroid use.

- REUTERS