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SAN FRANCISCO - Barry Bonds is baseball's greatest master of its most difficult skill, hitting a ball thrown at more than 160km/h over the outfield wall for a home run.
Yet the San Francisco Giants outfielder has also come to symbolise the nagging doubts many fans have about the spread of performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball (MLB) and other professional sports since the 1990s.
The 43-year-old tied MLB's career record yesterday by belting his 755th home run, the same number that made Hank Aaron the home run king of the past 33 years.
But many fans are not celebrating what might otherwise be an occasion for national pride and marketing hoopla because of suspicion he may not have spoken truthfully when denying steroid use.
A sometimes abrasive personality has not helped his image, and has caused many fans outside San Francisco to jeer the slugger and root against his record run.
"I've believed since the mid-90s he's the rudest, most ill-mannered person I've ever met in sports," San Francisco Chronicle columnist Bruce Jenkins wrote.
During his career, Bonds has set a wide array of records, from most home runs in a single season to most walks in a season and in a career.
Over the years he has hit a home run every 13 at-bats, far more often than Aaron's every 16 plus at-bats.
Born in 1964 in Riverside, California, the 13-time All-Star grew up steeped in baseball.
His father, Bobby, was a power-hitting outfielder from 1968-1974, hitting 332 home runs in his career. His godfather, San Francisco Giant Willie Mays, was one of the greatest players in the history of baseball.
Barry Bonds started his MLB career with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1986 as a skinny rookie.
He joined the Giants in 1993, and then as he entered his mid-30s grew noticeably more muscular and showed more power at the plate.
In 2001 Bonds hit a single-season record 73 home runs.
Yet a federal investigation into the Balco nutritional laboratory near San Francisco soon after cast an unwelcome spotlight on the player's possible links to doping.
According to his lawyer, Bonds told a San Francisco federal grand jury he never knowingly used steroids. His personal trainer and close friend Greg Anderson ended up in jail on steroid distribution charges in the case.
The Balco probe continues to shadow Bonds' considerable accomplishments as federal authorities investigate whether the left-fielder lied during his testimony.
In the meantime, Anderson went back to prison last year because he has refused to testify in the case.
A photo of Bonds still adorns the hallway where Balco's owner now operates a renamed nutritional supplement business.
The probe has muted the excitement over his home run record quest.
When Sharp Electronics launched an advertising campaign for its televisions this summer, it featured Aaron rather than Bonds.
By contrast, when short stop Cal Ripken broke Lou Gehrig's consecutive game record in 1995, President Bill Clinton and Vice-President Al Gore attended the game.
For Bonds' record run, MLB commissioner Bud Selig only begrudgingly attended some of the games, although he was at San Diego's Petco Park when Bonds tied Aaron's hallowed mark.
- Reuters
