Mike Huss "The Fuss According to Huss" St. Louis Sports Online lead columnist and host of "Sportstalk" on WGNU AM-920 can be heard online at www.wgnu.net--time: (6:00-7:00 pm Tuesdays and Thursdays) E-mail Mike at: hussonwgnu@aol.com

Barry Bonds will probably pass Mark Mc Gwire sometime this week to become Baseball's all-time single season home run king. My guess is (and yes, I always enjoy finding symbolism in these milestones) that it will either occur on Wednesday October 3 (the fiftieth anniversary of another famous Giants' home run: Bobby Thompson's shot against Brooklyn) or sometime this weekend in San Francisco against the Rival Dodgers.

Still, with the passing of any torch, it is only natural to compare these two kings.

There are similarities:

Both players wear Uniform Number 25. Both are roughly the same age (Mac is 297 days older than Barry). Both have over 500 career home runs. Both have played at least nine seasons in the San Francisco Bay area. Both have played over fifteen Major League seasons. Both are known for their somewhat surly reputations. Both will enter the hallowed Halls of Cooperstown in exactly five years after their retirements.

Still there are differences:

Mc Gwire bats right-handed while Bonds bats left-handed. Bonds has 500+ career stolen bases while Mc Gwire doesn't even have a bakers' dozen. Mc Gwire is the prototypical home run slugger while Bonds is a five-tool player with a compact swing. At this writing, Mac has 6,167 at-bats while Barry has 7,917 at-bats. Bonds has played in 2,289 games in 15+ seasons while Mc Gwire has played in 1,868 games in 15+ seasons. Bonds has won three Most Valuable Player Awards and 8 Gold Gloves compared to no MVP awards and one Gold Glove for Mc Gwire. Mc Gwire was selected as one of baseball's top 25 players in 1999 while Bonds was not. Barry has played his entire career in the National League while Mac's resume lists service in both the Senior and Junior Circuits.

Indeed. There are both similarities and differences between these two Goliaths. The debate is already starting to rage as to whose feat was more memorable, challenging, and rewarding. It is really about how you look at it.

Roger Maris' single season home run record stood for 36 years when Mark Mc Gwire entered the 1998 season. That single season homer mark is the most romantic record in all of sports. During the previous winter, Big Mac entertained questions throughout the fruited plain on his chances on overtaking the Maris record. So it really did not come as a surprise when Mc Gwire's 1998 early totals were reaching serious proportion.

The Cardinals were completely out of playoff contention in 1998. Mc Gwire's exploits were the only focal point that season. Media from both major sport and totally irrelevant outlets followed Big Mac from batting practice to post-game. Over seven hundred media credentials were issued on the Labor Day weekend #25 tied and passed Maris. It was paparazzi time in the Gateway City. These media hounds did not come to town to see Ray Lankford, Brian Jordan, Ron Gant, Donovan Osborne or Gary Gaetti perform.

Big Mac, like Maris, did enjoy the advantage of facing pitching after an expansion winter. Sammy Sosa provided the competition and motivation for Mac to enhance the long ball assault. Baseball fans were looking for a reason to return to baseball after the 1994 shutdown. The home run chase provided that outlet. Fans returned to the stands.

Meanwhile, Barry Bonds is a man on a mission. Giants Management denied him contract negotiations in spring training. Bonds took that strategy as an insult and started his season on a terror. He became the on-field leader for a team that was in playoff contention the entire year. 2001 was not a season following expansion as 1998 was. Although he accumulated over 500 long flies, Bonds was not considered a pure home run hitter. Rather, #25 is a five-tool superstar who could hit the long ball as well as for average. 2001 was the first season Bonds hit over 50 home runs. There was a stretch of games in late June to late July when Bonds did not homer in any game. Still he overcame this slump and re-positioned his efforts on the single season home run assault.

Unlike Mc Gwire whose quest was for the record spanned over a generation and a half, Bonds' journey came a mere three years later. Barry had the luxury of playing in a hitter friendly new ballpark by the Bay, as well as the new home haven venues in Houston and Milwaukee. With the Giants in playoff contention, Bonds was not the sole point of interest in San Francisco. After the tragedy of September 11, the focus on all sports stories has subdued and is reexamined.

So I ask again: whose feat was more memorable, challenging, and rewarding? Again I respond that it is all in your own point of view.

Yet, I'm intrigued by a remark made last week from a caller on my WGNU Sport Show. This gentleman calls frequently, and made the comment: "Well, now all you Mark Mc Gwire fans can take your hankies and start crying".

This is a narrow-minded and very parochial comment. My vote is for BOTH players. These are memorable accomplishments that should be enjoyed by fans everywhere. These feats will be a part of baseball lore. Appreciate them. We are watching history.

In all likelihood, when Bonds passes Mc Gwire, Gateway City baseball fans will feel the same type of loss baseball fans in New York felt in September 1998. It's natural to want to hoard accomplishments for the local heroes. Still, records are made to be broken.

My WGNU colleague, John Koenig, may have best illustrated this home run chase on my Thursday night Sport Show. John compared Mc Gwire to Roger Bannister in 1954: the first runner to break the four-minute mile. There have been others that have since shattered the 1954 time, but Bannister was the first one who established that benchmark.

Mc Gwire is much the same. When both players are ready for induction into Baseball's Hall of Fame, Bonds will probably enter with more career home runs than Big Mac. Still, it was the St. Louis #25 that first reached the seventy-homer pinnacle.

With the frequency of home runs in today's game, some other competitor will likely surpass Bonds' new record in the near future. But until then, enjoy the moment.

When the dust settles next week, Barry Bonds will have "around" seventy home runs. Mark Mc Gwire will have "around" thirty home runs this season. (Gosh, it didn't seem that long ago when thirty home runs was considered an accomplishment in this town)

So who is it? Bonds or Mc Gwire is like Coke or Pepsi. Is it Ginger or Mary Ann? Ted Drewes or Fritz's? Paper or Plastic? AM or FM? Boxers or briefs?

There is no right or wrong answer. So why choose? Rather, sit back and enjoy what is folding before you. This may or may not come our way again.

During the 1998 home run hunt, a question kept reoccurring on my WGNU sports show: what is more important, 70+ Home Runs in a season or qualifying for post-season play?

The Gateway City baseball fan of today would probably answer this differently than in 1998. Such is probably also the case in San Francisco.

It's all in how you look at it.