There's been a lot of flap in the media lately about Barry Bonds and his climb towards Babe Ruth on the all-time home run list. Most of the media think that Bonds' pursuit of '714' is a special event, because Ruth's number is such a lexicon of baseball statistics.

I say that's biased, and biased because of the age of any media type who says it. I am only 33, which means that Hank Aaron passed Babe Ruth's total before I even knew what baseball was. Ever since I began following baseball at the end of the 1970s, the only home run total that mattered was Aaron's 755. I've never known Ruth's 714 as being anything more than a number Hank Aaron passed along the way to posting his own.

In fact, the only reason I know the significance of 714 is because the video highlights of Aaron's 715 are burned into my mind, along with the harrowing journey he had to take in order to get there.

714 is an old, white man's number. 755 is a real number, and if Bonds approaches that, then we have reason to take notice.