At least Bud Selig wasn't there to catch flies in his open mouth.

In case you missed it while you were planning your itinerary to follow the Spice Girls reunion tour, Barry Bonds hit home run number 756 into the sea of crazed if-I-catch-it-I'm-gonna-buy-a-summer-home-in-the-Bahamas fans in San Francisco Tuesday night.

That's one more thanHank Aaron, by the way. That's 256 more than A-Rod. That's 755 more than Duane Kuiper, who would have hit at least two more had he 'roided up like Barry.

The asterisk has never been so happy.

Bud Selig has never been so sad.

Selig sat in his cozy little box inSan Diego when Bonds mashed No. 755 and looked like Michael Vick had just electrocuted his dog.

The leader of baseball didn't know whether to stand up, sit down, cry or curse the heavens for letting Bonds be so darned powerful with his wooden stick.

Luckily, it's over. Thank Mike Bacsik for that. The left-hander was throwing meat pitch after meat pitch to Bonds, almost trying to get his name in the record book.

Perhaps he was just as tired of the saga.

But, we can all breathe a little easier now. Thanks, Mike.

We don't have to watch another San Francisco Giants game for the rest of the season.

"The Bronx is Burning" won't be pre-empted by the freak show that the Bonds home run chase had become.

We don't have to attach a GPS system toSelig to know his whereabouts at all times.

The office pools are over. A nation can get back to more important things, like naming the Steelers' mascot?

The record is Barry's, but it might never truly be his.

Ah, that asterisk again. It will follow him. It will hang on that number until the end of time.

The investigation into Bonds' "alleged" steroid use will go on. And someday — probably about the same time O.J. finds the "real killer" — we might know the whole truth about Bonds.

No matter the verdict, you have to give the dude his props.

Steroids or not, he hit 756 baseballs where no one could catch them. Make that 757 — he hit another one Wednesday night.

Steroids or not, some of the numbers he's put up in his career are just plain sick.

No one will walk 232 times in a season. No one will hit 73 home runs in a season. No one will have an on-base percentage higher than Ben Roethlisberger's completion percentage.

Bonds is the best baseball player of my generation — for better or for worse.

Of course, records are meant to be broken. There's that A-Rod guy with 500 home runs and in his prime. If he stays healthy, he could make a run at whatever home run total Bonds ends his career with. (I'm guessing an even 800 — 68 shy of Sadaharu Oh, by the way).

I know one guy who is a big A-Rod fan now.

Bud Selig.

Mike Kilroy is a staff writer for the Butler Eagle.