Barry Bonds clubbed his 715th career home run Sunday to move past baseball legend Babe Ruth for second place on the all-time list.

The San Francisco Giants outfielder smacked a fourth-inning shot to centre field off Colorado Rockies starter Byung-Hyun Kim.

Barry Bonds now trails only Hank Aaron on baseball's career home run list.
(Eric Risberg/Associated Press)

"If you keep playing long enough anything is possible," said Bonds, wearing a new 715 shirt and cap.

"I'd like to win a World Series and be home run king. I'd like to do both. I would take a
World Series first."

Despite the momentous homer, the Giants lost the game 6-3 to the Rockies.

Bonds received a loud standing ovation from the crowd at San Francisco's AT&T Park as he rounded the bases.

"For the fans of San Francisco, it can't get any better than this — even though I made them wait longer than I have in the past," said Bonds. "Age ain't catching up with me."

The ball went off the hands of a fan and landed on an elevated platform.

Surprisingly, San Francisco resident Andrew Morbitzer, who was waiting in a concession line to buy beer and peanuts, retrieved the ball.

It appeared for a brief moment that the ball was out of everyone's reach, but it finally trickled off the roof and into the hands of the 38-year-old Morbitzer.

Morbitzer was quickly taken away by security for a post-game press conference.

"I got to be a small part of a big day," said Morbitzer, a marketing director and a newlywed who was with his bride, Megan.

Even with the Giants' loss, Bonds's teammates showered him with champagne in the clubhouse following the game.

"Everybody was waiting for a moment like this," shortstop Omar Vizquel said. "A couple of words were said."

Only one to go

The 41-year-old slugger now only trails Hank Aaron's 755 career home runs for the Major League Baseball record.

Bonds is the most prolific slugger of this generation with a .299 batting average, 1,867 runs batted in and 2,099 runs scored in 2,764 games over 21 MLB seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Giants.

He has won seven National League Most Valuable Player Awards, a dozen Silver Slugger Awards and eight Gold Glove Awards.

But each of Bonds's accomplishments is shrouded in a cloud of suspicion because he is suspected of using performance-enhancing drugs.

A federal grand jury in San Francisco is looking into whether Bonds committed perjury in sworn testimony regarding an alleged steroid ring involving Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative and Greg Anderson, his personal trainer.

Bonds has denied knowingly using steroids.

With files from Associated Press