For what seemed like eons, the world seemed to stop whenever he stepped up to the plate. When No. 25 was in the batter's box for the San Francisco Giants, people dropped what they were doing and glanced at the television sets. After he was finished with his at-bat, the people went back to what they were doing, ignoring the rest of the game until No. 25 came up again.

Would he hit a milestone home run that would break this record, tie that record, or bring him one step closer to yet another? When he did homer, fans would battle for the ball -- literally.

Yep, Barry Bonds brought excitement to the game -- and put eye-popping numbers into the record books.

When the 2007 season closed, Bonds had all-time record 762 home runs and seven MVP awards, not to mention 2,227 runs (third all-time), 1,996 RBIs (fourth), 5,976 total bases (fifth), a .444 on-base percentage (sixth) and a .607 slugging percentage (sixth).

Truly a legendary career, right?

Yet less than a year later, we hardly hear his name anymore. It's almost like people want to forget he exists.

OK, maybe we still hear about him more than we do about your average recently departed player. But the guy's the home-run king, an all-time great. Right?

And news that does come up about him these days usually refers to perjury charges or steroid allegations against him, or perhaps the fate of one of his own home run balls. You don't hear much about Bonds the player.

It almost seems like we stand as much a chance of hearing Babe Ruth's name as that of Bonds; and Ruth died 60 years ago.

Bonds hasn't even announced his retirement, but nobody seems to want him. Even with all that perjury and steroid talk going around, you'd think there'd be plenty of stories about a potential return. But nope.

The San Francisco Giants, with whom he spent 15 years, didn't re-sign him after last season; and by the beginning of this season, they had removed the larger Bonds tribute displays at AT&T Park.

"They wiped that ballpark clean of his fingerprints as soon as he was gone. It's almost like they were admitting guilt after the fact," San Francisco radio talk show host Damon Bruce recently told the Los Angeles Times.

Bruce said most of his callers don't mention Bonds.

"It was always a business relationship between Barry and this city," he said. "The fans said, 'We loved you while you hit home runs, but we always knew you were a creep. You served your purpose, now goodbye.'''

Do the Giants miss having him on the field?

On July 4 last year, San Francisco was 11 games below 500. On July 4 this year, the Giants are 10 games below .500 -- and they have a much younger team.

The Giants already have new star. Young pitcher Tim Lincecum is 10-1 and looking like a Cy Young candidate. Lincecum's on the cover of his week's Sports Illustrated.

On the other hand, Lincecum is a starting pitcher, and starting pitchers only throw once every five or so games. He can't pack fans in like Bonds did. So Giants attendance is down.

And one has to admit, Bonds generated stories over just about everything he did -- even things of the most trivial nature.

So he must be missed by at least some of the media.

But Major League Baseball as a whole does not appear to miss him at all.

It's like baseball is glad he's not around -- seeing him as a dentist who did a great job fixing your teeth but forgot to give you novocaine.

Does Bonds deserve to be a forgotten man?

Part of you wants to say you reap what you sow.

But on the other hand, oft-arrested cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones is getting another chance to play in the NFL.

Maybe Bonds should get another chance to play baseball. Or maybe he should at least be recognized as someone who once played the game remarkably well.

(July 4, 2008)