Bonds might be only one in 500-500 club

SAN FRANCISCO -- A long moment passed before Barry Bonds recognized his latest achievement. It will be a whole lot longer before anyone matches it.\nBy stealing second base in the 11th inning of the San Francisco Giants' game Monday night, Bonds founded the 500-500 club. Bonds was focused on a tied game, but the steadily rising cheers from the crowd at Pacific Bell Park alerted him: he had just become the first player to hit 500 homers and steal 500 bases in his career.\nA day later, another possibility was occurring to many baseball players, coaches and fans: these particular numbers might never be reached by another person.\n"I don't think in any of our lifetimes we're going to see the second member inducted," said Los Angeles manager Jim Tracy, whose team lost when Bonds scored the winning run moments later. "There's going to be a few generations come through before there's even a whiff of another 500-500 guy. That's the kind of player he is. There's nobody like him out there."\nWith the stolen base mired in irrelevance during this homer-happy era, most experts believe Bonds' 500-500 could stand for decades as an unmatchable feat. Even Bonds, who thinks his single-season record of 73 homers will someday be toppled, couldn't deny the unique nature of this achievement.\n"I think it's great, something I hope is going to be around a long time," Bonds said. "You never know."\nStatistically speaking, Bonds has more versatility than any player of his generation, perhaps anyone in history. There's no other player with even 400 homers and 400 steals; Bonds' godfather, Willie Mays, had just 338 steals along with his 660 homers, while Bonds' father, Bobby, hit 332 homers and stole 461 bases.\n"It's something that will be very difficult to accomplish, especially since people don't run very much any more," Giants manager Felipe Alou said. "There might be another time, another era of baseball where that will come back, but you've also got to play for a long, long time."\nSuch an achievement might require the next candidate to transform his game and his body the same way Bonds did. These days, Bonds bears only a facial resemblance to the slim contact hitter who once stole 52 bases in a season for the Pittsburgh Pirates.\nThe next potential 500-500 man also will need the freedom to run, a rare quality in today's game. Bonds' formidable talent makes him pretty much above direction from his managers.\n"I believe Barry has had the green light 500 times," Alou said with a grin. "He was on his own (on the 500th steal). He's always on his own."\nLongevity will be another determining factor. Bobby Bonds had 30 homers and 30 steals during five different seasons, but he only played 14 years in the majors.\nBarry had five 30-30 seasons between 1990 and 1997, but base-stealing has become a novelty for the 18-year veteran. With a chronically sore back, he detests running anywhere these days, let alone to second base ahead of a throw.\nSo who are the candidates for 500-500? Not counting Rickey Henderson, who's still soldiering on in Newark, baseball's active steals leader is Kenny Lofton, Bonds' friend and teammate last season.\nLofton has 522 stolen bases, but he's also 522 homers behind Bonds, who has 633.\nThe next seven active players on the career steals list are Roberto Alomar, Delino DeShields, Eric Young, Marquis Grissom, Chuck Knoblauch, Craig Biggio and Barry Larkin, and none has even an outside shot at 400 homers, let alone 500.\nAnother measure of just how hard it is: Jose Canseco, once lauded for the majors' first 40-40 season in 1988, finished his career with 462 homers and just 200 steals.\nThe best candidates are years away from contention. Montreal's Vladimir Guerrero, usually considered the most likely to achieve Bonds' blend of power and speed, has 217 homers and 119 stolen bases midway through his seventh full major league season.\n"When I managed Vladimir, I knew he would have a chance," Alou said of the 27-year-old. "We won't know if he has a shot for a long time, though."\nAlex Rodriguez probably has the best shot of all. With 316 homers and 167 steals in his eighth full season, the Texas shortstop, who will turn 28 next month, is primed to make a run with continued good health, but he'll need a long, successful career to pick up 333 more steals.\nUntil then, Bonds, who turns 39 on July 24, will stand just as he did at second base Monday night: all alone.\n"I think it's a huge accomplishment," Bonds said earlier in the season. "Most of the time, it's usually one or the other, home runs or stolen bases. To be able to do both of them is pretty special"