Selig will try to attend Bonds record-setter

SAN FRANCISCO – Baseball commissioner Bud Selig was at home watching Barry Bonds and the Giants play when he decided he needed to be at the ballpark to see the San Francisco slugger break Hank Aaron’s career home run record.\nSelig arrived Tuesday in San Francisco and said he’ll try to be present when Bonds passes Aaron. In a statement earlier in the day, Selig said he decided to attend “out of respect for the tradition of this game, the magnitude of the record, and the fact that all citizens in this country are innocent until proven guilty.”\n“It’s a huge moment in baseball history,” Selig said as the Giants played the Atlanta Braves. “It just struck me this was the appropriate time. Really, it’s no more involved than that.\n“I’m confident in my decision,” he added. “I think it was the right thing for me to be here, and I’m here.”\nSelig does plan to leave Friday for Cooperstown, N.Y., where he’ll attend Sunday’s Hall of Fame induction ceremonies for Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken Jr. But he said he’ll rejoin the Giants afterward if Bonds still is chasing the record.\nSelig didn’t commit to being part of any on-field celebrations, saying that was up to the Giants organization. He also said he has not talked to Bonds nor does he plan on doing so.\n“I try not to talk to players period during the course of the season,” Selig said. “Unless they’ve acted badly.”\nBonds, who turned 43 on Tuesday, has been dogged for years by suspicions that he used performance-enhancing drugs. But he’s never tested positive, and has said he’s never knowingly taken steroids or any other drugs.\n“Everyone has to make their own judgment,” Selig said. “I’m just here to watch it.”\nBonds didn’t speak before the game, but his teammates were happy that Selig will be on hand to see Aaron’s record fall.\nAs recently as last weekend, when Selig watched Bonds and the Giants play in Milwaukee, the commissioner said he remained undecided on whether to be in attendance when the record falls. Selig skipped the Giants’ homestand opener on Monday, watching the game from his home in \nMilwaukee instead.\nBut he arrived just before gametime Tuesday and watched from a box on the broadcast level of the press box with Giants executive vice president Larry Baer. Team owner Peter Magowan joined them later.\n“It’s a prestigious record; it’s hard not to be there,” Steve Kline said. “It would contradict his words on someone being innocent until proven guilty. They’ve been after him for a while. If he’s found guilty, they can do something different then. Right now, he’s about to be the new home run king.”\nThe former owner of the Milwaukee Brewers, Selig has been friends for years with Aaron, who began his career in 1954 with the Milwaukee Braves and ended it in 1976 with the Brewers.\nIn 1974, commissioner Bowie Kuhn was criticized when he was not at the ballpark in Atlanta when Aaron hit his 715th home run to surpass Babe Ruth. Kuhn was at the game in Cincinnati when Aaron tied Ruth.\n“Bottom line, Barry’s good for the game,” Barry Zito said. “People on the upper levels might not want to embrace that. But the way he draws people to the game is second to none.”\n– AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum in New York and AP Sports Writer Janie McCauley in San Francisco contributed to this report.