The difference between God and Larry Ellison is that on Monday afternoon and again last night, Ellison caught Barry Bonds' historic 660th and his 661st home run.

Ellison, is Larry Ellison a software sales director from Fairfield not the Larry Ellison, billionaire founder & CEO of Oracle.

Larry "660-61" Ellison was one guy in the company of a sell-out crowd (42,040 to be exact) and Bonds' godfather, Willie Mays, on both occasions. Only Ellison was not in the ballpark, but rather in a kayak strategically located in McCovey Cove.

Ellison graciously returned Bonds' 660th ball. However, Bonds told Ellison he could keep the 661st! The 661st was Bonds' 29th career homer into McCovey Cove.

After hitting the 660th, Bonds said, ''It was like a weight was just lifted off my shoulders. I felt a sense of accomplishment in baseball. It's a relief now to be able to stand next to my godfather and finally feel like I've accomplished something in the game of baseball. It was a big way of getting his approval that I've finally done something.''

Last night, the San Francisco Giants slugger (who turns 40 in July) outdid his godfather Willie Mays to take sole possession of third on baseball's career list of most home runs.

Only Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron are left to beat.

"They said my dad (Bobby) was going to be the next Willie Mays," Bonds said. "Well, they got the first name wrong. It wasn't Bobby. It was Barry."

On Monday, Bonds huge three-run shot that splashed into McCovey Cove gave the Giants a 7-5 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. During the seventh inning of Tuesday's game, the Giants beat Milwaukee 4-2. Last night, Larry Ellison, donning an Arnold Schwarzenegger mask, caught a second piece of history in the waters beyond SBC Park's right-field wall. The fifty-three year-old was able to retrieve the ball after "going in" after it and getting wet. The ball rose to the top of the water a number of times before Ellison had it safely in hand.

After giving back the 660th, Ellison had confidence he might also catch the 661st. He said, "I had a sense that I would get it, too, because there was something magical about yesterday in giving it back. I knew once I came into the stadium and talked to the management, I knew that I couldn't go home with the ball. I just knew that it belonged to Barry and Willie and the club.''

As a token of their thanks, on Friday, the club will give Ellison two custom No. 660 jerseys, signed by Bonds and Mays, and one of Bonds' game jerseys. He also will receive a few signed bats and balls. Ellison will bring his son, Jeremy, to a special presentation before the Giants play the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Giants offered Ellison six tickets behind home plate to watch Tuesday's game. Ellison passed the tickets on to his family, then returned to his place in the water to wait for lightning to strike. And indeed it did!

Ellison was appreciative that Bonds was willing to let him keep No. 661. At the moment, he is not sure what he will do with it. Until he decides, the Giants have put the ball in a safe at SBC Park. Perhaps it will go on display. If so, we'll let you know.

1st -- June 4, 1986, off Craig McMurtry, Pittsburgh at Atlanta*

100th -- July 12, 1990, off Andy Benes, Pittsburgh vs. San Diego

200th -- July 8, 1993, off Jose DeLeon, San Francisco at Philadelphia

250th -- July 18, 1994, off Shawn Boskie, San Francisco at Philadelphia

300th -- April 30, 1996, off John Burkett, San Francisco vs. Florida

350th -- June 22, 1997, off Chan Ho Park, San Francisco vs. Los Angeles

400th -- August 23, 1998, off Kirt Ojala, San Francisco at Florida

450th -- April 15, 2000, off Todd Stottlemyre, San Francisco vs. Arizona

500th -- April 18, 2001, off Terry Adams, San Francisco vs. Los Angeles

550th -- August 27, 2001, off Kevin Appier, San Francisco at New York Mets

564th -- October 4, 2001, off Wilfredo Rodriguez, San Francisco at Houston, tying Mark McGwire for major league mark with 70 homers.

567th -- October 7, 2001, off Dennis Springer, San Francisco vs. Los Angeles, setting major league mark with 73 homers.

600th -- August 9, 2002, off Kip Wells, San Francisco vs. Pittsburgh

660th -- April 12, 2004, off Matt Kinney, San Francisco vs. Milwaukee, tying godfather Willie Mays for third on baseball's career list.

661st -- April 13, 2004, off Ben Ford, San Francisco vs. Milwaukee, passing Willie Mays for third on baseball's career list.

*includes the home run number, the pitcher, Bonds' team at-the-time and Bonds' competition that day

Only 53 more home runs to catch Babe Ruth.

Congratulations Barry and Willie!

We love you!!

San Francisco celebrates and honors you both.

Inspire & Be Inspired.

~Jennifer King

P.S. Way to go Larry Ellison...both of you!

Very good site, congratulations!

Very good site, congratulations!

Thanks

I think that it's great that he returned the ball, such generosity follows the saying: What Goes Around Comes Around.

In response to Jan's comment:

Please note that the second sentence of the story clearly states that the Larry Ellison who caught Bonds' two historic home runs was NOT Larry Ellison, the CEO of Oracle. I said,

"Ellison, is Larry Ellison a software sales director from Fairfield not 'the' Larry Ellison, billionaire founder & CEO of Oracle.

Thanks for writing in.

~jck

I suggest that you amend your story about Larry Ellison catching Bonds' 660th and 661st home runs. It was Larry Ellison who caught both home run balls, but it was not the CEO of Oracle Corporation. This is very obvious when you watch any sport news channel (i.e., ESPN, ESPNNews, etc). I too was caught by surprise when I saw the name, but then I continued to watch the interview with Larry Ellison.

Hope my comment is of some help to your site's credibility.

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