Richard Clement / Reuters / Reuters

San Francisco Giants star Barry Bonds hits the 714th home run of his career off Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Brad Halsey, with catcher Jason Kendall and home-plate umpire Rick Reed watching the historic shot.

Bonds had hoped to reach his latest milestone home run at home in San Francisco, where he hit Nos. 500, 600 and 700 along with 660 and 661 to tie and pass his godfather, Willie Mays. In 2001, Bonds hit the final three of his 73 homers at home to break Mark McGwire’s single-season record of 70.

“I’m just glad it happened in the Bay,” Bonds said. “East Bay, West Bay. I’m just glad it happened here.”

Still, the slugger had to be happy to hit No. 714 back in the Bay Area in front of his family and friends. Only six days earlier, Bonds suggested he was being haunted by “two ghosts” — a reference to Ruth and Aaron.

Ruth passed Sam Thompson to move into second place on June 20, 1921, when he hit his 127th home run. Aaron passed Ruth in April 1974 — and now Hammerin’ Hank’s mark is the only one left for Bonds to chase.

Yet Bonds has said that could be a long shot considering he turns 42 on July 24, is playing on a surgically repaired right knee and with bone chips floating around in his left elbow.

In his 21st major league season, Bonds has hit nine career home runs as a designated hitter — and realizes his future could be in the American League as a DH if he returns in 2007.

Bonds had 40 plate appearances between Nos. 713 and 714. He had been 4-for-29 (.138) with 10 walks, three intentional, six runs scored, two RBIs and four strikeouts since his last homer.

Special report In-depth look at controversial slugger

“He finally hit it? It’s about time,” Ken Griffey Jr., who entered the night with 539 career homers, said in the Cincinnati Reds’ clubhouse in Detroit. “Now I don’t have to keep watching TV to see him do it.”

Bonds was destined for greatness at an early age. The son of three-time All-Star Bobby Bonds and the godson of one of the game’s greatest players in Mays, Bonds spent his childhood years roaming the clubhouse at Candlestick Park, getting tips from Mays and other Giants.

In a matter of years, Bonds went from a wiry leadoff hitter when he broke into the big leagues with Pittsburgh in 1986 to the most feared slugger of his generation and possibly ever.

It was a transformation many — including federal prosecutors in the BALCO case — believe was fueled by the use of performance-enhancing drugs. Bonds has long denied ever knowingly taking steroids, though the new book “Game of Shadows” reveals his alleged longtime doping regimen the authors say began after the 1998 season when Bonds saw the attention McGwire and Sammy Sosa generated in their race for the single-season home run record.

Bonds’ personal trainer, Greg Anderson, pleaded guilty to his role in a steroid distribution ring, and a federal grand jury is looking into whether Bonds perjured himself when he testified to the separate grand jury that indicted Anderson and three others in the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative scandal.

Slideshow   The Week in Sports Pictures The Giants on top of the football world, getting ready for the London Olympics and more. more photos

Partly because of his prickly relationship with fans and the media, Bonds was never a beloved superstar even before the steroid allegations. He was not voted by fans onto baseball’s All-Century team, losing out to Griffey, among others.

But the latest accusations have hurt his reputation even more, and the anticipation as he neared Ruth’s mark was tempered for that reason. Just as when Aaron passed the Babe in 1974, there is resentment among those who believe Ruth is the greatest player ever, although this time it’s more because of steroids than racism.