Al Downing’s slider was low but over the plate. It wasn’t the exact pitch Hank Aaron was looking for but it was good enough. He knew he hit it squarely, but didn’t know whether it would carry over the fence for career home run No. 715.

It wasn’t until he got to first base that he realized he had just broken Babe Ruth’s career home run record. He remembers shaking hands with Dodgers first baseman Steve Garvey. Curiously, he doesn’t remember the two college kids jogging around the bases with him.

It was one of the most famous victory laps in sports history. Hank Aaron’s 715th trip around the bases made him the all-time home run king. For Barry Bonds, No. 715, a 445-foot shot to center against the Colorado Rockies at AT&T Park on Sunday, was not a destination but a historical marker en route to Aaron’s total of 755.

The real question is: Can Bonds out-hammer Hammerin’ Hank?

If what we’ve witnessed from Bonds during the first eight weeks of the 2006 season are any indication, Aaron will remain forever out of reach. Given his declining skills, concerns about his knee and potential repercussions from his alleged steroid abuse, grand jury testimony and tax history, he will remain safely in second.

In fact, Bonds’ pursuit of Ruth this season only makes Aaron’s mark seem more distant.

He is still capable of a titanic blast, like the 450-foot bomb he hit off the upper façade in Philadelphia for No. 713, or the high line drive he hit in Oakland to tie the Babe, but the home runs aren’t coming in bunches anymore. He’s not crushing pitches he crushed in the past. His pace, for lack of a better word, has been anything but Ruthian.

He needs 40 more home runs to tie Aaron after hitting No. 715 off Rockies starter Byung-Hyun Kim. He’s on pace to hit 23 this season, which means he’ll have plenty of work to do next season and perhaps the season after to take Aaron’s crown.

Does he have one or even two more seasons worth of tread left on his tires?

That’s the biggest question surrounding Bonds’ potential for passing Aaron. The Giants might be inclined to sign him for one more season, but at his less-than-one-homer-per-week pace there’s no guarantee that he could catch Aaron in 2007, which puts the Giants in a fix.

Special report In-depth look at controversial slugger

They have taken their philosophy of surrounding Bonds with veterans in the hope of winning a World Series before he retires as far as they can. Re-signing limits their ability to retool given their self-imposed payroll constraints. Then there’s the question that seems to be answering itself: Is he still a National League player?

An eight-time Gold Glove award winner, Bonds has become a defensive liability in left field because of his age and immobility resulting from a cranky right knee. Once a legitimate base-stealing threat, he is so slow to first that he was twice thrown out in one game last week by a St. Louis Cardinal second basemen playing medium right field.

The 9-3 putout is not something frequently found in the official scorebook but it could happen with continued frequency for Bonds this season. 

There has been talk of him becoming a designated hitter in the American League next season. Even Bonds, who in the past has said that he could not envision himself ending his career anywhere other than San Francisco, has said he would consider the possibility. His agent suggested he might hit 1,000 homers before he is done.