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HANK AARON BEATS BARRY BONDS IN RATINGS RACE: Over 4 million more viewers watched Aaron pass Babe Ruth in 74.
*As Barry Bonds was scoring his 757th career home run Wednesday night in San Francisco, Nielsen was busy crunching the ratings numbers between his historic 756th homer on Tuesday to break Hank Aaron’s home run record, and Aaron’s televised 715th home run on April 8, 1974, to surpass Babe Ruth.
More viewers were able to watch Aaron’s big moment on NBC than Bonds’ monster hit carried on ESPN2. NBC's 1974 broadcast received a 22.3 rating, the equivalent of 14.9 million homes, while ESPN2’s coverage of Bonds’ HR drew a 1.1 cable rating, which translates to 995,000 households.
However, in 1974, there were only a fraction of the TV channels that viewers can choose from today. Also, baseball had far less competition for the attention of fans.
Additionally, Aaron's historic home run in Atlanta was hit at a more reasonable hour (9:07 p.m. EDT), while Bonds' drive in San Francisco came at 11:51 p.m. EDT.
In other Barry Bonds news, Major League Baseball Productions has announced that complete game footage of his record-breaking home run will be sold immediately on DVD via HP's DVD manufactured-on-demand services.
Fans may purchase a copy of the Collector's Replay Edition at San Francisco Giants Dugout Stores and online at www.shop.mlb.com, www.walmart.com, www.fye.com and www.suncoast.com.
