Mike Bacsik Says He Didn't Groove Bonds' 756th Home Run Ball

Mike Bacsik wants you to know he didn't groove one to Barry Bonds, it's just that he's not a very good pitcher. Bacsik, the pitcher known for serving up home run number 756 to Bonds, and really nothing else, was called out by former teammate Tim Redding this week, who told Sirius XM's MLB Home Plate that he thought the ball was served up so Bacsik could be part of history.

"I mean, the guy that gave it up, I never want to speak ill of anybody," Redding said. "Mike Bacsik is a stand-up guy. He's a little quirky, but he's a nice guy, means well.

"I think he wanted to give it up. And he can say what he wants in defense or whatnot, but doing the chart, I mean, every ball that Barry hit, the ball was center cut, right down the middle, fastball. You know, I think maybe inside he was thinking he was going to get a little bit more publicity. Maybe, you know, publicity and some money out of it, appearances, stuff like that."

Redding was doing the chart because he was slated to pitch the next day, so he would have been tracking Bacsik's pitches. After sarcastically calling Redding a "good teammate" on Twitter yesterday, Bacsik took a few more shots at him, including:

If somebody would have asked me, what teammate will say you tried to give up a homerun? After laughing my answer would have been Tim Redding

Bacsik also admitted that, "I was crappy enough to do it without trying," in reference to serving up the historic homerun. And you know what, maybe he did groove one. Or maybe he was staring down the face of a guy about to make baseball history and he, being a below-average pitcher, was nervous. Or maybe that's the best stuff he had and Bonds just crushed one.

The funniest thing in this story is the fact that Redding pitched the next day and served up a first-inning tater to Bonds, making him the pitcher of record for a Bonds homerun that nobody will ever remember. Does that mean Redding is jealous?

Besides, I thought steroids threw that pitch anyway. Isn't that who we give all the credit for Bonds' home runs to?

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.