Aaron outrates Bonds on television by 15-to-1 margin

[Baseball Guru]

NEW YORK (AP) -- Hank Aaron is still the home-run king when it comes to television ratings.

ESPN2's broadcast of Barry Bonds' record 756th homer received a 1.1 cable rating on ESPN2 Tuesday night, which translates to 995,000 households.

When Aaron hit his 715th home run on April 8, 1974, to break Babe Ruth's record, NBC's broadcast received a 22.3 rating on NBC, the equivalent of 14.9 million homes.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-bonds-ratings&prov=ap&type=lgns

[west coast orange and black]

any idea what the figures are for home computer viewings? :lookitup

[BoSox Rule]

What time did Aaron hit #715 at? Probably not in the middle of the night

[Dodgerfan1]

Also, not everyone has cable. Aaron did it on network TV.

[Williamsburg2599]

Am I the only one who doesn't think it's a big deal? I'm sure if they somehow knew he was going to hit it in that AB, half the nation would of tuned in. TV ratings are horribly inaccurate for many reasons.

[Ashburn1]

Aaron was on national free TV, and it was opening day, after a long off-season of him being tied with the Babe. So, not a surprise.

[Old Sweater]

Were those viewing stats park adjusted?

[plask_stirlac]

(insert game show here, i.e. The Gong Show) from April 9, 1974 also trounced Barry's "rating"! Eegad! I'm sure that was a momentous episode, historic.

Face it, Barry could hold a press conference to confess, and it still wouldn't rate that well in the middle of an August weak, with race not as big a factor.

[plask_stirlac]

(insert game show here, i.e. The Gong Show) from April 9, 1974 also trounced Barry's "rating"! Eegad! I'm sure that was a momentous episode, historic.

Face it, Barry could hold a press conference to confess, and it still wouldn't rate that well in the middle of an August weak, with race not as big a factor.