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Barry Bonds has to be one of the most polarizing figures in all of sports. That makes for good sports talk radio ... as well as an extremely difficult task ensuring his safety at the ballpark. Over at ESPN.com, Wayne Drehs addressed the issues involved in protecting Bonds, describing some of the measures taken place at a recent Dodgers game:

Bonds' MLB-assigned security liaison stands in an aisle next to the Giants' dugout. In every Bonds' at-bat, the liaison, a former New York cop, stands with his back to the field, keeping a close eye on fans.

In the Dodgers' left field bullpen, two security guards stand by, in plain clothes, leaning on the bullpen door waiting to pounce on any fan looking for his place in history. In seemingly every lower-level aisle throughout the stadium, ushers survey the crowd looking for anything suspicious. And all throughout the stadium, LAPD officers lead teams of bomb sniffing dogs.

"We usually do this for high-profile games," one of the officers says. "And yes, any time Barry Bonds comes to town, it's a high-profile game. You don't want to be the city where something went wrong."

Drehs also spoke with Calvin Wardlaw, the man who protected Hank Aaron as he was marching toward Babe Ruth's record, about what it was like the night Aaron made history -- and it's shocking to hear about just how badly that iconic moment could have gone down had Wardlaw overreacted as two college kids ran onto the field to congratulate Aaron as he rounded third base.

Wardlaw, distracted by a giant hug Aaron's wife, Billye, was giving him at the time, didn't see the two men until they were next to Aaron.

"It was my fault," Wardlaw said. "My gut feeling was that they weren't threatening. But I still wish that had not happened. Over the years, a lot of guys have asked, 'Why didn't you shoot at them?' Well, about the worst thing I could have done is miss them with a .38 and shoot Hank. You're talking about going down in infamy. You're talking about taking one of the greatest moments in our sports history and turning it into a fiasco. And that's the last thing I wanted to do."

Um ... even if he didn't miss and actually managed to shoot one of the kids, it still would have ruined one of the greatest moments in sports history. Can you imagine the mass hysteria and confusion? I'm guessing the last thing on Aaron's mind at that point would be crossing home plate, so that home run might not have even counted. Talk about needing an asterix for the record books.

Previously on FanHouse:
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