SAN FRANCISCO -- Jerry Rose stabbed out his mitt and made the catch of a lifetime. Two innings later, the record-breaking ball he caught -- the 71st home run of the season for Barry Bonds -- had become old news.

Rose barely had time to cherish his haul when Bonds led off the third inning by launching his second homer off Dodgers starter Chan Ho Park. But stone-mitted fans in center field couldn't haul in that million-dollar gift from above, and it ricocheted back onto the field.

Bonds' 72nd home run ball, further distancing him from the record of 70 homers Mark McGwire set three seasons ago, made its way back to the Giants slugger in the dugout.

Rose, 49, a season-ticket holder and lifelong Giants fan, didn't seem to mind that his ball no longer was the record holder.

"We're just going to settle down, watch the game and hope for a Giants victory," Rose said after security guards whisked him to a secure room in Pacific Bell Park. He said he would keep the ball -- at least for now.

He certainly earned it.

Bonds hit a shot to the deepest part of the park, well above the 421-foot sign, to the right of where Rose stood. The ball would have banged off a brick facade, but Rose plucked it from the air and squeezed it in his mitt.

Fans pounded Rose in celebration. The scrum was so dense that major league baseball personnel couldn't reach him at first. A half-dozen San Francisco police officers had to force their way through and whisk away Rose and his wife.

One single-minded police officer, Maria Escobar, led the charge to extricate the night's luckiest fan from dozens of his newest friends.

"Major league baseball was trying to get him out and the crowd was surrounding him," Escobar said. "It was obvious they were not going to get him out without some assistance."

Two innings later, security guards watched in amazement as Bonds' second drive of the night plopped back onto the field toward Dodgers center fielder Marquis Grissom.

The home run barely cleared the wall where maybe a half-dozen fans elbowed, jostled and jumped for a chance to catch history.

"We had a big, mad rush for it," said San Francisco firefighter Steve Coffey, 47. "Probably all of us felt like we got a glove on it. It never hit the ground."

Until it landed on the warning track.

Those who watched the futile struggle heckled the group.

"Yeah, they all choked," taunted one security guard. "What you gonna tell your mother? 'I smelled the ball as it went by?' That's what you all get for being greedy."