Aaron encourages Bonds to shoot for record
By Mac Engel
Knight Ridder Newspapers
HOUSTON (KRT) — On a cool,
moonless night at The Ballpark in
Arlington this past winter, the
gray-haired teacher took aside his
eager pupil.
“Do anything you want to try to
break it,” the teacher instructed. “If
you break it, you have my blessing.”
The teacher was Hank Aaron.
The pupil was Barry Bonds.
“It” is the major-league record of
755 career home runs. “It” current
ly belongs to Aaron.
When Aaron retired in 1976, his
record was promptly put on the no
body’s-going-to-come-close mantle
alongside Ty Cobb’s 4,191 career
hits and Lou Gehrig’s 2,130 consec
utive games played.
Until Bonds.
While others such as Mark McG
wire flirted with the concept of
reaching 755, Bonds has been get
ting hot ’n’ heavy with it.
He has 130 home runs in his past
two-plus years, including the sin
gle-season record of 73 last season.
Everybody thinks Bonds has a shot
at 755. Everybody except Bonds.
“My time is done,” Bonds said. “I
have four or five years left and
that’s it. It’s not enough time for me,
and that’s just reality.”
Despite his own doubts, Bonds’
577 career home runs at age 38
make him baseball’s best immedi
ate chance to break Aaron’s record.
As the daily pressures and atten
tion grow, Aaron told Bonds to go
for it, but at the same time not to
imprison himself to the chase.
“I think Barry is the most remark
able offensive player that I have
ever seen,” Astros general manager
Gerry Hunsicker said. “I’ve seen
some of the greats like (Willie)
Mays, Aaron, (Stan) Musial, but
Barry ... he doesn’t seem to have a
weakness right now. To me, it’s just
how long he can stay mentally fo
cused without the pressure getting
to him.”
Coming off his rock-star-tour
2001 season, Bonds has displayed
no signs of mental fatigue. Through
Monday, he is batting .391 with 10
home runs and 19 runs batted in.
His start included four home
runs in his first two games. His sev
enth this season, career home run
No. 574, moved him past Harmon
Killebrew for sixth all-time. The
ridiculous start immediately had
talk-show hosts and ESPN’s
“SportsCenter” projecting when,
not if, Bonds would break
Aaron’s record.
“He really didn’t have a great
spring, but as soon as we got to a
big-league park, he just turned it
on,” Giants shortstop Rich Aurilia
said. “I guess he is the epitome of the
guy who can turn it on when he
wants to.”
©2002, Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services.
Women’s
continued from page 9
third NCAA Tournament of her ca
reer. She has a 1-2 career record in
the tournament, beating South
Florida’s Genevieve Houle her
freshman year.
The team, which has won six of
its past seven matches heading into
the tournament, has been stressing
doubles in practice.
“We are again changing things up
in our doubles lineup, trying to find
the right doubles teams,” Griffin
said. “We can’t continue to lose the
doubles point and expect to beat the
good teams.”
The No. 39 Ducks will face No. 18
UNLV in the first round in Los An
geles. USC is hosting the regional
and could face Oregon if both win
in the first round. But Oregon assis
tant coach Nils Schyllander said the
team needs to focus on beating the
Rebels.
“UNLV is a very good team, espe
cially at home,” Schyllander said.
“But fortunately we get them on
courts we know.”
UNLV head coach Kevin Cory is
a former Duck. Cory was a four
I
year letterman at Oregon, playing
No. 1 singles and doubles his sen
ior year. He graduated in 1990
with a bachelor’s degree in sports
management.
The former Roseburg High coach
led UNLV to a 20-3 overall record
this year, including 11 wins against
ranked opponents.
Even though this tournament is her
final chance to compete for the Ducks,
Ny land isn’t changing her goals.
“If we go out there and compete
hard, then the results are second
ary,” Nyland said. “But it would be
great to win and to get another shot
at USC.”
Ducks honored by Pac-10
Three Oregon tennis players, Ny
land plus Manuel Kost and Oded
Teig from the men’s team, were
named to the all-Pac-10 honorable
mention team Monday. The recog
nition is the first for each of the Ore
gon athletes.
Splitting time at the top two singles
spots, Kost, a freshman, and Teig, a
junior, led the Oregon men’s team to a
12-11 overall record this season.
Peter Martini is a freelance
reporterforthe Emerald.
Men’s
continued from page 9
events, but will only compete in one
race at the conference meet on May
18 in Pullman, Wash.
“It will depend on where I can
score the best,” Logsdon said.
That likely means the 5,000,
where Logsdon ranks eighth in the
conference after Friday’s perform
ance. He is ranked lower in the
1,500, and the Pac-10 is noted for its
strong runners in that event.
Logsdon is unsure of his status for
this weekend’s Twilight Meet at Hay
ward Field. He said he might not com
pete so he can focus on Pac-lOs.
Softball
continued from page 9
Nuveman was named Pac-10 Player
of the Week.
In the Bruins’ three games — one
against Oregon and two with Ore
gon State —Nuveman swatted for a
.571 batting average (4-for-7) with
one double, two home runs, five
walks and an on-base percentage of
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Air Jordan
Jordan Kent, the Ducks’ most
prized recruit for next season, is cur
rently making the high school kids
wish he was already at Oregon.
Jordan, the son of Duck basketball
coach Ernie Kent, is leading the Ore
gon high school ranks in four differ
ent events. He holds state records in
the 200 and long jump, and he’s work
ing on the 100 and the 400, the other
two events that he leads in Oregon.
Ironically, Kent will attend Ore
gon on a basketball scholarship. The
multi-sport star will play both
sports next season. But when Kent
returns to Hayward Field for the
state high school championships
.750. She has helped the Bruins to a
top national ranking, and continues
to help as they remain tied for first
in the conference.
Nuveman’s season totals now
stand at 17 home runs and 58 RBI
with a .555 average, a 1.066 slug
ging percentage and a .674 on
base percentage. Earning the Pitch
er of the Week honors in the Pac-10
was Arizona’s Jennie Finch, who
went 3-0 from April 29 to May 5
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biggest recruit doing his track thing.
In the polls
The Ducks are climbing the na
tional charts with strong individual
showings over the past few weeks.
Oregon jumped to ninth in the most
recent “power rankings” on
www.team-power.org, which ranks
the national teams based on this sea
son’s personal bests. The Ducks are
ranked 24 th by Track wire, which
uses methodology different from
team-power.org.
E-mail sports reporter Peter Hockaday
at peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com.
against No. 4 Arizona State, No. 5
California and No. 8 Stanford. The
6-foot senior, who was recently fea
tured in Sports Illustrated’s “Faces
in the Crowd,” ended the week with
a 0.67 ERA with 18 strike outs.
Finch is second in the conference
in strike outs with 293 and has
posted 17 shutouts this season.
E-mail sports reporter Chris Cabot
at chriscabot@dailyemerald.com.
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