Thursday. April 22. 1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section B·Page 5
Major League Baseball
Baseball icon Hank Aaron enjoys place in history
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — With the death last month of Joe DiMaggio, a recent poll chose Willie Mays as the greatest living ball player. Hank Aaron, who hit almost 400 more home runs than DiMaggio and 95 more than Mays, has no problem with that.
"They voted DiMaggio the greatest," Aaron said. "That's fine, Now it's Willie, That's fine, too."
That's Aaron's style. He is at peace with himself, content that his performance, including the record 755 home runs and the record 2,297 RBI, speaks for itself.
He never had more than 47 home runs in a season, almost ordinary compared to Mark McGwire's 70 and Sammy Sosa's 66 last summer. But he reached 40 homers eight times and was in the 30s seven times.
He never drove in more than 132 runs in a season, far from Hack Wilson's record 190 and Lou Gehrig's 184. But he had 11 seasons of 100 RBI.
"They voted DiMaggio the greatest. That's fine. Now it's Willie. That's fine too."
"I did what I did," Aaron said.
"What I loved about what I did
Hank Aaron
Baseball Hall of Famer
was the consistency."
And consistency, he said, is what it will take to break the home-run mark, celebrated more now than it ever was 25 years ago, when he broke Babe Ruth's mark of 714.
Aaron has become a hot item.
There's a new award carrying his name that will go to baseball's best hitter and a slick new photo book published by Total Sports reflecting his life and achievements.
Maybe it was the McGwireSosa home run chase that reminded fans about the exclamation point a home run provides. Aaron was the No. 1 practitioner of baseball's slam dunk. It stands alone as baseball's most glamorous record, eloquent testimony to a career of year-in, year-out excellence.
Unlike the McGwire-Sosa chase to break Roger Maris' record of 61 home runs, there was no festive side to Aaron's pursuit of the home run record. His run at Ruth was tinged with ugly racial overtones and, in the end, it was less celebrated than it was acknowledged.
Number 715 was accompanied by relief rather than joy about the achievement. The scars of that time are buried in the deepest part of his psyche now, overshadowed by the good times he now enjoys
Still, though, he remembers.
"McGwire, every time he hit a homer, he raised his son," he said, recalling the home plate greeting that became a ritual between father and son. "I was unable to do that. If I had, how wonderful it would have been."
Former groundskeeper sells Aaron's final home-run ball
MILWAUKEE — The final home-run baseball hit by Hank Aaron has earned $650,000, most of it for a former Milwaukee County Stadium groundskeeper who recovered the ball in the stands.
The Associated Press
Guernsey's, a New York auction house that arranged the sale, declined Tuesday to identify the buyer.
Andrew J. Knuth, who runs an investment company in Westport, Conn., refused comment on reports that he was the purchaser, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said.
Richard Arndt, 52, now a furniture salesman in Albuquerque, N.M., worked at the stadium July 20, 1976, when Aaron hit his final career homer, his 755th.
Arndt said he offered to give the ball to Aaron, but the Milwaukee Brewers never arranged a meeting, firing him instead for not
surrendering the ball to the team.
Aaron autographed the ball at a collector's show a few years ago, unaware of what it was. He has tried twice to buy the ball from Arndt, who said he decided last fall to auction it after the Brewers declined to buy it.
Arndt gets $461,700 from the Guernsey's sale. In keeping with a promise to Aaron, $155,800 goes to Chasing the Dream Foundation, an Atlanta group that helps underprivileged children. Guernsey's keeps the balance as a commission.
A ceremony marking the anniversary of the home run is planned for July 20 in Milwaukee County Stadium.
Brewers spokesman Laurel Prieb said Aaron planned to attend.
Arndt's agent, Tim Sullivan, said the ball may be displayed at the ballpark, but Prieb said the team had not discussed it.
Mantle's widow claims baseball up for auction simply a fake
The Associated Press.
HOUSTON — It might be the ball that Mickey Mantle hit out of the park for his 500th home run. Mantle's widow, however, says the ball is a fake.
There's a lot of money riding on the outcome.
Appraisers in the room believed the momentum that started with the sale of McGwire's ball could help push the price of the Mantle ball as high as $250,000, the Texas Journal of the Wall Street Journal reported in yesterday's editions.
The baseball in question was about to be auctioned last January at Guernsey's auction house in New York. Just minutes before, Mark McGwire's record-setting 70th home run ball from last season sold for $3 million.
Then the telephone at Guernsey's rang.
It was Merlyn Mantle, the Yankee great's widow, who told the auctioneer that the ball on the block was a phony; that she had the real 500th homer souvenir in her Dallas home.
Guernsey's officials pulled the ball off the auction. Ever since, its owner, Dale Cicero, a firefighter from Bend, Ore., has been crusing to convince collectors he's got the genuine article. And he is hinting at suing Mrs. Mantle for interfering with the auction.
Cicero and Mrs. Mantle agree that the slugger turned over the 500th homer ball to close friend and one-time business partner Harold Youngman of Baxter Springs, Kan., shortly after the fan who caught the ball returned it to him.
Mrs. Mantle said her husband later took the ball back and gave it to her. But Cicero said Youngman, who died in 1990, gave the ball to a baseball museum, which displayed it with other Mantle memorabilia. He said he bought it three years ago — for $24,200 — from the collector who bought it from the museum in 1995
Mrs. Mantle said she plans to put her ball in a museum she's helping build near Grove, Okla.
"I really resent having to prove I've got the ball. I was married to Mick for 43 years," she said."
Even the cows are coming home
Farmer's Ball We're cultivating local music
Battle of the Bands starts each night at 10pm @ The Bottleneck
The last band left standing Saturday night gets free recording time & to play Day on the Hill
Palindromes
Starsky
Filthy Jim Bandit Teeth
Competing Thurs., the 22nd:
Compening Thurs.
Coach Mack
Electron Volts
Klee Young Bovine Domesticus
Brought to you by:
Final Battle Saturday April 24th $5 at door
Sometimes nothing catches their attention
z'gwon,th
AMY331-2420
Use white space to your advantage when designing your ad, it's an attention getter.
Kansan
KU Jewish Students
adventure hikes
touring
the jerusalem fellowships
Internship for Leaders
politics
Israel
4 Weeks this Summer in
for as low as $299*
*including airfare from NYC
10-Day MBA Leadership Mission
Judaism
Summer Break Program
www.jerusalemfellowships.org 1-800-FELLOWS
leadership
a project of Aish HaTorah and the Robert M. Beren Foundation
---
The Internet Is The Fastest Growing Mass Medium...
864-4358, www.kansan.com
... so you know that you really get a deal when you place an ad in the Kansan Classifieds. They go on our website absolutely free!
MUSIC FEST at CLINTON STATE PARK
CAMPGROUND 2 • LAWRENCE, KANSAS
MAY 7th FEATURING: OMINOUS SEAPODS
TRUCKER * COYOTE PROJECT * SPACE POCKET
LONESOME HOUNDOGS * THE DEAL
GATES OPEN AT 1:00 PM
MAY 8th FEATURING: JESSE JACKSON 5
DARRELL LEA * MARIA ANTHONY * RICK FRYDMAN
UNCLE DIRTYTOES * B-GROOVE * BILLY EBELING
SECONDHANDS * CHILL FACTOR * SUGA DADDIES
COMMON GROUND * THE BAND that SAVED THE WORLD
GATES OPEN AT 10:00 AM
TICKET OUTLETS:
ALLEY CAT RECORDS
CRISTOPHER LANE
THE BINE SHOP
BROWN BEAR BREWERY
MAGNETIC MUSIC
THE PHIL ZONE
PREMIER VIEW
GIRLMILL VIDEO
GIRLMILL LAWRENCE & TOPEA
ILLUSIONS IN TOPEKA
ILLUSIONS IN TOPEKA
TICKETS
$12.75 ADVANCE
$15.00 DAY OF SHOW
PARKING $6.00
CAMPING IS INCLUDED
FOOD, DRINKS AND ALCOHOL
INFORMATION
NO ALCOHOL IS ALLOWED IN THE STATE PARK.
New!
New!
Baile Caliente
@n Fridays
SATURDAYS
1.50 DRINK SPECIALS
Fridays Ladies Night ladies get in FREE ! 2 for 1 MARGARITAS
LAWRENCE'S PREMIER NIGHT CLUB!
729 NEW HAMPSHIRE 838-4623