MONDAY,SEPT.17.2001
SPORTS
Bonds still eyeing 71 homers
Sportswriters spar on his abilities to top record
By Ryan Greene Kansan sportswriter
Barry Bonds' chase toward a record 71 home runs has been put on hold since last Tuesday's terrorist attacks, and KU students and nationally recognized sportswriters have varied opinions on how the baseball season's pause will affect Bonds' season home run total.
Bonds' momentum was at an all-time high after belting three home runs in Colorado on Sept. 9, two days before the attacks.
That raised his season total to 63, giving him the all-time record for home runs hit in a single season by a left-handed batter.
After the attacks, all major league games were suspended through yesterday. All missed games will be made up at the end of the season.
Bonds now has gone a week without swinging at a pitch in a game, and opinions are divided on whether he can pound out eight home runs in his final 18 games to surpass Mark McGwire's record home run total of 70 in 1998.
Wes Talbott, Charlottesville, Va., sophomore, is a lifelong Giants fan who has followed Bonds' career since he joined the Giants. Talbott said the interruption of the season could hinder Bonds' home-run chase.
"I think that the tragedy will serve as a distraction for him," Talbott said. "It will be harder for him to get his mind on what he
Talbott has followed Bonds game by game this season. He said that based on what Bonds had done, Bonds was the greatest home run hitter of all time.
has to do with everything going on, but I still think he has a good chance of getting to the record."
Tom Tonkin, Carbondale, Pa. sophomore, said he did not think the tragedy would take a toll on Bonds.
"It could emotionally, but as long as the pitchers pitch to him, he'll hit 71 easily," Tonkin said. "He won't be affected physically, based on the fact that he had a week off, and that could actually wind up helping him."
Both students predicted that Bonds would finish the season with 72 home runs.
Dan Brown has seen firsthand the effect that the national tragedy has had on Bonds. Brown is the San Francisco Giants beat writer for The San Jose Mercury News. The one-week layoff may prove to have broken Bonds' concentration, Brown said.
"The game he had before the cancellation, at Colorado, was where he hit three home runs," Brown said. "His momentum was at a season high, and there obviously won't be that momentum when play continues."
"On the other hand, he is 37 years old, and his body gets some time off and time to rest."
Brown said he talked to Bonds on Thursday, and he seemed genuinely distraught.
"He said he doesn't care about the home run chase, and in light of this, in his feelings, it doesn't matter at all."
Brown said he didn't want to
predict Bonds' final home run count.
"I realized that it's impossible to predict. I originally predicted 65 back in May, but now he's at 63, and now I won't even bother to guess."
"You keep thinking he can't do it, and he does. There's no way I would have thought he'd have 63 by Sept. 9," Brown said.
John Shea, baseball beat writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, sees Bonds' opportunity at the home run record as a possible morale boost for America.
"He says it's no longer important, however he's been saying the same thing in June and July," Shea said. "He's devastated by the news. I assume once the games play and focus shifts from disaster to entertainment, maybe it will be seen as a rally cry and draw some attention to a man who can make baseball history.
"This will give America something to focus on, and along with the community here in Northern California, more people around the country who maybe weren't in his corner before will start to pull for him now."
Shea said he thought Bonds could hit 71 home runs if his mind was focused. Pitchers are going to pitch to Bonds now instead of putting him on base with an intentional walk, Shea said.
Statistically, Bonds' 2001 campaign has the makings of one that could go down in history.
Until play was halted Tuesday, Bonds had hit 63 home runs, recorded 121 RBIs and drawn
"[Bonds] says it's no longer important, however he's been saying the same thing in June and July. He's devastated by the news. I assume once the games play and focus shifts from disaster to entertainment, maybe it will be seen as a rally cry and draw some attention to a man who can make baseball history." John Shea San Francisco Chronicle baseball writer
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 3B
149 walks through 135 games played.
If Bonds keeps the pace he has set so far this season, he will finish with 71 home runs and draw more walks this season than Mark McGwire did in his historic 70-home-run 1998 campaign.
Contact Greene at 864-4810
Baseball stars return to field after attacks
Rescue workers sleep near Shea Stadium, owners donate cash
A large American flag hung outside Bobby Valentine's door and little flags lined the dugout railing.
The Associated Press
NEW YORK - Edgardo Alfonzo carried cardboard boxes to be filled with relief supplies.
John Franco spoke quietly about his son's Little League coach, a New York City firefighter who was still missing.
But reminders of last Tuesday's terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center were everywhere. Firefighters were sleeping in the ballpark, and rescue workers continued to use the parking lot as a staging area.
Back home at Shea Stadium, where the twin towers used to be visible from the upper walkways, the New York Mets did their best to get back to baseball with a light workout Saturday.
"There's not one person in this organization that hasn't been affected by this on a personal level," Mets catcher Mike Piazza said. "This at least gives us a chance to take our minds off the depression. We have to find
some way to move on."
All around the majors, teams returned to the field fully aware that baseball was still an afterthought in America.
At Yankee Stadium, players kneeled around the pitcher's mound, heads bowed for a moment of silence.
Owner George Steinbrenner donated $1 million on behalf of the team to the Twin Towers Foundation, and the club donated its tarp, which was being used as a covering near the wreckage.
Outside Turner Field, the sign that usually lists Atlanta's next opponent read: "God Bless America."
"We realize it's our job. We'll do our part, however small, to let people enjoy us playing baseball," Texas pitcher Rick Helling said. "Hopefully, we can do a small part to make this situation better."
The Cleveland Indians and St. Louis Cardinals played intrasquid games and several other teams held workouts.
Games will resume today, with American flags replacing the major league logo on base.
balls.
Outside Shea Stadium, dozens of police officers, firefighters and volunteers scurried around the parking lot to collect donated supplies that were then loaded onto trucks and vans to be carried into Manhattan for rescue workers.
Many Mets players and coaches pitched in following their workout. Co-owners Fred Wilpon and Nelson Doubleday, in a rare public appearance together, said they would donate $1 million to the relief effort.
Piazza, Al Leiter, Robin Ventura and Todd Zeile planned to take a bus to New York University Medical Center after the one-hour workout to drop off more supplies.
Inside, the Mets took batting practice and talked quietly about the terror that hit so close to home. As they did, line drives off Piazza's bat echoed throughout the empty ballpark.
Volunteer firefighters from Ohio, who have been sleeping in the tunnel behind Gate D at Shea Stadium, watched the workout from the stands.
Once the Mets saw them, they quickly were brought down to the field to stand around the batting cage.
They were greeted with gratitude by Valentine, Piazza, Leiter, Franco and other players.
"Thank you for letting us stay in your house," one firefighter said to Valentine.
"We appreciate all that you do." Valentine said.
Leiter's Landing, the pitcher's charity, donated blankets that those same firefighters used to stay warm Friday night.
"Everybody has been great to us," said firefighter Brand Eisenhard of Berea, Ohio. "After digging in the rubble, to come out here and see sunshine and grass and get back to some kind of normalcy, it's a nice escape."
The Mets plan to fly to their road destinations the remainder of this season, but most players did not seem too concerned.
"This is forever burned in our history," Piazza said. "To go through so much pain is going to be a true test of this country's resolve."
Piazza said he walked around Union Square, not far north of the attack site, on Friday night and was moved by the all the tributes and candeliight vigils.
"At least for us to get out here and get back to what our job is, that's what a lot of people all over the city are doing." Piazza said. "We have to find a way to continue to support what life in America is all about, and that's freedom."
Kansas club rugby team crushes Harlequins, wins two of three games at Wichita tourney
Jayhawks fall short against Barbarians beat CMSU Mules
While other Kansas sports teams took the weekend off, the Kansas men's rugby club team took to the field and won two of three games in a Wichita tournament for club and collegiate teams Saturday.
By Jay Krail
Kansan sports editor
In the first game, the team issued a 60-0 lashing to the Harlequins, an improvised squad made up of players from other participating teams. Oliver Parkinson, Prairie Village senior, contributed three five-point scores for Kansas, adding six point-after conversions and one
drop goal. Mark Houston,
Lawrence sophomore, Matt
Kenney, Lawrence junior, Kyle
Ricketts, Olathe junior, and
Brent Zluticky, Haysville senior,
each scored, and Matt Kregel,
Whitefish Bay, Wise., freshman,
scored on each of two tries.
After falling behind the Wichita Barbarians 24-5 in the first half of game two, Kansas battled back to within one score of a win but lost, 31-26. Kansas scored four times in the first 10 minutes of the second half.
Team member Matt Drogo, Olathe junior, said he thought Kansas could have mounted a comeback against the Barbarians had the match been regulation length. A normal rugby match consists of two 40-minute halves, but those were reduced to 20 minutes each to allow more
"We were extremely pleased with our play, considering the level of competition," Drogo said.
In their final game yesterday, Kansas topped Central Missouri State 29-0. Schmidt scored twice and Will Lenz, Gurnee, Ill. junior, Dirk Liebert, Kansas City sophomore and Schmidt each added one score. Parkinson knocked in one score and two point-after conversions.
Zach Cox, Sedgwick senior,
Jeff Schmidt Topeka graduate
student, Danny Kerr, Leawood
sophomore, and Parkinson each
scored once in that game.
games to be played.
Lenz said that several members of the acclaimed Kansas City Blues club team stepped in for the CMSU Mules after the team's players came out with
"People were coming out with twisting ankles, bumps on the head."
Will Lenz Gurnee, Ill. junior
injuries.
"It was a pretty rough game," Lenz said. "People were coming out with twisting ankles, bumps on the head."
The team's first home game is set for Saturday, Sept. 29 against Oklahoma State.
Contact Krall at 864-4810.
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