Aaron Thinks Griffey Jr. Has Best Chance at His Record

Henry Aaron, a senior vice president with the Atlanta Braves, said the home run assault by Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa during the 1998 regular season was “a wonderful thing for baseball, one of the greatest things that happened this season. Fans love home runs.”

Aaron, baseball’s career home run leader with 755, visited the batting cage before Game 1 of the National League championship series between the Braves and San Diego Padres and said of the record 70 homers hit by McGwire: “If they keep hitting 70, they’re going to catch me in a hurry.” He said the player most likely to break his record is Ken Griffey Jr.

“I think the kid can do it if he stays focused and stays healthy,” Aaron said.

He added that expansion pitching obviously contributed to the home run barrage--”more teams means fewer pitchers,” he said--just as it did in 1961, when Roger Maris broke Babe Ruth’s record.

Asked his view on McGwire’s use of the supplement, androstenedione, Aaron laughed and said, “if they’d made it when I played, I probably would have used it. I don’t see anything wrong with it. He’s just a big strong guy like everybody else who plays the game today.”

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The Padres are the fourth team Kevin Brown has played with in the last five years. He hopes to find a permanent home as a free agent when the season ends.

Brown said Wednesday that “all things being equal,” he would like to remain in San Diego, but whether the Padres can meet his price if they have no assurance of improved revenue in a new stadium is uncertain.

“There’s no doubt that I’d like to find a place to settle down, and hopefully that will be the case after this year,” Brown said. “Wherever it might wind up being, I plan on being there for a while.”