The Quest for No. 715

Who is the alltime major league leader in runs batted in? The No. 1 hitter in total bases? Who has hit for 300 or more total bases, played in 150 or more games, scored 100 or more runs or slugged 30 or more home runs in more seasons than any player in the history of baseball?

Even that inveterate worshiper of statistics, the classic baseball nut, might not recall that all those records are held by the same man: Henry Aaron of the Atlanta Braves. But this season no fan needs a record book to realize that Hammerin' Hank is threatening to break the most glamorous mark in sports, the 714 home runs hit by Babe Ruth.

Live Ball. Some stat-happy fans feel that Aaron's assault on Ruth's monument somehow belittles baseball's most legendary figure. They point out that Aaron, in his 19th season, has gone to the plate 2,700 more times than Ruth and is hitting a livelier ball. Aaron's supporters counter with the argument that Ruth never had to cope with the hitting problems created by such modern phenomena as night games and jet lag.

"I'm not trying to make anyone forget the Babe," pleads Henry, "but only to remember Aaron."

In spring training Aaron was ready to forget all talk of his hitting the 42 home runs it would take to break Ruth's record this season. Now 39, he claimed that he was less able to handle the "hard stuff," the 90-m.p.h. screamers that are thrown by fastball pitchers. Though the sources of his power--a rippling physique (6 ft., 190 Ibs.) and thick, whippy wrists that are bigger (8 in. around) than Muhammad Ali's--seem as sound as ever, he has been conserving himself by sitting out the second half of doubleheaders and avoiding afternoon games when he has played the night before.

Nonetheless, with half the season still before him, Aaron has already clouted 20 home runs. That remarkably strong pace, if continued, will put him within striking distance of Ruth's mark by mid-September.

The prospect is already causing the kind of excitement that followed Roger Maris in 1961 when the Yankee star was on the verge of breaking Ruth's record of 60 homers in a single season.

Aware that the pressure gave Maris a nervous condition that caused some of his hair to fall out, Aaron is trying to play it cool. It is not easy for a man who is known as one of the most accessible and accommodating stars in the game.

Hounded by newsmen and autograph seekers wherever he goes, he has taken to holing up in his hotel room on road trips. At home, he avoids the crowds by parking his car in the stadium tunnel instead of the players' parking lot.

During one game earlier this season the racial baiting by a few Atlanta fans was so bad that Aaron shouted back: "I'm coming up there to kick your butt in if you don't shut your rotten mouth." Though the worst of his hate mail is kept from him, the black outfielder is aware of the resentment against him for "infringing on a white man's record." Says he: "What am I supposed to do? Stop trying to hit home runs?"

Support Song. Not if the vast majority of baseball fans have anything to say about it. In recent weeks, Aaron has received more than 20,000 letters of support, and his very appearance at the plate is enough to bring a standing ovation from the fans of opposing teams. "If you fall behind 2 and 0 or 3 and 0 with Aaron," complains Los Angeles Dodger Pitcher Claude Osteen, "you begin hearing the boos from your own fans. They think you're trying to walk him when they've come to see him hit a home run." In Detroit there is a popular new recording, Move Over, Babe: "Move over, Babe, here comes Henry/ And he's swinging mean./ Move over, Babe, Hank's hit another,/ He'll break that 714."

Aaron is, in fact, being offered more assistance than Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn thinks is proper. The commissioner became loudly indignant when five National League pitchers said in an interview that they would be happy to enter the record books with Aaron by "grooving" the history-making pitch. Aaron is not looking for charity; what he wants is understanding. He is concerned about "pressure from the stands," from the fans "who expect me to hit a home run every time I come to bat. I wish they would understand that

I'm not always thinking 'home run,' that I'm concentrating on getting a hit, trying to win the game." Besides, he adds, "I've found that the home runs come when you don't go for them."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.