Catch him if you can: will Hank Aaron's home run record ever be surpassed?(Brief Article)

ONLY A FEW DARE DREAM OF SURPASSING HANK AARON'S CAREER HOME RUN RECORD. THE LEADING candidates are Barry Bonds and Ken Griffey.

But time is already working against any heir apparent. The pressures that face modern-day challengers are in some ways even greater than those Aaron had to deal with. As his 23-year career wound down and Aaron approached Babe Ruth's mark, he had to battle racial bigotry and an ungrateful public. Aaron beat Ruth's unbeatable record of 714 on April 8, 1974, and wound up with 755 home runs but didn't really get proper recognition until about 10 years after he retired in 1976.

The problems for the new generation of sluggers are almost the opposite of what Aaron faced. Thanks to the revival of 1998--led by Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, who both broke Roger Maris's single-season homer record--there is now enormous attention and pressure focused on long-ball hitters.

Sluggers are being signed to massive contracts and being called The Franchise. With such windfalls, players don't have to play 20 years to amass financial fortunes. So would anyone hang around long enough to break the mark?

"They could catch it in a hurry if they continue to hit home runs the way they have the last five years--50, 60, 70, 73," said Aaron. "It's a new situation. With me, it was never a matter of money. Even with endorsements, I never made more than $500,000. Today's players are going to make so much money that they don't really need to stay around as long as I did. But I hope they do."

Among active players, Bonds leads with 567 home runs, and he has hit 34, 49, and 73 in the last three seasons. He's starting his 17th full season, and he'll turn 38 in July but still must produce 189 homers to break the mark. Bonds would have to average 48 homers per season over the next four years to surpass Aaron's record and would make him 42 years old--Ted Williams hit the most homers by a player 42 or older when he hit 29 in 1960.

Aaron thinks the guy with the best shot is Griffey, who is only 32 and in 13 seasons already has 460 home runs. If he averages 40 homers per year for the next seven seasons, he would be at 740 lifetime homers and the record could fall by the time Griffey reaches his 40th birthday.