Friday, April 5, 1973 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Nine FrdyAri , 93 H MCiGNDALMPgMNn Aaron clob ers record '714th CINCINNATI (1P)-Ageless Hank Aaron shed the ghost of Babe Ruth yesterday. "It's a load off my back," said the Atlanta Braves' slugger after tying baseball's most revered rec- ord by slamming his 714th home run in his first at-bat of 1974. The victim was Jack Billingham, who explained, "You don't make mistakes to Henry Aaron." But the Cincinnati Reds, the defending National League West champions, recouped after the epic shot and rallied to a 7-6 vic- tory in 11 innings. Pete Rose, who doubled home the tying run with two out in the ninth inning, doubled again with two out in the 11th and scored the winning run all the way from second base on Buzz Capra's wild pitch. Concealing the pressure of his long chase of Ruth's record, Aar said he'll show more emotion whe he claims the record-breakir 715th homer. "I'll probably run around ti bases backward," said the r served superstar. Catcher Johnny Bench said ti pitch Aaron hit was a fast ba outside. "It was cranksville," sa Bench. Rose, who watched the histori shot sail over his head in lef field, said: "I knew it was gone It made me mad. I didn't mini it being a homer, but you're al ways disappointed when it hap pens with men- on base. Bu Henry deserves it." Aaron certified the momento feat by going to the edge of ti stands to kiss his wife, Billye, h bride of five months. Sitting wi on her were Aaron's father and trailing at one point 6-1. en brother. "It's just another home run ng Vice President Gerald R. Ford now," Aaron said. "If we had saluted the homer, calling the won, I'd probably be over there he feat "a great day for you and a in our clubhouse drinking cham- e- great day for baseball." Ford pagne." then wished Aaron "good luck for Billingham, who, in a 1973 inter- he No. 715 and a good many more." view claimed he would never give ll, Aaron later grounded out to third Aaron the home run, no matter id base in the third inning and walk- what the score, described the his- ed in the fifth, later scoring on an toric pitch: C error. It was his 2,062nd career "I threw the ball and it didn't t run scored, tying him for third sink. It came into him over the . place on that all-time list with outside of the plate," said Billing- d Willie Mays. ham. I' The home run came in his "I had thrown him curves. The - 2,965th major league game. Ruth one fast ball I threw him up until t played 2,503 games in 22 years. then he took for a high strike," Aaron has had 2,890 more times the 31-year-old pitcher recounted. us at bat than Ruth. The Atlanta "He deserves it," Billingham he slugger has averaged 35.5 homers continued. "He's the greatest I've is a year for 20 seasons. Ruth fin- ever seen. It's unfortunate he hit th ( ished with a 32.4 average. . it against me." "Tying the record is great, but AAron's 714th home, run vas for- breaking it is another thing," mally recognized in the U.S. Sen- Aaron said. ate yesterday with a resolution of Aaron's homer staked Braves' congratulations. bi starter Carl Morton to a 3-0 lead. In the House, the announcement o His last three 1973 homers also was greeted by a standing ovation. o came in games Morton pitched. The resolution, adopted unani- 0 The soft-spoken Mobile, Ala., mously and by voice vote, extend- 0 native talked of the initial excite- ed congratulations for tying Ruth's 0 ment, but said it was dulled con- record and said Aaron had brought 4 siderably when the Reds staged a "great honor to his team, his race, 0 comeback for a 776 victory after ; and himself." 0 .. ____ 0 1 0 0 0 Q ,..1... .. . 0 0 6 Rewriting the record book ATLANTA Garr rf Lum lb Evans 3b Aaron If Office of Murrell ph Tepedino lb Baker of DaJohnson 2b Oates c C Robinson ss Morton p P Niekro p House p Aker p N Miller ph Capra p Total ab 4 5 4 3 0 0 5 3 4 5 3 0 1 0 38 h bi 0 01 3 0 1 0 1 31 0 0l 0 01 0 01 0 0 0 0 0 0, 0 0lI 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; 6 3 CINCINNATI Rose If Morgan 2b Driessen 3b. Gagliano ph Hall p Carroll p Geronimo T Perez lb Bench c Griffey rf Rettenmd cf Concepen ss Billinghm p Kosco ph Nelson p Crowley ph Foster ph Foster ph Chaney 3b Total ab r 5 3 4 0 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 1 5 0 4 0 5 0 5 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 I10 42 7 h1 3 2 2 0 0 d 0 2 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 13 Two out when winning run scored.{ Atlanta 300 120 000 00-6 Cincinnati 100 010 031 01-7 E-Driessen. DP-Atlanta 3, Cincin- nati 1. LOB-Atlanta 6, Cincinnati 8. 2B-Driessen, Concepcion, Rose 2. HR-- -Aaron (1), Concepcion (1), T. Perez (1). SB-Morgan. S-Oates, Evans. WALLABEEO AP Photo HIENRY AARON TRIUMPHANTLY APPROACHES home plate, his jubliant teammates and a respectful Johnny Bench after crashing home run number 714 yesterday afternoon in Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium to tie the immortal Babe Ruth's home run record. The his- toric shot came on the first at-bat in the first inning of the new baseball season for the Braves slugger and sent the sellout crowd into thunderous approval.'Aaron's homer off veteran right-hander Jack Billingham cleared the left field fence about 380 feet from home plate and was retrieved by a Cincinnati policeman on special duty for the purpose of retrieving the ball. The Braves' management announced that the ball and bat were locked up at once. Aaron's whacking of the three and one fastball served up by Billingham stak- ed Atlanta to a 3-0 lead but the Reds later rallied behind the bat of Pete Rose to edge the Braves, 7-6 in 11 innings. Morton P. Niekro House Aker Capra (L,0-1) Bellingham Nelson Borbon - Hall Carroll rw.J-01 IP H RERBB 7 8 3 3 2 1% 4 3 3 1 0 0 0 0 1 11,3j 0 0 0 0 j 1 1 1 1 5 5 6 4 4 2 0 0 0 0 2 000 0 1 1 0 0 0 1% 0 0 0 1 sO 6 2 0 3 1 3 1 1 0 1 -- OPENING TWINBILL TODAY W -Capra. PB-B-encn. 52,154. °i--x:0 3. A-"- 0 )IMICh By FRED UPTON "Play ball" will be heard once again in Ray Fisher Stadium to- day when the Michigan Wol- verines take on the University of Detroit for a doubleheader at two pii.m Both teams are inexperienced and .will show quite a few new faces. Titan coach Bob Miller lost his top three hitters to graduation and all three' will be replaced by excellent freshmen prospects. First baseman Gar Frantz was 7 for 17 in their trip down south during vacation. Two new out- fielders will, begin new careers also. Mike Yourchock is in right field and Steve Friedman is in left. Yourchock also had a good southern hitting streak, going 7 for 12, POTENTIALLY the Detroiters look good for tlhe future, if not now. Last year they were 26-17 and the nucleus is very young. Sophomores occupy third and short with only one senior start- ing. During their spring trip the Titans were 3-2 and the infield. committed only two errors. igan "Yes, I'd have to say th, infield is as good as I eve here," said an enthusiastic ler. "Potentially within the year or so we could be strong. We're exciting bt experienced." Don't start feeling sor the inexperience of U ofI Today's lineup for Michiga contain three freshmena completely new infield fror of last year. MICHIGAN COACH Moby dict said, "Six out of the starters are new. If that inexperience, I don't know is." faces Two members of last year's team would be back if they hadn't been drawn away by the pros. But one has to look ahead to the future and the future looks like this for the infield lineup today: Senior Pete Ross (former pitcher) at first, sophomore Dick Walterhouse at second, freshman Ed Clegg at third, and senior infield leader Chris Burak at short. The outfield for Michigan will sports. NIGHT EDITOR: BILL STIEG be composed of Midlandite fresh- man Mark Grenkowski, sopho- more Dan Damiani, and senior Mike DeCou. Gregg Buss, a familiar name to Michigan basketball and baseball fans won't crack the starting lineup because of two knee opera- tions, one to each knee. "Such a hard working kid," Benedict says. "If you want to see same- one succeed, it's Gregg Buss. He has super effort." THE STARTING pitchers for Michigan will probably be south- paw Art "Ace" Adams and righty Chuck Rodgers. They will oppose lefty Pete Kraeher and righty Tony Kaseta. None of the Michigan starters went the full seven innings during the Florida trio and thus the bullpen should be prepared. "I don't know who's good in the bullpen yet. Everyone likes to start," said Benedict. Ross was the main relief man last year but is at first now. It will be interesting to see whether Ross will resume his former role. Behind the plate for the Maize and Blue will be senior John Lon- char. "You won't find a better college catcher," are all the words that Benedict needs to describe this man. "We're an w-fully good defensive ball club when Lonchar is catching." The back up catcher is a fresh- man, Ted Mahan. He'll be the DH for the club and has a great swing. He could catch some to- day with Lonchar moving to first, especially if Pete Ross is. needed in relief. Yesterday in practice the team spent most of the day working on the double-play combination, relays and cutoffs. "OUR DOUBLE-PLAY is en- couraging. We spent a lot of time getting the footwork down. E1en more mistakes are made in relays and cutoffs and base running. We have to work and work and work on these aspects," commented Benedict. Miller said that the Wolverines have "as good a pitching staff as any" and went on to predict the title for Benedict. But the saying goes, "You play one game at a time" and there's two today against Detroit, and two again tomorrow against Eastern. "Pray for good weath- er," said Benedict. ... makesV concrete feel like grass Gymnasts off to- slow start at NCAA meet at University Park SHOW TIMES Mon.-Sat., 7:15 & 9:00 Sun., 5:30, 7:15, 9:00 it L Y 1 1 SCORES I NATIONAL LEAGUE Cincinnati 7 Atlanta 6 AMERICAN LEAGUE Oakland 7, Texas 2 * ABA PLAYOFFS Indiana 91, San Antonio 89 Virginia 116, New York 115 NIIL Philadelphia 4, N.Y. Islanders 0 Pittsburgh 4, Buffalo 2 4444 The very new look in shoe fashions this season is the crepe sole look . . . and Bass has captured this look beautifully in a whole new collection of styles with rich, thick Squee-gee soles. The look is fashion . . . but the genuine leather uppers and "Down-Maine" craftsmanship tell you these shoes give good, honest wear and value. special To The Daily The Michigpn gvmnasts, riddled by inj'iries, got off to an extreme- v s5 rst'rts in vps*°r 's onen- irng of the TXvid rn'vzrdNCA A (Thm- nastics f'hgmnionshinG at Penn State ?nd -s a result found them- selves.. saddled in seventh place out of the eight competing schools. After compIetion of vesterday's Comvnlsorv session Iowa State held the lead with a score of 160.45 followed by California with a 159.20 mark. The Wolverine gumnasts compiled a weak 152.15 score. The Maize and Blue tumblers failed to score higher than 24.7 in each of the first three events and the slow start put the Wolverines behind the eight ball from the on- set. "Our sidehorse re-lly killed us," lamented Coach Newt Loken. "We didn't do to well in any of the first three events but we did improve in the final three." "You have to be in the 26 scoring range in order to score well, especially with this type of comnetition," emohasized Loken. "All eight schools are in there reasoniably close so we're hop- ng to improve our position to- morrow." Though the Michigan team per- formance wasn't very bright, there were a few outstanding in-x dividual efforts. Richard Bigras' score of 9.05 in the vaulting ex- ercise was good enough for a sixth place rating, while both C'arev Culbertson and Bob Dar- den finished near the top in the high bar. The Wolverine gymnasts were selected as an at-large represent- ative for the NCAA Meet when Western Independent Champion Air Force failed to score the necessary minimum of 300 points. Injuries to such key perform- ers as Captain Monty Falb and J. P. Bouchard plus the air of 'incertainty that clouded the Volvwrine practice sessions for the last month 9ire factors work- ing ainst Loken's auna.hbt E MMMMMOOR Watch University of Michigan's best pool players compete for places on the team to play MICHIGAN STATE. Men's and Women's competition at THE MICHIGAN UNION BILLIARD ROOM * - ATTENTION PN ng Clerical, Technicals, Ll U of M AFSCME Steering Committee meeti I %LEEhAV A....:1 0 9 l -....I ii I