The Sacramento Bee from Sacramento, California • 40

C4 Sunday December 12 1999 BASEBALL The Sacramento Bee Babe Ruth edges Mays Aaron as the best By Ronald Blum Associated Press Babe Ruth towered over baseball when he played He is still casting his shadow in the voting for player of the century Ruth an American hero when he led the New York Yankees to greatness in the 1920s and was the overwhelming choice as the top baseball player in voting by a six-member panel of experts assembled by The Associated Press Ruth received five of six first-place votes getting 59 of a possible 60 points Willie Mays was second with 53 points getting one first four seconds and one fourth Ruth played his last game in 1935 and none of the panelists ever saw his feats Mays according to nearly all was the greatest player they ever saw He was picked first by one panelist second by four others and fourth by one was very fortunate to understand the game at a veiy early Mays said earlier this year as the various all-century votes began father would often talk to me about baseball but I learned the game on my own by playing with older In 1969 when Mays was still active Joe DiMaggio was selected greatest living player in voting conducted for the 100th anniversary of professional baseball By the time he finished in 1973 Mays surpassed Joe in the view of baseball experts Like Ruth the Hey won one batting title and he led the National League in home runs four times Yet when he started his career in 1951 he went hitless in his first three games and got just one hit in his first 26 at-bats I was in the clubhouse Mays recalled wanted to go back to Minneapolis Leo (Durocher manager) came in He said worry my center fielder You just go out and get the ball hit for And that he did His 660 homers trail only Hank Aaron (755) and Ruth (714) Ruth is No 1 but not just for stats alone The of has maintained his larger-than-life image in the half-century following his death in 1948 even though his single-season home-run record (60) was broken by Roger Maris in 1961 and his career mark was surpassed by Aaron in 1974 Ruth is still second on the career homer list and led or tied for the American League lead in home runs 11 times According to many his exploits restored image following the 1919 World Series in which eight members of the Chicago White Sox were accused of accepting bribes to throw games Aaron was third in the voting with 38 points followed by Ted Williams (33) Ty Cobb (26) DiMaggio (24) Walter Johnson (22) Lou Gehrig (16) Jackie Robinson (15) and Honus Wagner (11) think of home Aaron said earlier this year think of other things My stealing percentage was very good I was able to field with anybody Not one time did I strike out 100 times in season required to hit 40 or 45 homers If I made contact I had a good chance of getting a base hit or hitting it out of the The AP panel included Hall of Famer Joe Morgan retired baseball writers Jerome Holtzman and Leonard Koppett Gene Orza the No 2 official of the association and Seymour Siwoff the president of the Elias Sports Bureau statistician to the National League since 1922 and the American League since 1987 Morgan was the only panelist rating Mays over Ruth picking Aaron third and Williams fourth Reds stop trade talks for Griffey ByJimVanVliet Bee Staff Writer ANAHEIM The Ken Griffey Jr Sweepstakes the most-discussed subject at this Baseball Winter Meetings took a twist Saturday when the Cincinnati Reds abruptly dropped out of the running At a much-anticipated news conference instead of announcing a trade Reds general manager Jim Bow-den said broken off BASEBALL talks with the Seattle Mar- iners Meetings Notes 1After five weeks of not making a bit of progress we decided we were wasting our Bowden said decided not to put all of our eggs in one In addition to the size of contract Griffey will command when he becomes a free agent after the 2000 season the Mariners apparently demanded second baseman Pokey Reese as part of any trade package Giants manager Dusty Baker sad after the announcement worry about him going to St Baker said is already Mets pick up Zeile Moving quickly to fill their hole at first base following John departure New York agreed to an $18 million three-year contract with Todd Zeile Earlier in the day the Texas Rangers thought they had re-signed Zeile before the 34-year-old veteran changed his mind Here's your pitcher The hit town hoping to shop inconsistent pitcher Jimmy Haynes who slumped to 7-12 last year with a 634 ERA has said Mike DePodesta the assistant general manager is a lack of affordable pitchers out there and been a competitive major-league Et cetera Doug Greenwald son of former Giants announcer Hank Greenwald has left the Mudville Nine (formerly the Stockton Ports) for a marketing and announcing job with the Double-A Shreveport Captains California League was a good experience for he said this was a chance to join the Giants organization I pass that The Sacramento River Cats have been busy In addition to attending seminars and league meetings all weekend they interviewed three finalists for their radio play-by-play job believe River Cats executive Bob Hemond said got over 150 audition Only problem now: They still have a radio contract with a local station Fun: Too much may not be good Continued from page Cl a minor-league baseball game sometimes hard to tell if they are selling the game or a circus side show The temptation begins every year at the sprawling Baseball Trade Show which highlights the Winter Meetings each December Held at the Anaheim Convention Center minor-league promoters and general managers wander through booth after booth checking out promotional ideas and sales tools that might help lure fans to their ballparks easy for major-league teams to promote their players because heard of Ken Griffey and Barry said Caulyne Goodyear manning one of 12 booths at this convention the minor-league teams have to take a different approach because fans heard of their players yet They have to promote the Around every corner of the Trade Show minor-league execs are bombarded with largest six-foot scowling frogs and an Indiana couple selling full-scale merry-go-rounds But it all starts with the mascot The River Cats are having an outfit designed but a tricky business has to be eye-catching fun and popular but it also has to be said Goodyear sales manager for the Toronto-based Sugars Costume Studio they are too heavy and too hot you can kill somebody Ours are lightweight with a fan in the head actually air And important to Hemond too In the minors he never knows when he might be called upon to wear it learn down here you better be ready to do he said I was with the Wichita Wranglers (from 1988-91) nobody had a title We had to jump in and take tickets or put on the Cookie (the cowboy) mascot The Trade Show is also a must for a new team looking to buy the essentials like seats and fence padding and food But it can all be mind-boggling No less than eight companies are represented selling furniture everything from bleacher seats to the stools in front of each locker Concessionaires hawk Dots the Cream of the mocha and hazelnut-flavored Icees and Sausage the Bratwurst of Lambeau There are traveling shows looking to line up summer dates Everything from Christian music concerts to Darrell brand-new All-Star Weekend Fantasy Camp where he promises four exmajor leaguers for four High-profile guys like Marty Perez Milt Wilcox and Brad Leslie There is Ken Brett pushing the Brett Brothers Bat Co and River Cats hitting coach Roy White handing out phone cards There are 3-D key tags laundry bags with your favorite logo and traveling halls of fame And hockey sticks full of gumballs and Logo Banners which look like plastic tubes but sound like pots and pans when you bang them together are a lot of things here to make it nice to come to a River Cats exec Warren Smith said got to do it with Babe Ruth swinging above is still second on the career homer list with 714 Right at his farewell to the fans at Yankee Stadium in 1938 Bee file photographs A new strategy: Accelerated free agency Baseball Beat By Tracy Ringolsby turned home because of an illness in the family Greg Hansell who has pitched for 10 organizations in 11 years is now headed for Japan after having his contract sold by the Pittsburgh Pirates Atlanta is under investigation for the underage signing of Dominican prospect Wilson Betemit Word is Be-temit who struggled for two years before having a breakthrough season in 1999 not only the required 16 when he signed in July of 1996 but was two months shy of his 15th birthday Not surprisingly Florida decided to get rid of RHP Rafael Medina who had 72 walks in 90 innings but it said a lot about the lack of pitching in baseball that Atlanta was the team that claimed him on waivers after 14 other National League teams passed With Anaheim declining to offer arbitration to free-agent LHP Chuck Finley the Angels are left with a rotation in which the two veteran pitchers are Ken Hill who is troubled by chronic elbow soreness and Tim Belcher who underwent surgery to repair a slight tear in a tendon in his right elbow and be ready to pitch by Opening Day 3B Adrian Beltre a free agent until the end of the week Boras claims that will limit the market for Beltre who claims he was 15 not the required 16 when the Dodgers signed him because teams will be trying to fill roster holes during the ongoing Winter Meetings Catcher ponders Olympics Milwaukee opted not to offer arbitration to free-agent catcher Dave Nilsson who hit 309 with 21 home runs and 62 RBI last year What makes Nilsson interesting is that he has agreed to an adjustment in the buyout on his option for 2000 prior to last year because he said he wanted to take the coming season off so he could play in the Olympics for his native Australia which will hold the summer event in September Agent Alan Nero said Nilsson might decide to pass on the Olympics or might play in Japan and get a couple of weeks off to play in the Games Et cetera Chicago Cubs pitcher Kerry rehab from elbow surgery last spring was put on hold when instead of starting a throwing program off the pound last week in Arizona he re- When agent Jeff Moorad orchestrated the trade last month that sent outfielder Shawn Green one of his clients from the Toronto Blue Jays to the Los Angeles Dodgers for outfielder Raul Mondesi another one of his clients he coined newest catch-phrase accelerated free agency What he described was a desire to make a deal whether it be a contract extension with a current player or a swap of talent with another team involving a player who is a year away from free agency why the Jays dealt Green who then signed a six-year $84 million deal with Los Angeles that gave him the second-highest average salary in the history of the game to the $15 million average the Dodgers shelled out for free-agent pitcher Kevin Brown a year ago why Texas was willing to ship two-time American League MVP Juan Gonzalez to Detroit and San Diego dealt right-handed pitcher Andy Ashby to Philadelphia why the focal point of the current Winter Meetings centers on the possibility of trades involving superstars such as Ken Griffey Jr and Alex Rodriguez of Seattle Manny Ramirez of Cleveland Mike Mussina of Baltimore Andy Pettitte of the New York Yankees and Jim Edmunds of the Anaheim Angels also why in the last few days Houston anteed up a three-year $28 million contract extension for second baseman Craig Biggio who already was signed for 2000 and Toronto gave first baseman Carlos Delgado a three-year deal even though they had control of him through salary arbitration for another year and fewer teams can afford premium players and that creates trading said Houston general manager Jerry Hunsicker obviously preferred to make a trade in advance of free agency and presumably get something to help you in the future rather than let a player walk and get nothing in Delayed ruling upsets Boras Agent Scott Boras is upset that Sandy Alderson Major League executive vice president for baseball operations says he prule on the request to declare Dodgers.