Columnist Dean Juipe: Hot pace has Griffey after Maris

Dean Juipe

Monday, June 2, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

IT'S THE MOST famous record in American sports and -- it's realistic to feel -- it's going to fall.

Volumes will be written about it.

It'll dominate the sports pages.

A treasured heirloom of a record will be seriously threatened, and, perhaps, surpassed.

Ken Griffey Jr. has a good shot of hitting at least 62 home runs this season.

If he comes even close, it'll be an unavoidable conversation piece as the baseball season winds into the fall. Already, Griffey has enough dingers to give it serious thought.

With any luck -- as well as the good fortune to remain healthy -- he'll stay on pace and the mother of all single-season hitting records, 61 home runs by Roger Maris in 1961, will fall.

It has to, someday.

And Griffey is the man of the hour who is capable of doing it. The Seattle outfielder already has 24 homers. He's on pace to hit 72.

He's also on pace to drive in 186 runs, which would challenge a record thought to be far more untouchable than the one that cost Maris his hair and his appetite as he pursued the home-run record in '61. The RBIs record, 190 by Hack Wilson, has sacredly stood since 1930.

For that matter, every significant single-season batting record has withstood an incredible test of time.

It's almost unbelievable. And trying to pinpoint exactly why these records haven't been toppled defies explanation.

Yet, get this: Since Maris broke Babe Ruth's home-run record 36 years ago, no single-season hitting record of any consequence has gone down. The categories include not only homers and RBIs, but batting average, runs scored, hits, singles, doubles, triples, slugging percentage, walks and total bases.

How can that be?

Given the obvious that pitching has been continually diluted by expansion, that ballparks are more hitter-friendly than ever and that artificial turf rockets balls into gaps that were once defensible, how is it that every fabled batting record has barnacles on it?

These are records that have taken longevity to an extreme.

Aside from Maris (1961) and Wilson (1930), the other major-league record holders in the vital hitting categories since 1900 still include: Rogers Hornsby, .424 batting average (1924); Ruth, 177 runs scored (1921); George Sisler, 257 hits (1920); Lloyd Waner, 198 singles (1927); Earl Webb, 67 doubles (1931); Owen Wilson, 36 triples (1912); Ruth, .847 slugging percentage (1920); Ruth, 170 walks (1923); and Ruth, 457 total bases (1921).

Those records seem so secure that if you look in The Book of Baseball Records to find any and everyone who made a serious challenge to them, most of those names are from ancient times, too.

For example: Napoleon Lajoie's .422 batting average in 1902; Lou Gehrig's 184 RBIs in 1931; Chuck Klein's 158 runs scored in 1930; Frank O'Doul's and Bill Terry's 254 hits in 1929 and 1930, respectively; Willie Wilson's 184 singles in the relatively recent 1980; Joe Medwick's 64 doubles in 1936; Shoeless Joe Jackson's and Sam Crawford's 26 triples in 1912 and 1914, respectively; Hornsby's .756 slugging percentage in 1925; Eddie Stanky's and Jimmy Wynn's 148 walks in 1945 and 1969, respectively; and Hornsby's 450 total bases in 1922.

With the 1997 baseball season at its one-third mark, anyone apt to make a run at one of these timeless records would have already emerged and been identified. There's no sneaking up on records of historical note and, as of today, aside from Griffey's twin pursuits, only Cleveland's David Justice with a .763 slugging percentage is even remotely threatening a record pace.

No one this year is apt to hit .424; or score 177 runs; or crack 257 hits; or punch 198 singles; or smack 67 doubles; or leg out 36 triples; or build up an .847 slugging percentage; or have the patience to accept 170 walks; or accumulate 457 total bases.

As it is, for all the offense in baseball these days, some of the current statistical leaders have downright lowly numbers in comparison to the record holders. For instance, Las Vegas newcomer Nomar Garciaparra of the Boston Red Sox has a share of the American League lead in triples with a grand total of five. Just think, 31 more and he'll tie the major-league record.

No, it's Griffey and Griffey alone in the statistical spotlight. Can he keep that sweet swing going? Can he stay injury-free? Las Vegas bettors will likely be able to weigh-in with their feelings on the matter, as prop lines on the home-run record in particular are apt to be going up soon in sports books around town.

It really looks like Griffey can do it.

But if he doesn't, think of the trees that will be saved. It'll be another year in which they won't need to update the record book.