MILWAUKEE (AP) -Hank Aaron wants no part of Barry Bonds.
With Bonds closing in on the career home run record, Aaron attended a news conference Thursday at the spot where he hit his 755th and final home run in 1976.
“I don’t have any thoughts about Barry. I don’t even know how to spell his name,” Aaron said briskly, then added a laugh.
Aaron was curt when asked whether baseball commissioner Bud Selig invited him to attend any celebrations for Bonds, should he break the record. Selig and Aaron are longtime friends.
“I’ve not spoken to him at all,” Aaron said. “That’s his decision and I’m sure he’ll make the right one.”
Aaron hit his 715th home run in 1974 to break Babe Ruth’s record and hit his final home run July 20, 1976, at County Stadium – the site is now a parking lot outside Miller Park.
Aaron, currently a senior vice president of the Atlanta Braves, took only a few questions from reporters as a handful of fans stood nearby. Dressed in a tan shirt and brown slacks, Aaron struggled to hear questions amid blustery winds. And when he did hear them, he didn’t have much to say, although he became a bit more chatty when asked about his last home run.
“You know, when you reach your career like this and when you get to the end, you never know when this is going to be the last one,” he said. “And I’m just so happy I was able to hit it here in Milwaukee because I don’t think, had it been hit on the road, there’d be a plaque somewhere.”
Bonds began Thursday with 746 homers but just one since May 8. Aaron has said he won’t attend any of Bonds’ games as the San Francisco Giants star approaches his record.
Selig won’t say whether he plans to attend.
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