CYBERSPORT : FUTILE PURSUIT?

Maybe Ken Griffey Jr. and that moose should have kept up the presidential bid in 1996. After all, Junior would have had an easier time defeating Slick Willy, Grandpa Bob and Dumbo than Roger Maris.

Griffey launched dinger No. 49 on Friday, and his current hot streak revived the inevitable talk of Maris' record 61 home runs in 1961. That left 21 games to hit 13 more. But as many Web sites will attest, poor Junior is doomed to fail.

As CBS Sportsline's ``Run for 61'' site points out, Maris already had 55 home runs through 141 games. The Sportsline site also tracks, game by game, the equally fruitless pursuits of Maris wannabes Tino Martinez and Mark McGwire, who hit his 48th Sunday.

When that trio finally fails, as they are fated to, they can join an impressive list of failures at (members.home.net/rpeterson/roger.htm.) The page shows every home run champ since 1961, everyone from Willie Mays (49 in '62, 52 in '65) to George Foster (52 in '77) to McGwire (52 in '96). (Note that only six players in the past 36 years have even hit 50 or more, and none has surpassed 52.) (Also note that the Web author's otherwise-laudible effort is marred by calling Juan Gonzalez ``Jose.'')

The site also gives a statistical breakdown of Maris' amazing season, month by month, vs. righties and lefties, day games and night games. Also, check out the nifty photo album.

An extensive bio of the dinger-meister is provided by the TotalBaseball folks, at www.totalbaseball.com/story/person/player/m/marir101/marir101.htm.

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PHOTO CBS Sportsline records: web2.sportsline.com/u/baseball/mlb/recor ds/61.htm