Brett joins the 3,000 Club...Duran wants Iran...Goodbye to two historic figures

Attained
By Kansas City Royal George Brett, 39, his 3,000th career hit. To the dismay of K.C. fans who had hoped Brett would become the 18th major leaguer to reach 3,000 at Royal Stadium, he achieved the feat in Anaheim, on a one-hop single to right off California Angel pitcher Tim Fortugno in the seventh inning of a 4-0 Royals' victory. It was Brett's fourth hit of the game.

Wanted
One màs boxing title, by Roberto Duran, 41, who in his first bout since early 1991 easily won a 10-round decision over journeyman super middleweight Tony Biglen, a 31-year-old electrician. Duran, who has won four championships in his career, now hopes to take on Iran Barkley for the IBF super middleweight crown. A victory over Barkley would make Duran only the second boxer, after Sugar Ray Leonard, to win five championships. Duran admits he wants to confront the 32-year-old Barkley soon. After all, he says, he doesn't "want to go in the ring for that title with a cane."

Sentenced
By a Texas district court judge to two concurrent life sentences, Steven James Thomas, 22, for the shooting death of former Texas A&M basketball forward Vernon (Dean) Smith and the aggravated robbery of another man minutes later. Smith, a 33-year-old Sears clerk and church organist, played hoops for the Aggies from 1977 to '81 and remains their alltime leading scorer and rebounder. He was shot by Thomas on July 7 while sitting alone in a car outside a Dallas apartment complex, awaiting his girlfriend and her aunt. According to witnesses who testified at the trial, Thomas pointed a handgun at Smith and ordered him to get out of the car, but before Smith had a chance to respond, Thomas fired. Thomas must serve at least 15 years before he will be eligible for parole.

Died
The 1967 world Grand Prix champion, Denis Hulme, 56, of New Zealand, after suffering an apparent heart attack during the 1,000-kilometer touring-car race in Bathurst, Australia. In the 33rd lap of the 161-lap competition, Hulme's BMW coasted off the rain-soaked circuit at the end of a straightaway. Hulme, who just seconds before had radioed his pit to report that he was having problems with his vision, was already dead when the emergency crew reached him. Hulme was named Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year in 1967, when he got the first of his two consecutive fourth-place finishes at the Brickyard.

Died
Baseball scholar Harold Seymour, 82, whose three-volume history of the game helped establish the national pastime as a subject for serious study; in Keene, N.H. Raised in Brooklyn, Seymour was a batboy for the Dodgers and played high school ball before becoming coach and captain of the first baseball team at Drew University, in Madison, N.J. He received his Ph.D. in 1956, when Cornell accepted what is believed to be the first dissertation on the history of baseball. Four years later an expanded version of it was published as Baseball: The Early Years. Two more volumes, Baseball: The Golden Age and Baseball: The People's Game, were published in '71 and '90, respectively.

PHOTO

KEVORK DJANSEZIAN/AP

Brett felt heavenly among the Angels.