Making their mark

Some of baseball’s oldest stars are set to pursue milestones this season.

Barry Bonds is approaching 755 home runs, Craig Biggio is closing in on 3,000 hits and Tom Glavine is nearing 300 wins.

Bonds re-signed with San Francisco in the off-season after plenty of haggling over his $15.8 million, one-year contract. Now, he needs 22 home runs to break Hank Aaron’s career record of 755.

“I’ll drag it. I’ll let you guys wait,” Bonds joked. “You know how I do it, the anticipation, the hype, the talk. I’ll let you guys talk about it.”

The 42-year-old slugger is also 159 hits from 3,000 and 70 RBIs shy of 2,000. But what he wants most, he maintains, is his first World Series ring.

Glavine, who has 290 wins, will take the mound for the New York Mets tonight in the season opener at St. Louis. The World Series champion Cardinals defeated the Mets in seven games in the NLCS last year.

The 41-year-old Biggio begins his 20th season with Houston needing 70 hits to become the 27th player to reach 3,000. That achievement probably means a ticket to Cooperstown.

“It’s not even the numbers any more,” Biggio said. “It’s the clientele you’re having your name associated with in certain categories. That is overwhelming.”

Other players approaching milestones include pitcher Randy Johnson, back in Arizona after two disappointing seasons with the New York Yankees. He is 20 wins shy of 300.

Also, San Diego closer Trevor Hoffman needs 18 saves to reach 500.