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to 21
No, that’s not how many players have hit 500 home runs,
it’s, Baseball... Then and Now
Volume6, #20, June 11, 2008
News Item: June 16, 1989 – Sammy Sosa makes his major league
debut for the Texas Rangers.
Some misguided souls may try to tell you that hitting 600 home runs
has become a devalued feat. Don’t believe them! Do not, under
any circumstances, let such naysayers in any way, shape or form
take anything away from what Ken Griffey, Jr., has accomplished.
Because 600 home runs is still a very rare and special milestone.
Maybe a case can be made that the 500 home run mark has been debased
and defiled since destart of say, de90s. There are currently 24
individuals who have hit 500 or more home runs, and Gary Sheffield,
with 483, is poised to join them, if not later this season, then
in 2009. A-Rod, The Big Hurt and Gentleman Jim Thome all hit their
500th last year. Manny was just being Manny when he hit his 500th
recently. That’s four out of 24 within a year. Is that debasement
of the standard? Consider that 10 of the 24 had major league careers
that ended after 1990. Is 42 percent since the start of the last
decade debasement? Fans of just relatively long memory will recall
when the 500 Club was very exclusive indeed… and every fan
knew who they were… Ruth, Foxx, Williams and Ott. And that
was it, at least until the second half of the 1960s, when they were
joined by the Mick, Willie, Hammering Henry and Mr. Cub –
none of whom need any further introduction. Still a pretty exclusive
bunch. Now it seems as if every Eddie and Raffy have hit 500.
Nonetheless, you might get an argument on this one should you ask
Fred McGriff, Lou Gehrig (theoretically, of course), Stan Musial,
Willie Stargell (again, theoretically), Dave Winfield, Jose Canseco
and Carl Yastrzemski what they think. Or, ask Sheffield should,
by chance, his body give out on him before he gets to 500. All eight
of these worthies were/are within 10 percent to 500 home runs, and
only Sheffield has the opportunity to still make it. Think they
all might like to have a few more swings to make it to 500? Maybe
they might think it’s still a pretty exclusive group. After
all, there have been an awful lot of power hitters who, for various
reasons, never got as close as the eight previously mentioned, even
if they did win the genetic lottery to have the ability to hit large
number of baseballs traveling at a high rate of speed some 350 feet
or 400 feet. Jeff Bagwell, Juan Gonzalez, Mike Piazza, Billy Williams,
Duke Snider, Dale Murphy, Johnny Bench, Frank Howard, Jim Rice,
Albert Belle, Orlando Cepeda, Tony Perez, Matt Williams, Rocky Colavito,
Gil Hodges, Ralph Kiner, Joe DiMaggio, Johnny Mize, Dick Allen,
George Foster, Boog Powell, Darryl Strawberry, Hank Greenberg, et
al.
You can argue both ways over the 500 home run standard. But, there’s
no way you can argue over 600… a figure than has now been
reached exactly six times in baseball history. Just in case you’ve
been asleep…
Barry Bonds 762
Hank Aaron 755
Babe Ruth 714
Willie Mays 660
Sammy Sosa 609
Ken Griffey, Jr. 600
Now maybe there should be a couple of asterisks or codicils in
there, but, either way, that’s it. And if you still think
that having three of those six reach the mark since the turn of
the century makes 600 less of an accomplishment, take a look at
how it compares to some of the other career batting marks. In some
areas you’ll find that there is an upper echelon of accomplishment
wherein the leader boards have been seriously effected by individuals
who have played into the 1990s or beyond. In others, the Gold Standard
is still pretty much the Gold Standard.
The most obvious example of the former is 3000 hits. Long the career
Gold Standard for hitters, a case can certainly be made that this
plateau, like 500 home runs, has been somewhat eroded over the past
few years. There are now 27 players who have 3000 or more hits,
and 11 of them (Molitor, Murray, Ripken, Brett, Yount, Gwynn, Winfield,
Biggio, Henderson, Palmeiro and Boggs) made it there since 1990.
Similarly, 5000 total bases isn’t nearly as rare as it used
to be. With Griffey poised to become the 18th player to reach this
mark (he has 4975 at the moment), no less than six others (Bonds,
Murray, Palmeiro, Winfield, Ripken, Brett) have made it that far
since 1990. If you prefer RBIs, you’ll find that 1800 used
to be a significant number, but that Bonds, Murray, Winfield and
Palmeiro have all reached that standard, and Griffey stands at 1730.
There are now 17 in that group as well. The same thing has happened
with doubles – 600 used to be pretty rare, but now there are
14 who have topped that mark, the most recent being Biggio, Brett,
Molitor, Ripken and Bonds.
So you can postulate that hits, total bases, RBIs and doubles are
all hitting stats that have been somewhat devalued in recent years.
However, there are other career hitting marks that are just about
as rare as a 600th tater. They are…
1700 Walks – 8 players
2000 Runs – 7
2400 Singles – 7
1300 Extra Base Hits – 5
Although Bonds and Henderson have invaded some of these lists in
recent years, these are still rare accomplishments. You can also
push up the standards for some of the marks that have become more
common to thus obtain rarer lists…
3500 Hits – 5 players
2000 RBIs – 3
700 Doubles – 4
The truth is, just how good a standard is sort of depends on where
you draw the line. Three thousand hits isn’t that big a deal
anymore, just like 500 home runs is getting sort of common. But,
if you change the focus to 3500 hits and 600 home runs, that’s
a different story. It would seem fairly safe to say that any career
statistical standard that has been reached 10 times or less in the
almost 140 years of major league baseball is pretty damn special.
And while these Gold Standards may well be forced to change upwards
(or not change – the only player above 175 triples who played
since World War 2 is Stan Musial) over time, for now we can and
should celebrate Junior’s accomplishment as being truly historic,
one worthy of “The Natural.”
-- John Shiffert
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