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04/21/2004 Archived Entry: "MLB news: This week in milestones"
This week in milestones: April 7-20
By Michael Toeset
After a brief slump while trying to pass Willie Mays on the all-time home run list, Barry Bonds blasted home run No. 661 on April 13. It was only a matter of time – barring injury – before Bonds accomplished the feat and grabbed onto sole possession of third place, and for a few games, it seemed as if Bonds was struggling against only the forces of himself. Most of the pitchers Bonds faced in the period between home runs No. 659 and No. 660 (the home run that tied Bonds with his godfather) are not the type of players who can routinely keep Bonds in the park. It was due to Bonds trying too hard to send another ball over the fence – and perhaps his conscience.
While Bonds is on record as saying that he had come to terms with passing Mays on the list after a talk with the Say Hey Kid, one has got to believe that Bonds still harbored a little guilt over besting the home-run hitting accomplishments of his father figure and his idol. Bonds, unlike seemingly most of today’s players, knows baseball history and understands the importance of Mays’ place in history.
Mays and Hank Aaron, No. 1 on the all-time list, almost didn’t get a chance to set their marks: They both started their playing careers in the Negro Leagues. If not for Jackie Robinson, Branch Rickey and a host of others, Aaron and Mays might have spent their playing careers on segregated fields becoming Josh Gibson, i.e. a myth-like figure whom many agree was great but also whom the world doesn’t take seriously. Maybe Mays would have been the next Oscar Charleston – a five-tool superstar who many claim was the best ballplayer in the history of the game, yet one who remains somewhat anonymous. Fortunately white America woke up and realized that if blacks could die for America in a theater of war, they certainly could play “America’s favorite pastime” side by side with fair-skinned ballplayers.
And Bonds knows all this. Knows it and cherishes the accomplishments of Mays and Aaron and Larry Doby and countless others. All the furor Bonds caused last year when he said he wanted to wipe Babe Ruth out of the record books was actually quite despicable. Bonds had a point: Ruth never had to test his talents against blacks. What if Ruth had played against Willie Foster, Satchel Paige, et al? Would he have accomplished as much? No matter what conclusions you arrive at, America lashed out at Bonds: You don’t disrespect the Babe. You can say all you want about other players, but you don’t mess with the Babe.
I, for one, am not one of those who think Ruth is a god. What he did in and for the game of baseball was spectacular, but there will always be doubts in my mind about whether he would have been that good had he had to play against blacks. That’s why I’m rooting for Bonds to pass Ruth. He, like Aaron and Mays, has put up his numbers in an equal-opportunity Major League Baseball.
And Bonds hasn’t slowed down since crushing No. 661 into McCovey Cove. He currently has 667 home runs, putting him only 47 homers behind Ruth. It’s a distinct possibility that Bonds can pass the Babe this season, and it’ll be interesting to witness the media coverage of Bonds’ chase. Everything Bonds has ever done wrong will be dissected and “shown” to be the reason Bonds doesn’t deserve to pass Ruth. Bonds likely won’t receive the amount of hate mail that Aaron did in his pursuit of Ruth, but there will be an all-out assault against him, I’m wagering. But here’s hoping Bonds passes him – and invokes the names of players who never had a shot at the record.
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Remember Pat Hentgen? The last time his name was mentioned regularly was in 1996, when he won the American League Cy Young Award. He had several good seasons thereafter, but then he seemingly disappeared for a while. He’s pitched at least 22 innings for 12 straight seasons, but he rarely gets mentioned anymore – especially not in fantasy baseball circles. But he’s still hanging around, and this season he’s back with the Blue Jays, the team he was on when he won the Cy Young. On April 7, Hentgen quietly reached 2,000 career innings pitched. That’s a pretty impressive accomplishment for someone who most fans think has long since retired. He’ll never again be the pitcher who won 35 games over two seasons in the late 1990s, but he could be an integral part of a surprise Blue Jays team.
If one were to put together a team of All-Star-caliber players who just couldn’t stay healthy, Cliff Floyd would certainly make the squad. A career .285 hitter with 151 home runs and 118 steals, Floyd has only topped 500 at-bats twice in his career. Despite his sundry injuries, Floyd has always been able to hit, and April 8 he reached a milestone: 1,000 hits. It’s doubtful that the 31-year-old will be able to finish his career with 2,000 hits, but if Floyd decides to move back to the American League and become a full-time designated hitter, he could reach the mark and fulfill some of that “unlimited” potential he flashed when coming up through the minors.
Speedster Dave Roberts swiped his 100th base on April 9. He stole 85 of those bases in the 2002 and 2003 seasons, finishing third in the league both years. Roberts isn’t a great hitter – he currently stands at .259 for his career – and he doesn’t have much power, so speed is pretty much his whole game. While this type of player is abhorred by stat-heads like those at Baseball Prospectus, there’s an added thrill in watching the Robertses of this world play, what with their ability to advance themselves a base almost at will. At any rate, to date Roberts is tied for the most steals in the majors with nine. As long as he’s able to get on base at a reasonable clip, he’ll stay at or near the lead all season.
After pretty much getting run out of Baltimore and New York, what with his propensity for blowing a save at just the wrong time, Armando Benitez has found new life with the Marlins. He’s on a tear this season – seven for seven in save opportunities – and he registered save No. 200 on April 9. He’s moved past Bobby Thigpen and Jeff Shaw on the all-time saves list and is currently No. 31, right behind Ugueth Urbina.
Yankees pitchers Mike Mussina and Kevin Brown both won their 200th games last week. Mussina achieved the milestone on April 11, and Brown reached that mark three days later. Those accomplishments marked the first time that pitchers on the same team had reached 200 wins in the same season. While it seems that Mussina has gotten much more ink over the years, the two have fairly similar career stats – and both are presently borderline Hall of Fame candidates. The breakdown:
Brown: 200-131 W-L, 3.15 ERA, 2282 K, 851 BB, 3078 IP
Mussina 200-113 W-L, 3.56 ERA, 2137 K, 607 BB, 2689 IP
He’s no Mussina or Brown, but Matt Morris has had himself a decent career to date. And on April 16, he pitched his 1,000th inning. Hopefully there will be many more quality innings to come.
Jim Thome collected hit No. 1,500 on April 17. The free-swinging but always dangerous Thome also has 1,572 strikeouts and 383 home runs. There’s nothing pointing to an age-related breakdown (he’s 33), so Thome should be able to crack the 500-homer mark before his career is concluded, and perhaps he’ll learn enough plate discipline to be able to collect more hits than strikeouts. At present, he’s on a pace to better (or is it “worsen”?) all-time whiffs king Reggie Jackson in the hits-to-strikeouts ratio. Jackson finished his distinguished career with 2,584 hits and 2,597 strikeouts. By way of modern comparison, even Sammy Sosa and Richie Sexson have more hits than strikeouts.
Speaking of Sosa, on April 18, he bashed his 542nd home run in a Cubs uniform, passing Ernie “Mr. Cub” Banks for the most-ever team homers. Maybe we should start calling Sosa Mr. Cub.
e-mail questions and/or comments to mtoeset@baseballguru.com
