The season is over, and the White Sox have declined their option on Ken Griffey Jr. And now the talk is that he might go back to Seattle where he got his start. I think Griffey should go back to Seattle... after all, that’s what the 600 home run club does – they go back to the place they started:
- Babe Ruth started off with the Boston Red Sox and, after a storied career with the New York Yankees, spent his final season with the Boston Braves.
- Willie Mays got his start with the New York Giants, went across the nation when they moved to San Francisco, then went back to the New York Mets at the end.
- Hank Aaron started off with the Milwaukee Braves, moved with them to Atlanta, and chose to end up with the Milwaukee Brewers for his last two seasons.
- Sammy Sosa, who started out with a mere 25 games in a Texas Rangers jersey, went on to play for both Chicago teams and then played one season in Baltimore. But then, after a season off, he came back to Texas to JOIN the 600 home run club in one last hurrah.
The only holdout from that list is Barry Bonds: 7 years in Pittsburgh, then 15 years in San Francisco. Perhaps he could be signed for one at-bat with the Pirates again! Or does the Pittsburgh area have a senior league? Haha...
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
BLT. Yum.
Okay... over a year later, and I think I actually want to start blogging here.
I was driving to work this morning and ESPN radio was talking about someone who hit a triple, with the bases loaded. So that got me thinking. I think we (not me, but the stats guys in charge) should create a new stat:
the BLT... or Bases Loaded Triple.
Yeah, it's a little less "romantic" than the grand slam, but hey, that's still a pretty good swing of the bat, at a rather important time. And I bet it's every bit as rare as the grand slam, if not even more rare. Think about it:
Comparatively speaking, the grand slam is a rather rare occurrence. The career home run leader (Barry Bonds) has 762. The career grand slam leader (Lou Gehrig) has only 23. And I just read that in the 2005 season, "grand slams accounted for 132 of the 5017 total home runs hit (2.6 %)."
Then take into consideration that five people hit at least 40 HR in 2007, compared to five people hitting at least 10 triples in 2007. I know the math isn't that simple, but that means that triples are about 1/4 as common as homers. Would that mean that the BLT is exceedingly rare? I don't know. But it sure does make me hungry thinking about it.
I was driving to work this morning and ESPN radio was talking about someone who hit a triple, with the bases loaded. So that got me thinking. I think we (not me, but the stats guys in charge) should create a new stat:
the BLT... or Bases Loaded Triple.
Yeah, it's a little less "romantic" than the grand slam, but hey, that's still a pretty good swing of the bat, at a rather important time. And I bet it's every bit as rare as the grand slam, if not even more rare. Think about it:
Comparatively speaking, the grand slam is a rather rare occurrence. The career home run leader (Barry Bonds) has 762. The career grand slam leader (Lou Gehrig) has only 23. And I just read that in the 2005 season, "grand slams accounted for 132 of the 5017 total home runs hit (2.6 %)."
Then take into consideration that five people hit at least 40 HR in 2007, compared to five people hitting at least 10 triples in 2007. I know the math isn't that simple, but that means that triples are about 1/4 as common as homers. Would that mean that the BLT is exceedingly rare? I don't know. But it sure does make me hungry thinking about it.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
first. blog. ever.
Okay. A whole new world is, right here and now, opening up for me...
And the first troubling thought is:
How do I write something that is of worth, and which I'm not going to want to revise or rewrite or whatever? Such is my tendency. I can write so that I am understood. But can I write so that I CAN'T be MISunderstood? And oh yeah, will ANYone be interested in reading it?
Well I guess it would be impossible to know that.
Kind of like hitting a 5-run homer.
So anyway, this will probably not deal with those sorts of things.
Alright then, problem solved! (Wipe imaginary sweat from forehead)
You know what I like? I like baseball. So this blog will be about baseball. And since I'm a bit of a nerd, there will probably be stats and stuff. Not usually just something that I cut from another baseball website and paste here, but stuff that I compile. Yes, I do that. I was made-fun-of in college for doing that. Just wait, you'll see.
And the first troubling thought is:
How do I write something that is of worth, and which I'm not going to want to revise or rewrite or whatever? Such is my tendency. I can write so that I am understood. But can I write so that I CAN'T be MISunderstood? And oh yeah, will ANYone be interested in reading it?
Well I guess it would be impossible to know that.
Kind of like hitting a 5-run homer.
So anyway, this will probably not deal with those sorts of things.
Alright then, problem solved! (Wipe imaginary sweat from forehead)
You know what I like? I like baseball. So this blog will be about baseball. And since I'm a bit of a nerd, there will probably be stats and stuff. Not usually just something that I cut from another baseball website and paste here, but stuff that I compile. Yes, I do that. I was made-fun-of in college for doing that. Just wait, you'll see.
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