Mike Golic of ESPN's "Mike & Mike in the Morning" is conjecturing today that Alex Rodriguez is on his way to becoming "the most beloved player in baseball."
Mike's opinion is that given A-Rod's tremendous start this season, he's likely to make a run at breaking Barry Bonds' single-season home run record. And given A-Rod's tremendous career to this point, he's likely to break the career record Bonds probably will set this year, "maybe before Bonds goes into the Hall of Fame."
I'd buy into that, especially the career record component, especially if Rodriguez is wearing something besides Yankee pinstripes when he sets the new mark. I'm not that big of an A-Rod fan (the Yankee thing), but if he can knock Bonds down a peg, more power to him.
Let's not crown Rodriguez just yet, though. True, he's hit 10 home runs in his first 14 games, including last night's game-winner off Cleveland's Joe Borowski. (Why the Indians have Borowski trying to close games is a whole other story.) That projects to a lot more than 74 for the season.
But keep in mind that we're only three weeks in the season. Other players have gotten off the fast starts, including Graig Nettles, who set an American League record for April with 11 home runs in 1974. (He finished the season with 22.)
And keep in mind that this is the same Alex Rodriguez who went 1-for-14 in the Yankees' playoff series loss to Detroit last year, prompting predictions that he couldn't possibly return to New York under the circumstances. He'll hit a cold spell sooner or later.
Even if he doesn't crack 74 this year, A-Rod seems to be in a good position to eventually set the career record. He has 474 so far, one behind Hall of Famers Willie Stargell and Stan Musial, and Rodriguez hasn't yet reached his 33rd birthday. If he plays until age 42 -- like Bonds, Henry Aaron and Willie Mays -- and averages roughly 30 homers per year, that should put him in the high 700s, and should put him ahead of Bonds.
Sounds good to me ... even if he's still in pinstripes.
You cringe when you hear it: "Baseball ... it's so boring." Don't tell that to the people who help set new records each year attending games in the majors and minors. There's something about baseball that keeps folks coming back for more, even if football is harder-hitting, basketball is faster-paced, and you might see a wreck at a NASCAR race. Join me for various observations and history lessons about America's pastime. -- Harry Funk
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- Harry Funk
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Trivia answers
- 56. Dallas and Chicago
- 55. On Oct. 1, 1933, Babe Ruth pitched a complete game for the Yankees against the Red Sox. According to Boston Post writer Paul Shannon, "though hit hard at times, and seemingly very tired toward the end, [Ruth] was able to steer his hard-hitting teammates to a 6-5 win in the season's final contest."
- 54. Gaylord Perry, San Francisco Giants, April 27, 1971
- 53. Rolando Arrojo went 14-12 for the Devil Rays in 1998, the team's first season. That represented 22.2 percent of the Rays' total victories.
- 52. Chester "Red" Hoff (1891-1998), who pitched for the New York Highlanders from 1911-13 and St. Louis Browns in 1915
- 51. George Steinbrenner, New York Yankees, 1974
- 50. Barry Lamar Bonds, 2002, age 38, breaking the previous record held by another ex-Pirate, Al Oliver
- 49. Manny Trillo, George Vukovich, Jay Baller and Jerry Willard
- 48. Dean Stone. In the eighth inning of the 1954 All-Star Game, the Washington rookie came in to pitch with two outs and runners on first and third. As Stone wound up, Red Schoendienst raced toward home. Stone threw to the plate to catch Schoendienst stealing. The American League scored three times in the bottom of the eighth to take an 11-9 lead, and Stone got the win in his only All-Star appearance.
- 47. Carlton Fisk, 1972
2 comments:
Golic's nuts. A-rod did have a 2 HR game shortly after your posting... but there's simply no way one can see into even next week! A-rod could surely go into a slump. (Kind of) interesting how no one on ESPN mentions that Nettles factoid, only Pujols' performance a year ago. Should A-rod go into a huge tailspin, the fans are gonna boo him like April never happened. It's a strange case -- he can never be a fully-loved, genuine Yankee unless he performs well *all* season long and takes the Yanks to the W.S. ... then he's probably gotta help win it for them to truly be welcomed in The Bronx. Also interesting to note that if he whops 50 HR out this year, someone out there is gonna try to shell out the major contract money and A-rod just might take it to get away from all that booing.
In any case, what a career! Lookin' like down the road he's gonna pass Bonds for #1 on the HR list. That'll be awhile but it'll be fun to watch it progress to the point.
I'd love to see A-Rod get out of New York so I can start rooting for him again. (I just can't warm up to anyone in Yankee pinstripes.) Then I can enjoy him hunting down and passing Bonds in about six years or so.
(I'd also love to hear Mike & Mike talk about something other than A-Rod when it comes to baseball. But it certainly beats them talking about the NBA!!)
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