Baseball History – Ranking Baseball’s 600 Home Run Club

 Baseball History  No Responses »
Aug 262011
 

Who is the Best Player in the 600 Club?

The 600 Club

In 2010, after Alex Rodriguez joined one of the most exclusive clubs in major league baseball ESPN conducted a poll asking to rank the best players in 600 Home Run Club. These are the results with 41,405 votes submitted:

1 Babe Ruth (17,295) 247,147 2 Hank Aaron (14,798) 238,363 3 Willie Mays (4,202) 209,458 4 Ken Griffey Jr. (1,700) 163,134 5 Alex Rodriguez (1,034) 120,859 6 Barry Bonds (2,271) 110,849 7 Sammy Sosa (105) 65,057

 (#1 Votes) Points

Now that Jim Thome of the Minnesota Twins has become the eighth player in Major League history to hit 600 home runs I wonder where he would rank if this poll was taken again today. This is the current list of the 600 club: Barry Bonds(762), Hank Aaron (755), Babe Ruth (714), Willie Mays (660), Ken Griffey, Jr. (630), Alex Rodriguez (626), Sammy Sosa (609) and Jim Thome (602).

Rodriguez and Thome are still active, so they will continue to move up the list. I’m not sure how far Thome can climb. He might have a chance of passing Ken Griffey, Jr. Rodriguez; on the other hand, assuming he can stay healthy has a shot at finishing number one.

Before I get to my rankings, I want to point out that when you try to compare ball players from different eras there are so many variables to consider. Things like the dead-ball era, the size of the ballparks, expansion, the height of mound, advances in conditioning and medicine, specialized pitching, etc. I address steroids below.
1)  Babe Ruth:  it’s hard to argue that Ruth wasn’t the greatest player of all time.  He was as dominant as a hitter can be. Just in terms of home runs, Ruth’s 714 came in almost 4000 less at bats than Hank Aaron’s 754.

Babe Ruth Home Run Swing

How many more home runs would he have hit if he hadn’t pitched for the first five years of his career? Ruth’s career pitching record is 94-46 and he won 20+ games twice. Plus, the ballparks were bigger when he played.

Should We Only Consider Statistics 

It’s difficult when comparing ball players to be completely objective, especially when such great players are involved. I vowed that I would try and keep emotion out of my decisions. Ranking number one was a “no-brainer”.  However, when it came to selecting number two it became a little more difficult.  Trying to decide between Willie Mays and Hank Aaron is not an easy task, unless I gave in at let emotion play a part in my decision.

Willie Mays was one of the greatest players MLB history, however, I’ve never cared of as a person. On the other hand, I’ve always had a lot of respect for Hank Aaron. Mays has always been jealous of Aaron and bitter that Aaron hit more home runs. Mays has said things like Aaron hit more home runs because he played in a smaller park.

When I read this excerpt from Howard Bryant’s new book The Last Hero — a Life of Henry Aaron it confirmed that my feelings toward Mays were correct. His is a man without class or Character.

Bryant cites a first-hand account from 1957, a United Press/Movietone News reporter named Reese Schoenfeld, that Mays ragged on Aaron from the sidelines while Henry was being interviewed in front of a TV camera: “How much they paying you, Hank? They ain’t payin’ you at all, Hank? Don’t you know we all get paid for this? You ruin it for the rest of us, Hank! You just fall off the turnip truck?”

While Aaron became more and more agitated, Mays laid it on thick: “You showin’ ‘em how you swing? We get paid three to four hundred dollars for this. You one dumb nigger!”

I don’t know what to say after that, it is self explanatory. Since career stats are as close as they are, then it comes down to the character vote and Hank Aaron is the clear winner.

Hank Aaron hits another home run

2)  Hank Aaron*

Batting average  .305;  Hits  3,771; Runs Batted In 2,297 (the most all-time); Home Runs 755 Slugging Percentage .555; Fielding Percentage .980; OPS .929; OPS+ 155

3) Willie Mays*

Willie Mays Hits 600th Home Run

Batting average .302;  Hits  3,283; Runs Batted In  1,903; Home Runs 660 Slugging Percentage  .557; Fielding Percentage  .981; OPS .941; OPS+ 156

* Aaron and Mays are two of only four players in MLB history to record 200 stolen bases, 3,000 base hits and 300 home runs. The other two are George Brett and Dave Winfield.

 

Barry Bonds hits number 600

4)  Barry Bonds – I, like many other baseball fans, am not a big supporter of Barry Bonds. I’m also not going to get into the steroids thing again. I’m pretty sure he took some type of substance(s), but if it was just the steroids, why did no one else hit 73 home runs or have a four year run with an OPS+ of 256?  It’s easy to overlook the fact that Bonds was one of the most talented players of all time.  I believe most of Bonds’ peers used at some point, including pitchers, it should still say something that Bonds was so uniquely dominant.  Name another player that dominated baseball in this way other than Ruth. Regardless of however much Bonds was aided by performance enhancers, his incredible high level of performance still says a great deal about Bonds’ natural ability.

5) Alex Rodriguez- The next two spots are close. I could have done a 5A and 5B,

Alex Rodriguez 600 Home Runs

but I’m going to give Rodriguez a slight edge over Griffey because of a better overall game.  Remember Rodriguez was a very good defensive shortstop. Some compared him to Honus Wagner as the best hitter at the shortstop position, and he could run about as well as anyone in the league.  Both Rodriguez and Griffey are five tool players. However, in a straight up statistical comparison, Rodriguez has a good lead over in Griffey in both OPS .954 .907 and OPS+, 146 to 135. I can’t help myself, but here is another comparison of natural talent versus steroids. In 1996, as a 20 year old shortstop Alex Rodriguez won the batting title, hit 36 homeruns, and compiled a 160 OPS+. So, if he can hit 36 homeruns at age 20, it shouldn’t be that surprising that by 26, Rodriguez could hit 57, especially given he was playing in a great hitters park in Texas.  Then in the post-testing era, Rodriguez still was able to hit 54 homeruns in 2007. The point is that Rodriguez could (and hopefully can still) flat out play because of a natural ability and tremendous eye hand coordination that allows him to hit a baseball.

Ken Griffey Jr. 600 Home Runs

6)  Ken Griffey Jr. – I’ve always been a fan of Ken Griffey Jr. Maybe it’s because I see somewhat of a parallel between of his career and my childhood hero, Mickey Mantle. Both were cheated out of further greatness by injuries.  I believe Jr. was by far the best center fielder since Mickey. Unfortunately, starting at age 31, he was plagued by injuries, as was Mantle. From 2001(age 31) through 2006, Griffey missed 418 games. That represents a little over two and half seasons. With 630 home runs at retirement, I would think it would safe to say that he would have had an excellent chance to be the 4th member of the 700 Club. In addition, he was only 219 hits away from 3,000. Griffey Jr. is only one of three players in major league history to hit 200 homers in a four-season span. The other two were; Babe Ruth and Mark McGwire.

7) Jim Thome- Thome became the first player in history to hit numbers 599 and 600 inconsecutive at-bats. Thome  became the second fastest to reach 600 home runs doing so in 8,137 at-bats. Babe Ruth needed just 6,921.

Jim Thome 600 Home Runs

It’s interesting that the two fastest have never been linked to steroids. Thome has a better OPS than Alex Rodriguez, Willie Mays+, Hank Aaron+, Ken Griffey , Jr. and Sammy Sosa. In addition, his OPS+ is higher than Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey, Jr. and Sammy Sosa. In addition, for his career to-date he is in the top 30 in the following categories: At-bats-per-homerun  – 13.6 (5th),  OPS  .961 (17th), Slugging %  .558 (20th), Extra Base Hits 1,067 (23rd), Runs Batted In  1,664 (27th) and Intentional Bases on Balls 169 (29th).

Sammy Sosa 600 Home Runs

8)  Sammy Sosa– When I think of Sammy Sosa a member of the 600 Club, it feels more like fantasy baseball than the real thing. Sosa was a good ball player. His career numbers are respectable, but not great.  If you look at the chart below you will see that with the exception of stolen bases, Sosa ranks last or next to last in every other category.  He did win the 1998 NL MVP and came in second in 2001 behind Barry Bonds and his 73 home runs. After missing the 2006 season, Sosa signed with Texas and at age 38 hit 21 home runs and drove in 92 in 114 games (412 at-bats). Projected over 600 at-bats, he would have somewhere around 30 HRs and 130RBI. Bottom line, this selection was the easiest of them all.

Player SB Slugging % Fielding % Hits RBI Avg. OPS OPS+
Mays 338 (2) .557 (5) .981 (4) 3283 (2) 1903 (4) .302 (3) .941 (5) 156 (3)
Rodriguez 305 (3) .568 (3) .977 (6) 2762 (6) 1883 (5) .302 (3) .954 (4) 145 (6)
Griffey 184 (6) .538 (7) .985 (2) 2781 (5) 1836 (6) .284 (6) .907 (7) 141 (7)
Thome 19 (8) .558 (4) .988 (1) 2266 (8) 1664 (8) .277 (7) .961 (3) 149 (5)
Ruth 123 (7) .690 (1) .968 (8) 2873 (4) 2213 (2) .342 (1) 1.16 (1) 206 (1)
Aaron 240 (4) .555 (6) .980 (5) 3771 (1) 2297 (1) .305 (2) .929 (6) 155 (4)
Bonds 514 (1) .607 (2) .984 (3) 2935 (3) 1996 (3) .298 (5) 1.05 (2) 181 (2)
Sosa 234 (5) .534 (8) .973 (7) 2408 (7) 1667 (7) .273 (8) .878 (8) 128 (8)

Prove to me that Steroids Equal Home Runs

Thome is the fifth player to join the club in the last nine years. The steroid conspirers will attribute this to the use of performance enhancing substances. Before I go any further let me state that I am totally against the use of any substance that can have a negative impact on the human body. Not because someone says it makes you hit more home runs, but because youngsters emulate pro athletes and the use of these harmful substances.  I’m still waiting for a layman’s explanation of how exactly a person‘s ability to hit home runs is increased with the use of “performance enhancing”

If steroids equals more home runs, how many could this guy hit?

substances.  If these substances really do give a person the ability to hit more home runs, why don’t the major league teams draft body builders? Image how many home runs this guy could hit.

Player Spot Light – Jim Thome 600 Home Runs, Does Anyone Care?

 Player Spot Light  1 Response »
Jul 272011
 

Jim Thome

I wonder how many of you reading this knows that Jim Thome is only four home runs away from 600 for his career!  You may not know that due to the lack of coverage by the media. 600 home runs is an incredible accomplishment. If Thome’s chase for 600 had half the coverage that Derek Jeter received recently going for his 3,000th hit maybe he would be getting the attention he deserves.

The Most Exclusive Club

There are 28 members of the 3,000 hit club, 24 members of the 300 win club, but Thome will only be the 8th member of the 600 home run club.  So why is it that a milestone that is so historic and rare is being basically ignored?

Home Runs and Steroids

Is Thome being punished because of the others like Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, and Sammy Sosa, who are members of the 600 Home Run club, who have either been linked or suspected of using steroids. I’m afraid that home run milestones have been diminished as a statistic as a result of the “steroid era”. As far as I know Jim Thome has never been linked to steroid use.  Thome is more like Mickey Mantle, a guy with natural strength.

Mickey Mantle Batting Left Handed

If you remove the three suspected of using steroids, the 600 home run club would consist of Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, and Ken Griffey Jr.  Jim Thome is about to join those legends of the game, but nobody’s paying any attention. It doesn’t seem right.

Number 331

Perhaps the biggest bargain of the decade, Thome was originally drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 13th round (number 331) of the 1989 MLB Draft. At the time, many teams considered him to be “non-athletic”. Thome made his Major League debut on September 4, 1991 as a third baseman against the Minnesota Twins.

Jim Thome Rookie

One of the Most Prolific Home Run Hitters in Baseball History

He hit his first career home run on October 4 against New York Yankees pitcher Lee Guetterman.

1994 was Thome’s breakout year. He topped the 20-home run mark for the first time. He continued to improve, hitting 25 homers in 1995 and 38 in 1996. During his career, Thome has hit 30 or more home runs in a season 12 times including a career high of 52 in 2002, his last year with the Indians.

Thome was injured during the first half of the 2005 season. He hit only .207 with seven home runs and 30 RBI going into the All-Star break. Then he had season-ending surgery on his right elbow in August. Had he had a healthy 2005, he probably would be challenging Ken Griffey Jr. for 5th place on the all-time home run list.

Jim Thome is one of the most respected players among his peers and baseball fans. He is also one major league baseball’s good guys. Jim Thome is one of the game’s all-time great power hitters. For whatever reason, Thome doesn’t garner media attention, hitting home runs under the radar for most of his career.

Jim Thome has the fifth-lowest career AB/HR (at bats per home run) average in major-league history. His 13.68 is surpassed only by Mark McGwire (10.61), Babe Ruth (11.76), Ryan Howard (12.16), and Barry Bonds (12.90). Trailing Thome, all with averages greater than 14, are hall-of-famers Ralph Kiner, Harmon Killebrew, Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Jimmie Foxx, and Mike Schmidt, in that order. In addition he has a .277 lifetime average with 2,245 hits, and 1,649 RBI.

Ryan Howard

It’s ironic that Ryan Howard is one of the players with a AB/HR average better than Thome. Thome’s injury in 2005 opened the door for Howard, who went on to become National League Rookie-of-the-Year and made Thome expendable.  In November 2005, he was traded to the Chicago White Sox.

The 600/700 Club

There are currently seven men who have hit at least 600 home runs. They are:

Barry Bonds – 762

Hank Aaron – 755

Babe Ruth – 714

Willie Mays – 660

Ken Griffey Jr. – 630

Alex Rodriguez – 626

Sammy Sosa – 609

Now Jim Thome is about to join this very exclusive club and deserves more respect than he is currently getting.

 

Baseball History – MLB All Star Game

 Baseball History  No Responses »
Jul 162011
 

Major League Baseball All Star Game

2011 MLB All Star Game

I have to admit that the only reason I attempt to watch the MLB All Star game is because I’m a baseball junkie and it’s hard to go three sometimes four days without watching a game. I said attempt, because I don’t believe that I have ever made it all the way through a game.

Through the years player selection has gone through several changes. Here is a little background for those of you might not be aware.

History of Player Selection

From 1935 through 1946, the manager of each All-Star squad selected the entire team.

In 1947, fans were given the opportunity to vote on the eight starting position players. In 1957, fans of the Cincinnati Reds stuffed the ballot box (see below), and elected a Red to every position except first base. Commissioner Ford Frick stepped in and removed two Reds from the lineup. As a response to this unfairness, fan voting was discontinued. Players, coaches, and managers were given the sole authority to elect starting position players, for the next dozen years.

There were two All-Star Games played each season from 1959 to 1962. The second game was added to raise money for the players‘ pension funds, as well as other causes. The experiment was abandoned on the grounds that having two games watered down the appeal of the event – go figure.

Between the lack of fan input and over-exposure due to the double All-Star Games during 1959-1962, interest in the game was thought to be waning. Managers, players, and coaches picked the entire team until 1969, when the vote for starters again returned to the fans. To guard against ballot stuffing, since 1969 until the start of internet voting, each team has been given the same number of ballots to hand out.

Roberto Clemente's 3000th Hit

Hank Aaron, Milwaukee Braves

During the 1960s, the distinction between left-fielder, center-fielder, and right-fielder was dropped, and it was provided that the top 3 vote-getters in the outfield category would start regardless of position. That eliminated the problem of having to choose between right fielders Roberto Clemente and Hank Aaron.

Baseball fans vote on the starting position players for the All-Star Game, with ballots distributed at Major League Baseball games before mid-season and, more recently, on the Internet. The designated hitter both teams are also selected in this manner. This method has been recently criticized because most of the starting players can come from teams that have large fan bases, such as the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. This year the two teams combined had 5 of the starting 8 from fan voting.

Stuffing the Ballot Box

1957 All Star Game

In 1957, Cincinnati Reds fans stuffed the ballot box and elected 7 Reds players to start in the All-Star Game: Johnny Temple (2B), Roy McMillan (SS), Don Hoak (3B), Ed Bailey (C), Frank Robinson (LF), Gus Bell (CF), and Wally Post(RF). 

Stan Musial's 3000th Hit

The only non-Red elected to start for the National League was St. Louis Cardinals‘ first baseman Stan Musial. There’s no doubt that the Reds were a great team, however it was widely believed that they didn’t deserve to have seven starters in the All-Star Game.  It was discovered that over half of the ballots cast came from Cincinnati. The Cincinnati Enquirer had printed up pre-marked ballots and distributed them with the Sunday newspaper to make it easy for Reds fans to vote often.

Due to the ballot stuffing in Cincinnati, two future hall-of-famers were not selected to starting team. However, Commissioner Ford Frick appointed Willie Mays of the New York Giants and Hank Aaron of the Milwaukee Braves to replace Reds players Gus Bell and Wally Post, and took fan voting rights away in future games. Continue reading »

Baseball History – All Star Trivia

 Baseball History  No Responses »
Jul 062011
 

Since the 2011 MLB All Star Game is scheduled for next week (July 12th) I thought I would toss out All Star trivia.

THE FIRST ALL STAR GAME

First All Star Game 1933

The All-Star Game, made its debut on July 6, 1933, at Chicago’s Comiskey Park. It was the idea of Arch Ward, a sports editor for the Chicago Tribune, to coincide with the celebration of the city’s “Century of Progress” Exposition. It was initially intended to be a one-time event. By the 1930′s, baseball had established itself as America’s favorite pastime and the national exposition provided the perfect stage to introduce baseball’s best to the rest of the country. Many Americans were skeptical about its success. For the most part those who lived in the western states had never been to a major league baseball game. However, it was a great success with 49,200 people in attendance.

In the first two years, All-Star teams were selected by the managers and the fans. The players were also excited about the prospect of seeing other players for the first time.  Wild Bill Hallahan, the National League (NL) starter was quoted as saying “We wanted to see the Babe,” “Sure, he was old and had a big waistline, but that didn’t make any difference. We were on the same field as Babe Ruth.” Maybe Wild Bill had second thoughts after Babe hits the first home run in All-Star Game history, a two run shot off him in the 3rd inning.  Ruth, was 38 and  just two years away from retirement, also made a spectacular catch in the eighth inning to rob Cincinnati’s Chick Hafey of a hit. Ruth’s Yankee teammate, Lefty Gomez, started the game for the American League (AL) and became the All-Star Game’s first

Babe Crossing Home After First All Star Game Home Run (1933)

winning pitcher in the 4-2 AL victory.

The second All Star 1934 was played at the Polo Groundsin New York City. Of the eighteen players who started the 1934 game, only one, Wally Berger, is not in the Hall of Fame.

Carl Hubbell gave up a leadoff single to Charlie Gehringer and a walk before setting the All-Star record by striking out five consecutive Hall of Famers; Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons and Joe Cronin during the 1934 game.

The All-Star Game was played at night for the first time in 1942, at the Polo Grounds.

In 1945, with severe wartime travel restrictions in effect, the All-Star Game scheduled to be played at Boston’s Fenway Park was deferred until the next season.

1937 All Stars

TWO GAMES A YEAR

From 1959 to1962 Major League Baseball played two All-Star Games each season. As part of an effort to boost the players’ pension fund, the league break from tradition and schedules two All Start Games. The first game was held on July 7 at Forbes Field, the home of the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League. The second game was held on August 3 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the home of the Los Angeles Dodgers also of the NL. The first game resulted in a 5-4 victory for the NL. The AL won the second game by a score of 5-3. The experiment of staging two All-Star Games each year continued through the 1962 season, after which the playing of one annual game resumed.

Continue reading »

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