“Where Amazing Happens”

As we head into Yankee Stadium’s final season, here’s a short but inspiring video tribute I found:

(HT: Sliding Into Home)

Pics of New Yankee Stadium…

…nearing completion.  Pretty cool!

(HT: Riddleblog)

A Redistributionist Plan I Can Support

Here’s a cool note from the Yankees-Blue Jays game last night:

New York’s Johnny Damon provided a light moment in the sixth, retiring Rios on a fly ball for the final out, then giving the ball to a fan seated in the front row in left. The fan responded by giving Damon a $20 bill. Damon took the money, ran further down the line, then handed the bill to a young child.  

Krauthammer: The Natural Returns to St. Louis

I’ve been thinking about writing something about the remarkable story of Rick Ankiel, the fallen Cardinals pitcher reincarnated as an outfielder, returning years later to the Major Leagues to slug a home run in his first game back, and two more two nights later.  What a remarkable and uplifting story!

Well, Charles Krauthammer has written the article I wished to, and thus saved me the effort. (Thanks, Philip, for bringing this to my attention!). Here it is, with my hearty recommendation:
“The Natural Returns to St. Louis.”

Corked Silly

I watched the Discovery Channel’s “Mythbusters” show last night, which aired a special episode on “baseball myths.”  The most interesting segment to me was when they set out to determine whether or not a corked bat actually helps hitters hit home runs.

The verdict?  NO!  In fact, corking one’s bat is actually counterproductive.  If I remember correctly, a ball leaving a corked bat travels 40% slower than it does off a regulation bat.  The reason is that rather than acting like a springboard, as so many assume, the cork acts as sponge.  Rather than multiplying the force applied to the batted ball, the corked bat absorbs energy.

In other words, players like Sammy Sosa were not only wrong in their attempts to cheat with a corked bat, they ignorantly hurt their chances of gaining what they sought.

How Many Will It Take?

Last night, a day after eclipsing Hank Aaron’s record for most career home runs, Barry Bonds connected again, hitting number 757 deep into the waters of McCovey Cove.

Baseball fans are now speculating at what number Bonds will complete his career.  That’s a good first question.  But I have a better question, esp. for Bonds’s biggest critics:  

Is there a number Bonds will have to achieve before you will recognize him as the all-time Home Run King?  Is there a point of achievement at which you will say he has achieved legitimacy?
Read the rest of this entry »

756!

He did it!  With one momentous and violent crack of the bat, Barry Bonds sent a specially-marked commemorative baseball soaring deep into the right field stands of San Francisco’s beautiful ballpark last night, thus giving Bonds 756 home runs and the new record.  Hank Aaron appeared on video minutes later, showing the class and dignity that marked his whole glorious career, to ceremoniously pass the torch as Home Run King, after carrying it so well for 33 years.

Many people, esp. in the media but also true blue baseball fans across the nation, lost sleep loathing the thought of this day arriving.  I — another true blue baseball fan — lost sleep only because I stayed up the last several games to make sure I saw Bonds tie and then eclipse the record.  They bemoaned the thought of an unworthy man holding the greatest record in all of sports.  I cheered, because I choose to recognize greatness and history.  Like all players, Bonds’s accomplishment will carry an asterisk — an unofficial one.  In time, he will be judged against the rest of baseball’s greats given the variables of the context of each of their times.  And so, his feat and place in the pantheon of baseball immortals will be debated in bars, living rooms, ball parks, and around the barbecue forevermore, and different people will reach different conclusions.   This is as it should be, and is one of many reasons that baseball is such a great sport and has rightfully been called the national pastime.  So, some will see 756 only with a great big asterisk after it.  I rather think it deserves an exclamation point. 
Read the rest of this entry »

Jayson Stark on Barry Bonds, An Underrated Home Run Hitter

While I’d side with Rob and argue that Ruth ought to be No. 1 on this list, I think you’re not giving Barry his due.

He played the first seven years of his career (1986-92) before The Home Run Era erupted — and the only two National Leaguers who hit more home runs than he did in that time period were Darryl Strawberry and Andre Dawson.

Then let’s accept the “Game of Shadows” timeline and look at his career from the beginning of the Home Run Era (1993) through 1998 — which, according to “Game of Shadows,” was before he met his friends from BALCO. The only National Leaguer with more homers than him in those years was Sammy Sosa — by one homer (236-235)! And the only players in the whole sport with a better home-run ratio than Barry were Mark McGwire and Junior Griffey. And that, remember, was in a period before Barry even got all that interested in hitting home runs.

So that’s not that different than Aaron during his own peak power years (1957-73), is it? Harmon Killebrew, Willie McCovey and Mickey Mantle all topped Hank in home-run ratio in that era, even though Hank out-totaled them.

~Jayson Stark, from Debate: Who’s the greatest slugger ever?

Bonds’s 73 HR Season in Historical Context

How extraordinary was the 73 home run season that Barry Bonds accomplished in 2001? Is an increase in power production of nearly 50% cause enough to cast Bonds’s record in doubt, as if only artificial performance enhancement could have been the cause?

To evaluate these questions, I have constructed the chart which follows this paragraph. What I set out to do is evaluate all individual increases in single-season home run production to 50 or more homers throughout the history of baseball. I picked 50 as the threshold because the sample size is way too small at 70+ (only 2 such seasons) or 60+ (8), and lower totals make evaluation unmanageable, given my limited amount of time (nor do I think it would have been as helpful toward reaching conclusions). Besides, most everyone still regards 50+ home runs in a season as a remarkable achievement. After all, only 24 players in the history of the game have hit 50 or more in a season, doing so a combined 39 times.  Read the rest of this entry »

Boom! BOOM!

Saturday, August 4, 2007 will go down in history as a most remarkable day in baseball.  Just hours after Alex Rodriguez hit the 500th home run of his already brilliant career, Barry Bonds tied Hank Aaron as the all-time leader with the 755th blast of his career.

Here are some of the best articles I have found commemorating this amazing day:

• Debate: Who’s the greatest slugger ever? (ESPN.com’s Jim Caple, Rob Neyer and Jayson Stark)
• Long-awaited No. 755 was one to savor  (Eric Neel)
• No doubt about it: Like him or not, polarizing Bonds makes homer history  (John Donovan)
• Barry Bonds’ 755th shot to tie Hank Aaron’s all-time home run record begins to sink in  (Associated Press)
• Bonds’s 755th career home run in pictures  (CNNSI.com)
• How Aaron would fare in Bonds’ time  (Imagine Sports’s Charles Wolfson and Luke Kraemer)
• Alex Rodriguez becomes youngest in baseball history to hit 500 home runs  (AP/CNNSI.com)
• Relaxed Rodriguez exchanges messages with Bonds, happy to share spotlight  (Associated Press)
• Time will tell if A-Rod ends up being king: Projecting career stats is an inexact science  (Jayson Stark)