Posted on 05/01/2015 7:05:52 PM PDT by fhayek
Alex Rodriguez, not in Friday’s starting lineup against the Red Sox, still managed to make history. He pinch-hit for DH Garrett Jones in the eighth inning, facing reliever Junichi Tazawa. He got ahead in the count 3-0, then slugged a 94 MPH fastball out to left field for career home run number 660, putting the Yankees up 3-2.
(Excerpt) Read more at hardballtalk.nbcsports.com ...
In 1927 for the Yankees the Babe hit 60; Gehrig had 47; and Tony Lazzeri was third in the American League with 18.
The AL hit 439 homers. Ruth had more by himself than every other TEAM was able to. Gehrig topped four of the teams.
Meh, it doesn’t really count. How many of those were due to PEDs? And don’t give me that crap about “greenies” in Mays’s era. There no comparison.
“Say Hey” did it without the juice. Nothing to see here.
“Alex Rodriguez hits a pinch-hit home run to tie Willie Mays at 660 home runs”
And the Cincinnati Reds won the 1919 World Series.
Good for him. I’d like to see Arod redeem himself before he retires. Enough of the hypocrites and their delicious tears. These guys saved baseball and since the homers have gone down so has attendance. If you love the pure game so much why are the seats empty? Ruth’s era played against only whites. Willie Mays era took meth. Half of baseball’s early HOFers didnt even play night games. Give it a rest. Good job Arod, Bonds, Sosa, McGwire and thank you for keeping baseball relevant. Congrats.
That is one of the more disappointing comments I’ve read on FR. If the only way to keep a sport relevant is by cheating, then it’s time for that sport to fold up shop and call it game over.
Willie Mays would have beat Aaron if he played his entire career in the Polo Grounds. And Willie missed two years when he was in the Army. For my money, Willie Mays is the greatest player I have ever seen. It is not even close.
I agree.
I agree. I’m glad that we’re back to real baseball and not bash ball, but the sanctimony gets on my nerves.
http://articles.latimes.com/1985-09-13/sports/sp-22701_1_willie-mays
“Chicks dig the long ball.”
I think Willie Mays was the best all around ballplayer that I have seen. Fielding, throwing, baserunning, hitting for power, hitting for average——his combination of abilities was special.
Rose hit .303 and Aaron hit .305. Just had to look that up.
Not a fan of Arod (mainly because I am a Red Sox fan), but I am impressed that he is doing as well as he is at 39 and after a year off. Six homeruns already this season, putting him in the top ten for the season.
I’m glad he’s playing well and earning his money.
And he played with such abandon and joy.
Every home run record for the past 30 years should come with an asterisk. Today’s baseball players play in Little League stadiums. Have you seen the size of those behemoth stadiums from the old days? Almost 500 feet to the center field fence.
In some of them, such as the Polo Grounds -- where it was also 280' down the RF line.
But, then, some of the old stadiums were band boxes, too. Like Crosley Field in Cincinnati.
Fact is that, on average, the average dimensions of a baseball park have been pretty much the same over the years.
But, how did that affect home runs? Were there more home runs down the lines, but fewer to LC-C-RC? It would be interesting if someone could do a sabermetric study (if the data was available). How many home runs would Ruth have hit if he played in modern stadiums?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.