Milestones

[Frayed Knot]

Just a general purpose note for a boring Monday:

- we pretty much ignored Torre winning his 2,000th game, notable only in that he became the only player w/2K hits and also 2K wins as a manager.

- and also let Hoffman's 500th save slide by with barely a mention. I know, it's saves and a boring 'counting' stat, but that's one long career of saving games.

- Chipper got his 2,000th hit the other day



Others Coming up:

- Sammy is 1 HR short of 600

- Biggio is 11 hits short of 3,000. Be interesting to see if he keeps his (more or less) full time job once he gets it considering his sub-.300 OBA this year.

- Frank Thomas is 4 HRs short of 500

- Griffey, who already has 18 this year and has passed Reggie, Palmiero, and Killebrew during the season to get to 8th all-time, needs 19 to reach 600 and would pass McGwire & Frank Robinson on the way.

- and then there's that Bonds guy who now needs just 7 to tie, 8 to break.

[Benjamin Grimm]

A while ago I heard that Glavine had 295 wins.

Surely he's closing in on 300 by now?

[Frayed Knot]

Oh, and Bobby Cox is one ejection short of the all-time record of John McGraw

[Guest Mr. Zero]

]A while ago I heard that Glavine had 295 wins.

That's one for the "Millstones" thread.

[stevejrogers]

Frayed Knot wrote: - Frank Thomas is 4 HRs short of 500

ARod needs 9 more as well.

Also Sosa is sitting on 599

[Frayed Knot]

Some amusing stuff about Cox's ejection history

Also, considering the differences in their reputations, Torre's managerial ejection rate is surpringly close to that of Piniella.

[Frayed Knot]

Bonds hits 749, now needs 7 to tie, 8 to break.
- So I hear about this via this morning's SportsCenter, which leads off their telecast with that game (big surprise) with the tease that Bonds had hit another HR and "It was a big one!". So I'm thinking that maybe he hit a late-game clout which brought the Giants back from their early deficit after I had gone to bed ... only to find out that it was a relatively meaningless solo shot narrowing a 6-2 NYY lead down to 6-3..
Sheesh!



Also, Baltimore puts Miguel Tejada on the DL breaking his 5th longest ever consecutive games played streak. Tejada had taken a pitch off his wrist 2 games ago and was pulled from the game. However he played the next day taking only a 1st inning AB where he tried to bunt his way on and was then replaced in an obvious attempt to keep the streak going. Turns out, however, that the wrist is broken and the streak is over.

[metirish]

Frank Thomas hits number 500 in Minnesota,gets standing ovation.

[Frayed Knot]

#500 for Frank Thomas this afternoon (Jays lost anyway)

Houston is sitting Biggio while he's on the road so his 3,000th hit will come at home (needs 3)

Cox tied the ejection record last week but needs one more to have it all to hisself

[Willets Point]

Frayed, this thread needs photos of all the historical players the player in question needs to pass to get to his milestone.

[HahnSolo]

Frayed Knot wrote: Houston is sitting Biggio while he's on the road so his 3,000th hit will come at home (needs 3)

I never liked the logic behind this. What if he goes in a slump on the homestand?

[Guest Edgy DC]

What if they, you know, lose games because he's sitting?

I mean, I realize he's not helping them win much at all this year*, but that's a hard way to keep your rep as a gamer, no matter how skutchy your helmet is.

*The on-base percentages for Houston's starting secondbaseman and shortstops this year are .278 and .275, respecitively. The OBP for backup at the two positoins, Mark Loretta, is .400. Mike Lamb, who used to play second, is now backing up at third with a .366 OBP. Backing up Morgan Ensberg, that is. Loretta is filling in while the shortstop (Adam Everett) is on the DL, and they better not give Everett the job back too easily.

[Guest attgig]

here's a prettier way to keep track:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/flash/milestones

[Vic Sage]

500 HRs for Thomas. Looking at his career numbers, he's got all the HOF credentials you could ask for... but the most common defensive position he played throughout his career was "DH". Will voters hold that against him? And how devalued will his numbers be, considering he generated them during the steroid era?

I guess the first test of the HOF-worthiness of a full-time DH will first be tested in a few years by Edgar Martinez. But he's a borderline candidate, compared to Thomas.

To be clear, i don't think it should matter much at all that he was a DH a majority of his career. Same for Martinez. But i've heard writers speak dismissively of DHs as HOFers. The same is true of their intentions regarding steroids-era players in general. Will that combo be enough to derail Thomas's enshrinement? I don't think he's ever been specifically identified as a steroids cheat, but he does have an abnormally large physique and could be tarred with that brush by those who are looking for a reason not to vote for a DH.

thoughts?

[Guest Edgy DC]

People should consider the DH question. A DH gets zero defensive win shares. But any writer working from the rule of DH=non-candidate should be railed against.

[Guest OlerudOwned]

attgig wrote: here's a prettier way to keep track: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/flash/milestones

They project Griffey to hit 600 on September 3rd, against the Mets.

[Centerfield]

That is, of course, unless he's on the Mets.

[Gwreck]

Vic Sage wrote: guess the first test of the HOF-worthiness of a full-time DH will first be tested in a few years by Edgar Martinez. But he's a borderline candidate, compared to Thomas.

I don't think Martinez is a "borderline" candidate. That's selling his career numbers pretty short. The .311 batting average and .933 OPS are pretty damn good.

[seawolf17]

I look forward to cheering Griffey's 600th home run wearing my white "GRIFFEY 3" Mets t-shirt.

Frank Thomas is a Hall of Famer, methinks.

[nymr83]

Martinez is a hall of famer, but the fact that he only played half the game does make it close to me.

Thomas is just automatic. he is 11th on the career OPS list.

[Elster88]

seawolf17 wrote: I look forward to cheering Griffey's 600th home run wearing my white "GRIFFEY 3" Mets t-shirt. Frank Thomas is a Hall of Famer, methinks.

I'm just being silly and superstitious of course, but the way things are going if Griffey joins the Mets I see him getting in a car accident on the way from LaGuardia to Flushing. He won't be injured, but he'll tear a hamstring jogging the last quarter-mile to Shea.

[Frayed Knot]

Biggio 3K

'Stros came home, he got in the lineup, and promptly got 3 knocks.
Good job for a nice Long Island boy.

[Elster88]

Does he belong in the HoF? I say no.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

he's a lock

[Elster88]

Thanks for pointing out the obvious. He still doesn't belong IMHO.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Good luck with that campaign.

[Guest attgig]

consistency has gotten people in before. he's in.

now... if he breaks the HBP record, he'll definitely be a lock...........

[metirish]

Biggio will retire after the season.

] "Retiring is not an easy thing to do," Biggio told MLB.com. "But it's time. How many guys get the opportunity to do it the way they want to do it? You're pretty much writing your own story here, as far as walking away when you want to walk away. It's not taken away." Only seven major league players have more than 3,000 hits and 400 stolen bases. Five are enshrined in Cooperstown. Players with 3,000 Hits and 400 Steals Player Hits Steals Rickey Henderson 3,055 1,406 Lou Brock 3,023 938 Ty Cobb 4,191 744 Eddie Collins 3,315 744 Paul Molitor 3,319 504 Tris Speaker 3,514 432 Craig Biggio 3,014* 413* * Entering Tuesday's game "It's just time. That hurts. But you hear bad stories sometimes that guys waited too long [to retire] and I don't want a bad taste in the fans' mouths that I played too long. Then they remember me on the down side, the bad side. It can't get any better than it has been this year," he said, according to the Web site. "I'm going out on top. Other than a World Series, the [3,000th] hit thing was unbelievable. To me, I'm going out on top. It makes me feel great, being able to do it this way. And the fans can remember you on a positive note," he said, according to the Web site.

[Frayed Knot]

Biggio was, I believe, unsigned beyond this year and it was not exactly a slam-dunk that he would have gotten a job offer from Houston, or maybe would have had to accept one at a greatly reduced price and for a greatly reduced role.
IOW, not surprising that he's quitting. Being 41 y/o has something to do with it also.




Back to milestones ... why are they using specially marked balls for Bonds & ARod during at-bats where they couldn't possibly tie or set a mark?!?
As good as both are, it's not like either can hit TWO HRs in one AB.

Do they think Alex's #499 is going to be valuable to the point where it's authenticity can't be in question? Or Barry's NON record-tying HR?

[Guest Edgy DC]

Frayed Knot wrote: Do they think Alex's #499 is going to be valuable to the point where it's authenticity can't be in question? Or Barry's NON record-tying HR?

Yeah, I think these lead-up homers are going to be valuable things.

I imagine the day isn't far off when every ball will be uniuqiely marked and enter the game in sequence.