A Brief History of the Single Season Homerun Record

 

 Source:  http://exhibits.baseballhalloffame.org/ss_home_run/ruth_60th_photo.htm

The National Baseball Hall of Fame website has a great timeline of the single season homerun record.  Starting with just 5 HRs by George Hall in 1876 to the current (and disputed) 73 by B.B. whom I refuse to name or give credit.  It's a great story that you can read in 5 minutes.  It's worth the read.
http://exhibits.baseballhalloffame.org/ss_home_run/index.htm

Opening Day Excitement

Opening day has finally come and gone.  The weather could not have been better and the games likewise.  Sunday night the Red Sox come from behind on the strength of Kevin Youkilis’ three extra base hits and a solo shot from Dustin Pedroia to beat the hated Yankees.  Yesterday, Jason Heyward hits a long homerun on his first swing ever as a major league player and the Braves spanked the Cubs who tied an opening day record by allowing 16 runs.  Sir Albert Pujols hit not one but two opening day homeruns which puts him on pace for 324.  It could be a good season.  Roy Halladay pitched a gem in Philly as the reigning NL champs look to repeat.  Tim lincecum struck out 7 and gave up only 4 hits through 7 innings in a Giants 5-2 win over Houston.  Perhaps the play of the entire season has already occurred.  Mark Buerhle kicked a ball that was hit back at him, then chased it down as it careened toward the first base line between the pitcher’s mound and first.  He crosses the base path right in front of the baserunner and in one motion, scoops the ball with his glove and flicks it between his legs underhand to first to get the runner by about a half step.  WOW!  What does day two have in store?

Zito Plunks Fielder in Retaliation

Barry Zito decided that hitting Prince Fielder with a fastball in the back yesterday would teach him a lesson.  Fielder hit a walk-off homerun against the Giants in the playoffs last season and the team celebrated by falling like bowling pins when Fielder reached home plate.  There was no taunting or jestering in the direction of the mound or the Giants dugout.  But apparently celebrating a walk-off homerun in the playoffs is just unacceptable to the Giants.  This is one of the few opportunities when a professional ball player can enjoy the game.  This isn't tee-ball where everyone gets a trophy.  Let them enjoy the moment.  It was huge for him and his team.  Zito did all but cry na-na na-na na-na after drilling Fielder in the back on the first pitch of his first plate appearance.  In my opinion, there is a time for pitchers to ‘police’ the sport, but this definitely was not one of them.  Apparently, hitting a walk-off homerun in the playoffs is not a big event for the Giants.  Fielder handled the situation very well by tossing his bat back toward the dugout and even picking up and tossing the ball back toward Zito.  Given the choice of hitting a walk-off homerun in the playoffs and getting drilled the next year in Spring Training or losing the playoff game, I think I’ll take the walk-off every time.  The Brewers and Fielder obviously got the best of this deal but at least the Giants feelings aren’t still hurt.  My question:  Did Fielder even feel it?

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100304&content_id=8676528&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

‘Big Hurt’ Calls it Quits; Awaits the Hall

Frank Thomas announced his retirement on Thursday in Chicago where he spent most of his amazing career.  Opposing pitcher feared Thomas throughout the 90s.  Frank put up some amazing numbers from 1991 through 1998.  Every year he had over 100 hits, 100 RBI, and 100 walks, all while hitting over .300 (except for 1998).  In the same time period he hit 32, 24, 41, 38, 40, 40, 35, and 29 home runs respectively.  Thomas ends his career with 521 homeruns which ties him for 18th all-time.  He is one of only three guys to be named MVP in back-to-back seasons which he did in 1993-1994 (Jimmie Foxx and Albert Pujols).  He hold 12 different records for the White Sox organization, including home runs (448), walks (1,466), runs scored (1,327) and RBI (1,465).  The White Sox have announced they will retire Frank Thomas’ number 35.  There is no doubt Thomas will be a HOFer, the only question is ‘will the writers play games or elect him on the first ballot which he deserves?’

Thank You Junior

In an era where all the numbers appear to be tainted, one man has done it the right way. One man has held on to the integrity of the game. One man played clean even though many of his opponents did not. For that, I say “Thank You Ken Griffey Jr.”

How quickly we forget that before Big Mac and Sammy brought us the thrill of the 98 season and before Barry Bonds’ head doubled in size, ‘the kid’ was already hitting homeruns with the most beautiful swing you have ever seen. Before the infamous 98 season, Junior had already hit 40 or more homeruns in a season 4 times. This got me to thinking, “what could have been?”

Griffey missed most of the 95, 01, 02, 03 and 04 seasons due to injuries. Obviously, injuries are part of the game and there is nothing you can do about it, but I wanted to know where he would stand had he not been injured. I removed his stats from those 5 seasons and then took an average of the rest of his career. Then I projected those numbers over 5 more seasons to see where he would be today. Through 21 seasons, Grif would have scored 1964 Runs (9th), 3276 Hits (12th), 613 Doubles (11th), 743 Home Runs (3rd), 2178 RBIs (3rd) and have a .291 average. Sure, he wouldn’t be first on any of the lists. However, the guys ahead of him all played more than 21 seasons (except for the Babe who played 21) and all have many more ABs. Hank Aaron played 23 seasons and had over 4200 more at-bats. Babe Ruth had 370 more at-bats and Barry Bonds played 22 seasons (although he missed most of the 2005 season) and had over 1850 more at-bats. So, since we still aren’t comparing apples to apples, I decided to take it one step farther and figure out, on average, how many at-bats between homeruns. There was no comparison. Griffey hits a home run ever 10.8 at-bats. The next closest was the Babe at one every 11.7 at-bats followed by Bonds (12.9 at-bats) and Aaron (16.3 at-bats). I decided to check today’s stars against these numbers as well. The closest is Albert Pujols with a home run every 14 at-bats followed by Alex Rodriguez (14.2) and Manny Ramirez (14.6).

Ultimately, Griffey was/is the greatest player of my generation and arguably ever. But, we’ll never know. Many people would never have know it either because Griffey did it with class and little fan fare. We all missed out on one of the greatest the game has ever seen. So once again, I say “Thank You Griffey, Jr.”