Judge and the plethora of home runs has led to a lot of blah, blah talk of juiced baseballs.
A lot of non-fans of baseball and even casual or rabid fans consider the All Star break as the halfway point of the season.
It's not.
Judge is the 36th player to have 30 home runs by the All Star break.
So that is altogether not new. The sensational part is that he is a rookie 'from nowhere'.
Barry Bonds and his friend, Ped, had 39 homers at the break in 2001.
In 1969, Reggie Jackson was the rage. He had 37 homers at the break. He finished with 49.
I like this one. Harmon Killebrew had 28 homers at the All Star break FOUR times.
AND, he did it in three different decades. 1959, 1964, 1969, and 1970.
Bonds, McGwire, and their friend, Ped, are tied with the most homers in the National League by July 31.
They had 45.
In the American League, the 'by July 31' record is held by two old timers.
Babe Ruth and Jimmie Foxx each had seasons of hitting 41 homers by that date.
A quirk, if liking even numbers...
The record for NL homers on September 30 is 70 homers by Mark McGwire
The record for NL homers on September 30 is 60 homers by Ruth and Maris.
Bonds and Maris each set their league records in October.
Speaking of the number 30, as we all know, most 30-30 seasons are concoctions of our own imaginations as we draft in fantasy baseball.
Or, to put it another way, most 30-30 seasons come between October and March.
Not April to September.
I don't know how many times a fellow has drafted a player and wrote 'possible 30-30' by his name.
The reality is that the last 30-30 season came in 2012 when both Mike Trout and Ryan Braun turned the trick.
And despite the talk of juiced balls and home runs flying everywhere, again, few players even have a chance at 30-30 this season.
Here are the 'leaders'...
Betts 17-16
Goldschmidt 21-14
Jose Altuve 14-19
Keon Broxton 14-17
Mike Trout 16-11 (Trout fans can only think of what could have been without injury)
'30-30' became 'a thing' when statistics rose in the 80's.
Fantasy baseball and new statistics helping things along.
30-30 showed dominance in two fan favorite categories, speed and power.
Until then, merely numbers.
Kenny Williams had the first 30-30 in 1922.
Hardly anybody has heard of him and little was said when Williams had his marvelous season.
After all, Babe Ruth hit 59 homers the season before. The focus was on how many one can hit, not 30-30.
It wasn't until 1956 (Willie Mays) that another 30-30 season would be had.
Mays would do it again the next year.
When Jose Canseco had his PEDal to the metal 40-40 in 1988, and received a media blitz of attention, Mays said, "If I would have known this was such a big deal, I would have done it a few times during my career."
There have been 60 '30-30' seasons now.
Five each by the father-son team of Bobby and Barry Bonds.
30-30 wasn't a 'thing' when Bobby Bonds accomplished the feats.
He did it between 1973 and 1978 for four different teams.
If it were 'a thing', one of those teams would have kept him
Nine players in baseball today have achieved a 30-30 season.
I have named two already and two current players have accomplished the feat TWICE.
Can you name the nine current players?
Answer at the bottom of the post.....
A friend and I were talking about the many baseball records that will never be broken.
Just go to Wins, Complete Games, Shutouts, and Innings Pitched for the easy ones.
We talked about the harder, more unheard of records to break.
Here are a few...
Most Home Runs hit by an American League pitcher.
The record is 37 by Wes Farrell.
Farrell was no fluke.
He drove in over 200 runs and hit .280
A lot better than most utility players then and now.
What keeps the record positively secure for Farrell is the DH rule in the American League.
Ever heard of Gus Weyhing?
Most haven't.
He pitched 1887-1901.
Weyhing was not a superlative pitcher. He 'only' won 264 games.
If 'great' back in those days, we don't know about them in these days.
But, Weyhing holds a record that few know.
He hit 277 batters.
He hit 42 batters in one season. That same season, he led baseball with 56 wild pitches.
Anything but a comfortable at bat!
We all know that Nolan Ryan led the world in strike outs.
But, his walks allowed record will probably never be topped as well.
Ryan walked 2795 hitters.
Ryan's longevity and skill at one statistic made a record out of a bad statistic.
This has happened to a few other players.
Pete Rose has the most hits in baseball history.
And, Pete Rose has made the most outs in history.
Cal Ripken's consecutive game streak will never be broken with the amount of 'rest' needed by current players.
Ripken also grounded into 350 double plays.
Rickey Henderson has the most steals in history.
Rickey Henderson also has been caught stealing more than any other player.
We never heard, "I am the Greatest" after that record, did we.
Speaking of steals, which pitcher has had the greatest season of NOT allowing stolen bases?
In 1960, Whitey Ford threw 283 innings without allowing a steal.
Only three attempted and they were thrown out.
The record should go to Luis Tiant though.
In 1968, Tiant did not allow a stolen base in 258 innings.
25 less innings than Ford, eight years earlier.
However, nine would be thieves attempted to nab second base. All, caught.
Worst stolen base player ever?
Russ Nixon.
Nixon played from 1957 to 1968 (the same year that Richard Nixon was elected President)
12 years Nixon played.
He never stole a base.
He tried seven times in his younger years, his first five seasons,
No dice.
During his last seven years.
Not even an attempt.
his 906 games without a steal is still a record today.
Hank Aaron's 25 All Star games and Mickey Mantle's 18 World Series records are safe.
Now, the media likes 'playoff records' since most World Series records belong to the Yankees.
Have you heard of Herman Long?
He also played in the 1890's.
Long did something that will never, never be equaled.
Mostly because infielders play on well-combed grass and infielders, today, are slick.
That's right. Long committed the most errors in history.
1096 errors in 1875 games.
And I thought Dave Kingman was bad!
While thinking about the nine current players to have 30-30 seasons, here's another for you.
Five current players have had 30 home runs at the All Star break.
Who are they?
Here are a few current stats while thinking of those answers...
A lot of fans think that the Houston Astros live and die by the home run.
The truth is that they are very good at hitting home runs but they don't HAVE to hit home runs to win.
They are 9-7 in games without homering (like yesterday)
It's the Dodgers that have a hard time winning without the long ball.
They are 5-17 in games without a homer.
Making them an astounding 59-12 when hitting a homer.
Travis Shaw hit his 20th homer this past weekend.
He did it in his 80th game.
Teammate, Eric Thames has 23 and also hit 20 homers by his 80th game.
Both, did not play with the Brewers last season.
The last duo new to a team to accomplish the feat were Ellis Burks and Juan Gonzalez in 2001 with the Cleveland Indians.
Ok, ready for the answers?
Here they are
Trout- 2012
Braun 2012, 2011)
Ellsbury- 2011
Kemp- 2011
Kinsler- 2011, 2009
H Ramirez- 2008
B Phillips- 2007
D Wright- 2007
Beltran- 2004
I'm guessing Phillips and Beltran were not on many lists
And who were the five current players with 30 homers at the All Star break?
Aaron Judge, Chris Davis, Albert Pujols, Miguel Cabrera, and Jose Bautista.
Edit for a typo
