Just some thoughts and facts picked up during the last week, with XM in one ear and wife and grandkids in the other...
"COBB GETS SUSPENDED FOR 50 GAMES!"
That sombitch has been dead for years and still he finds a way to get in trouble. No wonder they didn't want him in the corn field.
I forgot to post this with some other stuff awhile ago. Adrian Gonzalez killed me near the end of April. He was approaching a record that probably would not be touched for a long time but ruined it this year.
He had gone almost 2,400 plate appearances without a stolen base. He will be second to Russ Nixon's 2714 pa's for a long time. Folks, even Bengie Molina has three sb's in his career and the only time he could even beat his own bros in a race was when it was dinnertime....hmm, the Molina bros "passing" things at the dinner table, future commercial....Anyway,The most odd thing about Gonzalez was that before this year, he had not even ATTEMTED a stolen base before this year. He has one officially, but that was a play where he was picked off second and ran toward third. He has tried another attempt since his steal and, predictably, was thrown out.
Speaking of steals Dom DiMaggio lead the American League in steals in 1950 with....15.
Also speaking of steals, Juan Pierre had a couple recently. It put him in the top 50 of all time. He is the only active player in the top 50.
Ortiz
Ordonez
ARod
An Jones
Giles Bros
Boone
Giambi
Sosa
Ol Perez
When you look at this list of names, we're sure to recognize some as potential steroid abusers. Lets assume they are, for the sake of this argument.
These guys all for different lengths of time hit a wall. A steroid wall possibly? All of these players for at least a period of time played like my Aunt Ruth more than themselves.
A bridge drug is probably needed, probably like Manny was caught taking. One that can't be detected. Conspiracy theorists are probably way ahead of me on this one, and know that Albert is already taking it
The Yankees had to show patience with Giambi due to his contract. Sosa came back after his wall for a year. Andruw Jones appears as if he is close to getting over it. Makes one wonder how much patience will be shown to Perez and Ordonez. With ARod and Giles, their contracts dictate patience. Actually, besides friends and family, few people would care if the Padres designated Giles for assignment.
Did I miss more walls? Let me know.
Just a small piece of trivia...
Babe Ruth won the MVP only one time in his career, 1923.
The award started in 1922, with one for each league. The American League had a provision that one player could not win the award more than once. The Babe's 60 home run year in 1927, the award went to teammate Lou Gehrig. By the time the award was presented by writers in 1929, the Babe was a little past his prime and never won another. Gehrig won another in 1936.
