Milestone Mania

As this weekend comes to a close, if you were a baseball fan, you were in absoulte Heaven. This weekend was probably better than the day of Frank Thomas's 500th homer and Craig Biggio's 3,000th hit.
We saw it all this weekend. Alex Rodriguez became the 22nd player in Major League history to jack 500 home runs. He also became the youngest to hit 500 home runs, at 32 years and 8 days old. If A-Rod continues his career average of about 34 home runs a year, he should have 600 by age 35, 700 by age 38, 800 by age 42 and 900 by age 45. Durability to that point is questionable, especially hitting 43 home runs at the age of 43. Sure Barry Bonds* did it, but his average numbers from age 22-34 (Avg. Home runs, 31 per season) compared to his average numbers from age 34 to now (Avg. Home runs, 38 per season) make him superhuman in the sense that his numbers are impossible. Alex Rodriguez could end up being the greatest player who ever lived after retirement, most likely holding records in Home Runs, RBI's, having 3,000 career hits and Runs Scored.

Barry Bonds* of course, finally went yard for the 755th time in his career. I for one, am highly against Barry Bonds. What he did was highly unethical and his record should have a fat asterik next to it. But let me say this. Even if Barry never used steroids, he would still have hit 650 career home runs, and most likely have passed Willie Mays and maybe even come close to Babe Ruth. He still would have been most likely a top 10 player of all-time. But then he used steroids. It is impossible for a player to win 4 MVP's past the age of 35. It is also highly unlikely for a player to hit 73 home runs at the age of 38. This Barry Bonds extravaganza is better left finished for another blog.

Tom Glavine. Or as I like to call him, The Forgotten One. Come on. In Atlanta he was sandwiched between Greg Maddux, who is one of the greatest pitchers ever, and John Smoltz, a super stud. In the middle was Tommy Glavine. Be honest here. How many people actually knew that Tom Glavine was closing in on 300 career wins. Not many. What Tom Glavine has just done is something that may not happen for another 50 years. The next closest to 300 is Randy Johnson, with 284, who may never pitch again. Tom Glavine is Mr. Consistensy. He never was on the DL during his career, and basically made all of his scheduled starts. Who else active do you predict to reach 300 wins? The only other active pitchers with 200+ wins are all over 40 except Pedro Martinez and Mike Mussina. Mussina is struggiling and Martinez has been on the DL since September. Do you think Johan Santana will? Fat Chance. He's 28 and he doesn't even have 100 wins. Justin Verlander? Not likely, but he'd have to start pulling off some 20 win years, in a row. Cole Hamels? Not if he continues to play for the Phillies.

This weekend has been astronomical. How many times do you see a 500 home run hitter, a record tying home run hitter and a 300 game winner all happen in a span of two days? I'll tell you. Never.