Baseball has historically been the American sport that values statistics more than any other. Within baseball there are several hallowed marks that, if achieved, almost certainly guarantee the player Hall of Fame induction. 2007 is a year, unlike any other before it, where several magical milestones will be reached by some of the game’s stars, and now likely hall-of-famers.
Hitting:
3,000 hits: Craig Biggio, despite playing with and sometimes in the shadows of long-time teammate Jeff Bagwell, is on the verge of getting his 3,000th hit. This durable and dependable Astros star is about to join the exclusive 26-member 3,000 hit club.
500 Home Runs: This was, and to some degree still is, rare company. Only 20 players have hit 500 round-trippers. This club is could get five new members by the end of the 2007 season. Frank Thomas, Alex Rodriguez, Jim Thome and Manny Ramirez are virtual locks, and Garry Sheffield has a chance if he continues his hot hitting. On this list, Jim Thome has the weakest case for hall of fame induction, but 500 home runs to go along with his career .282 average, .410 On Base %, .565 Slugging %, and .975 OPS make a strong argument for inclusion.
755 Home Runs: The grand-daddy of them all. Barry Bonds is on pace to break Hank Aaron’s all-time home run record. Bonds’ career has been nothing short of spectacular. His eight gold gloves, seven MVPs, and top-five all-time ranking in RBI, Runs, Total Bases, Walks, On Base %, Slugging % and OPS prove that he is much more than just a home run hitter.
Pitching
300 Wins: Tom Glavine is almost certain to achieve the feat in 2007, while Randy Johnson will likely have to pitch into 2008 to reach this milestone. Both are certain hall- of-famers with impressive regular-season and post-season resumes.
500 Saves: Saves is a relatively new category but Trevor Hoffman is one of the best of all time. While Hoffman does not receive the praise of his contemporary Mariano Rivera, he has nonetheless had quite a career, with 40 or more saves in eight seasons. Pretty amazing considering that 300 Saves was considered the career milestone for elite relievers.
3,000 Strikeouts: Hall-of-famer to be Pedro Martinez is two strikeouts away, so he just has to get healthy, and fellow Cooperstown inductee-to-be John Smoltz could reach the milestone this season. Smoltz’ accomplishment is even more impressive given that he was a relief pitcher from 2001-2004 (accumulating 154 saves in those four years), which lowered his yearly strikeout totals from 188 per full season as a starter to 75 per season as a reliever.
4 comments:
It's too bad that all of this is happening in the steroid era. These are awesome ball players who have a dark cloud over baseball during their careers.
Jim Thome in the Hall? He has never won anything or really dominated the AL or NL. At least Thomas won MVPs before he became a DH and Sheffield has a World Series ring.
You can also add Sosa and Junior to the 600 hone run club this year.
Thome's walk off 500th HR yesterday was pretty cool.
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