As I am watching the Mets play the Cardinals, ESPN broke in to show A-Rod's final at bat against the Indians to see if he finally reaches 600 home runs. I hate the Yankees and I hate A-Rod, so I was not happy to say the least. And I got to thinking, does 600 homers really matter or has that number lost it's luster?
Let's look at the members of the 600 club:
Barry Bonds- Age at 600, 38. Year of 600, 2002
Hank Aaron- Age at 600, 37. Year of 600, 1971
Babe Ruth- Age at 600, 36. Year of 600, 1931
Willie Mays- Age at 600, 38. Year of 600, 1969
Ken Griffey, Jr.- Age at 600, 38. Year of 600, 2008.
Sammy Sosa- Age of 600, 38. Year of 600, 2007.
Ok, so from 1931 to 1971 (a span of 40 years for all of you mathematicians) there were 3 players that hit 600 homers. Then, all of a sudden, there were 3 more from 2002 to 2008 with 600 and there is about to be a fourth in 2010. Out of those four, three of them have the stigma of performance enhancing drugs attached to them and one of them, A-Rod, has admitted his usage of PED's.
Looking at all of this I think that 600 homers does not mean what it used to. There is not much trust in hitters in the steroid era. Now that Major League Baseball has cracked down on the use of steroids, I can bet that the number of players hitting 500 to 600 home runs will decrease dramatically and return to the numbers that we have seen in the past.
Pitching has made a resurgence and this year is a great example. With two perfect games and multiple no -hitters this season, it looks as if the crack down is working and players are cleaner than a decade ago. This is why what A-Rod is doing is no big deal. The guy had a lot of help reaching this lofty milestone.
Guys like Ruth, Mays and Aaron will remain immortalized by their feet. They did it the right way, the clean way. It is too bad for Griffey because there are no indications that he ever did anything to cheat, his latter years and their lack of productivity's proved that. But thanks to Bonds, Sosa, McGwire, A-Rod, Manny, Ortiz (yes, I am throwing you in there Big Papi), and a a host of others, this era will always be looked at with a skeptical and spiteful eye.
Let's look at the members of the 600 club:
Barry Bonds- Age at 600, 38. Year of 600, 2002
Hank Aaron- Age at 600, 37. Year of 600, 1971
Babe Ruth- Age at 600, 36. Year of 600, 1931
Willie Mays- Age at 600, 38. Year of 600, 1969
Ken Griffey, Jr.- Age at 600, 38. Year of 600, 2008.
Sammy Sosa- Age of 600, 38. Year of 600, 2007.
Ok, so from 1931 to 1971 (a span of 40 years for all of you mathematicians) there were 3 players that hit 600 homers. Then, all of a sudden, there were 3 more from 2002 to 2008 with 600 and there is about to be a fourth in 2010. Out of those four, three of them have the stigma of performance enhancing drugs attached to them and one of them, A-Rod, has admitted his usage of PED's.
Looking at all of this I think that 600 homers does not mean what it used to. There is not much trust in hitters in the steroid era. Now that Major League Baseball has cracked down on the use of steroids, I can bet that the number of players hitting 500 to 600 home runs will decrease dramatically and return to the numbers that we have seen in the past.
Pitching has made a resurgence and this year is a great example. With two perfect games and multiple no -hitters this season, it looks as if the crack down is working and players are cleaner than a decade ago. This is why what A-Rod is doing is no big deal. The guy had a lot of help reaching this lofty milestone.
Guys like Ruth, Mays and Aaron will remain immortalized by their feet. They did it the right way, the clean way. It is too bad for Griffey because there are no indications that he ever did anything to cheat, his latter years and their lack of productivity's proved that. But thanks to Bonds, Sosa, McGwire, A-Rod, Manny, Ortiz (yes, I am throwing you in there Big Papi), and a a host of others, this era will always be looked at with a skeptical and spiteful eye.
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