Wednesday, May 9

Some Baseball Milestones Approaching

Last night, Barry Bonds hit his 745th home run. He is now 11 home runs away from breaking Hank Aaron's all time record. Despite 745, the SF Giants lost the the NY Mets. The pitcher for the Mets was Tom Glavine who won his 294th game, six away from 300. So which milestone means more? Especially with the allegations of Barry Bonds, and most of the other power hitters over the last 15 years(Say it ain't so Sammy), using performance enhancing drugs.

Let's be clear, even without the performance enhancing drugs, Bonds was already going to be one of the all-time greats, at least in my generation. He was a gold glove outfielder, a 30/30 and 40/40 member and a career .300 hitter. And let's make no mistake, the 500 home run club is as elusive as the 300 win club. Or it was before HGH.

Tom Glavine is closing in the magic 300 win number, which usually guarantees you a spot in Cooperstown. There are only two current active pitchers with 300 wins, Greg Maddux and the newly signed Roger Clemens. And the prospects of other 300 win pitchers is getting slimmer by the year. Pitching has become too specialized, and the longevity of pitchers seems to be less than it once was. After Glavine, the closet active player to 300 is Randy Johnson with 280 wins. For a little perspective, Pedro Martinez has only 206 wins. I'm sure there will be other pitching phenoms, but unlike a home run hitter, a pitcher can't do it on his own.

But in the era of the long ball and small ballparks, I will have to go with the 300 win pitcher.