ROSEY’S RANTS
ROSEY’S RANTS
500 Home Runs, Not Like it was Back In The Day.
I guess it has finally happened, that point in one’s life were
everything was better when you were a kid. TV, The Movies,The Air, the guys who hit 500 or more home runs.
Back in the day guys who hit 500 home runs were awe inspiring. Not because they were bigger or stronger then anyone else, simply because of the sheer accomplishment of what they had achieved. To put it in prospective I am 49 years old and I started following baseball in 1966. At that time there were only 5 members of the 500 Home run Club, 5, !!! They were Babe Ruth,Willie Mays,Jimmie Fox, Ted Williams and Mel Ott. Of those five,four had accomplished the feat before I was born. So since the founding of Major League Baseball in 1876 to my 6th birthday in 1966, 90 years worth of games only five men hit 500 home runs. In the ensuing 43 years 20 more have joined that group. The late 60’s saw Mickey Mantle, Henry Aaron and Eddie Matthews join the elite 5, all of them once again feared long ball hitters. The 70’s added Frank Robinson,Harmon Killebrew,Willie McCovey, and Ernie Banks, Then the 80’s had only two more in Reggie Jackson and Mike Schmidt. Then something happened ,Over 100 years of baseball and only 14 men were in this elite club, many other great power hitters sat on the cusp such as Lou Gerhig, Willie Stargell,Stan Musial,Carl Yastrzemski and yes even Dave Kingman. Yet since 1990 to now 11 more have reached 500, see if you see a trend here: Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa,Mark McGwire,Rafael Palmeiro,Alex Rodriguez,Manny Ramirez,Gary Sheffield,Eddie Murray,Ken Griffey Jr, Frank Thomas, Jim Thome. More then half of these players have the cloud of steroids over the achievement. Should the last 4 on the list that don’t have that cloud be looked into further, do we doubt their achievement, until Manny we probably didn’t but now who knows. I’d like to think that some players today reach that goal without cheating, so today I will look at Junior, Jim Thome, The Big Hurt, and Eddie Murray as guys who could have played in the Good Old Days. Wow when did I become my father ?
Wednesday, May 13, 2009