MLB History

While most of the media attention is going towards Ubaldo Jimenez’s quest for 25 wins and Josh Johnson’s goal of a sub-2 ERA, everyone is overlooking the historic year Cliff Lee is having.

Lee’s season is easy to overlook, especially in the “Year of the Pitcher.” The lefty only has 10 wins, which is well behind the league leaders.

This time, it was different.

At the end of play on Aug. 21, 1971, the San Francisco Giants led the Los Angeles Dodgers by eight games. This time, it would be the Dodgers who would try to come from behind.

An eight game lead in early September is not insurmountable, but if the team being chased is a solid team, eight games are usually—but not always—enough.

Right about now, it’s not easy being Lance Berkman or Roy Oswalt.

Talk about a lost puppy in a big city.

Both former Houston Astros icons are in new cities and with new teams, and both appear to be having a difficult time adjusting to their new surroundings.

Oswalt was rocked in his first start with the Phillies, while Berkman has notched a mere two hits and one RBI since donning pinstripes with the Yankees.

Baseball is an absurd game. And I think that’s why we love it.

I was reminded of this when I happened across The Sandlot as I was skimming through channels the other day. In an odd sort of bummer, I tuned in at the very end, just after the gang has finally defeated Hercules and Smalls and Benny have their meet and greet with James Earl Jones. Alas, I had missed out on all the fun stuff.

The good news is that I was in time for the money shot.

As Alex Rodriguez rounded the bases for the 600th time in the major leagues, he joined Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Ken Griffey Jr., Sammy Sosa, and Barry Bonds as the only players to reach that plateau. 

At the age of 35, media members quickly touted A-Rod for being the youngest player in history to break 600.  Most people began to speculate when, not if, he will break Barry Bonds' record of 762 round trippers.

The potential of Paul Konerko going to another MLB team in 2005 was highly likely after winning the World Series with the White Sox. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the Baltimore Orioles were both reported to propose Konerko additional money than the White Sox did at that time.

On November 30, 2005, Paul Konerko signed a five year $60 million deal with the White Sox.

Alex Rodriguez joined an elite group of men who have hit 600 in baseball history. Congratulations A-Rod!

Unfortunately, Shaun Marcum joined an exclusive group as well. For every 600th home run that's hit, someone has to serve it up. Here are the men who became famous by throwing the ball that ended up in Cooperstown.

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The Baseball Writer's Association of America has long irked sporting fans from coast to coast by basing their decisions on trivial aspects of the game (grittiness, hustle, and clutch being a few personal favorites) that really shouldn't factor into MVP discussions.

Is 600 a big deal?

That was the question posed by ESPN's morning edition of SportsCenter the day following Alex Rodriguez's historic home run.  Performance enhancing drugs or not, 600 home runs by one individual player most certainly is a big deal. 

Of the thousands of players to play the game, Alex Rodriguez is only the seventh player to accumulate that many home runs.  That's a smaller percentage of players than have recorded 3,000 hits, won triple crowns, or pitched perfect games.

Alex Rodriguez hit a home run yesterday.