|
June in review
Let's hear it for the
old-timers
By Brenton Metzler
Outsports.com
I am 28
years old and as I look around the league I continue to see
men playing baseball that I watched in awe when I was
younger. It seems silly to think that a man’s career should
be over at the age of 40, but in the world of professional
sports 40 is a milestone. It’s an age that not many players
make it to and one that few players play at high levels
afterwards.
Tons of
noise has been made about Roger Clemens coming back out of
retirement. He’s 44, 45 in August, and is now in the
rotation for the New York Yankees. As humorous as it is to
make fun of his age, and if you haven’t seen the video of
Roger Clemens meeting with the Yankees front office in 2057,
take a look
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/6562. I look around the
league and think to myself, these “old” guys are doing some
interesting things.
Ken Griffey
Jr. isn’t playing like the guy I watched steal all those
bases as a kid, but he has hit 584 career home runs, taking
him past Mark McGwire and into eighth place on the career
home run list. Barry Bonds has lost a step, too, having
huge gaps between his home runs now, but he is going to own
the most hallowed record in sports, sitting at 750, only
five away from Hank Aaron’s all time home run record. These
batters are no the premier players on their team, but their
hitting skills are still able to help their teams.
Pitchers
are even more viable into their 40s and it is being proven
this year again as more and more “over-the-hill” pitchers
are signing huge contracts to help out teams that need
veteran starters to round out their rotations. Clemens
signed a contract worth a record $18 million for the
remaining four months of the season and has lost more games
than he has won, going 1-3 through June, but he has recorded
22 strike-outs versus just eight walks in five games and is
doing his part for the Yankees who are struggling in other
areas. He just passed Randy Johnson on the all-time
strikeout list with 4,626 and now rests behind only Nolan
Ryan (5,714), who retired at 46.
Greg Maddux
is 41, but the San Diego Padres just signed him to one-year
$10 million contract and he has delivered for them with a
7-4 record and 52 strikeouts vs. just 16 walks. John Smoltz
turned 40 this year and is making $8 million this year,
while nursing a sore shoulder; he is 9-4 for the Atlanta
Braves with an era that is lower than his career average.
He has 90 strikeouts vs. just 21 walks. Then there is the
venerable Randy Johnson, the giant with the handlebar
mustache. He’s 43 and while his back is giving way to a lot
of off time this season, the Arizona Diamondbacks are still
willing to pay almost $10 million for his arm and he has
delivered with a 4-3 record, 72 strikeouts and just 13
walks.
These old
men are not only playing, they are playing well. I always
wished that I could have been around for the hallowed days
of Roger Maris, Willie Mays and the guys that we talk about
with such reverence. They were glorious players setting
records that would stand forever, but looking around the
league today at these “old” men and the ranks under them
that they are mentoring, you have to wonder if future
generations will look back with wonderment and wish that
they were around for days of Clemens and Griffey.
Strange facts from around the
league
Chone
Figgins set a new club record for the Los Angeles Angels of
Anaheim for hits in a month with 53. With hitters like
Figgins and resting 19 games over .500, maybe the Angels
don’t need that big-time hitter everyone keeps writing
about.
On June 22,
fast running utility player Willie Bloomquist, not known for
his power, hit an inside the park home run, only the second
one ever hit at Houston's Minute Maid Park, when he knocked
one into the warning track and bounced off the wall before
rolling up a little grass hill they have there.
Jamie Moyer
won his 223rd career victory and now owns the 15th position
in career wins for a left-handed pitcher.
There are
an astounding 30 son’s of former Major League Baseball
players playing in the league right now, ranging from Prince
Fielder, son of Cecil Fielder to Barry Bonds, son of Bobby
Bonds.
The San
Diego Padres’ Trevor Hoffman became the first pitcher to
record more than 500 saves in a career. This is after being
drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the 11th round of the 1989
draft as a shortstop.
Home run stat of the month
Sammy Sosa
eclipsed 600 home runs for his career, finishing the month
with 602. It is a milestone that puts him behind only Babe
Ruth, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Barry Bonds. Not bad
company.
The No. 1 reason my Rockies suck
this month
After
spending most of the month with the best record in baseball
for that period and coming above .500 for the first time
since early April and only three games out of first, they
dropped 8 games in a row, finally breaking that losing
streak on June 30.
Brenton
Metzler is a writer in Los Angeles who suffers along with
his Colorado Rockies.
July 1, 2007 |
