500 Clouding A-Rods Mind

Author: Jared Cleary
7.27.07

Before every at bat Alex Rodriguez gets a nice little reminder about how important he really is and just how bad the baseball world wants him to hit his next Home Run. Some lucky fans cash prize is waiting in skymail because all A-Rod can think about is hitting this next digger, and if you ask me it’s effecting his approach to the game. Sure it’s only been a few games since home run 499 and most people would look at me and say “He’s leading the league in Home Runs what are you complaining about?” Well I agree with that notion but he just simply hasn’t hit the ball since 499. With the yankees slowing down after a hot opening to the second half of the season A-Rods power and hits are needed more than ever.

The Yankees can’t afford any more distractions that might cost them games at this point in the season every game is too valuable to be thinking of personal accomplishments. By no means do I think A-Rod is to blame here; it would be foolish of me to blame a player for being great. It is baseballs’ fault for all of this hooplah that is going into every one of his at bats. It’s baseballs’ fault that A-rod is thinking about opting out of his record breaking contract to set a new record for high priced contracts.

Hopefully with all of his talents A-rod can hit his next home run, soon, so he can finally stop waiting for a boy from the dug out to deliver his authenticity balls to the pitcher before his every at bat. By doing this the league is saying to A-Rod, you are bigger than the team right now; you are special and we want to show the world. An honor among honors for the most talented man in baseball.

My question to the league is when did the individual player(s) become bigger than the game? I remember when the game used to be enough. If a team won the game they felt good. If you were chasing a home run record you were in the midsts of a playoff race and the home runs were more of an added bonus that came in dire need during the game. At no point did any player get the red carpet treatment for each of his at bats. At this point the paparazzi, which is now on the field practically, is blinding A-rod’s vision more than the pitchers’ and that’s not good for anybody. (besides the opposing team(s) of course)

*The Best Baseball Websites*

By Scott Campanella
Article Word Count: 457

My favorite baseball websites are as follows (no particular order):

www.BaseballAmerica.com
Not taking the major leagues into account, baseball is played all over the United States. You can find minor league teams in towns and cities all across the country. Baseball America is a great source for finding out about your favorite major league team's farm system. They provide comprehensive lists of players, sortable stats and commentary for all minor league teams. They also do a fine job covering college baseball, which is growing rapidly in popularity.

www.RotoWorld.com
Primarily a fantasy sports site, RotoWorld is not just for fantasy geeks. RotoWorld reports sports news in a very timely manner. Because of their superior coverage, they usually get their news items up faster than bigger sites like Yahoo or MSN. Plus, they report or comment on a much greater amount of players on a daily basis. You can look up a great number of professional sports players in their vast database, which gives you vitals as well as career statistics. You can also find quality articles in abundance there.

www.RotoJournal.com
A fantasy sports blog that currently covers baseball almost exclusively, Roto Journal provides quality articles and commentary on topics such as Division Inequality in Baseball and The Wisdom of Bill James.

www.TheBaseballCube.com
The Baseball Cube is a historical almanac providing major league, minor league and college statistics. The major league records go back over 100 years. I have often visited this site when I am trying to find information on minor league players, as they tend to have more info on the minors than any other site I've visited. You can also 'sponsor' your favorite player's webpage on their site.

www.Sabr.org
The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) was established in 1971. Their desire is to promote the study of baseball, both current and historical. Of primary interest on the site are their studies on everything from The Deadball Era (1901-1919) to Women in Baseball. It's a fine source for anyone wanting to examine the history of baseball, and how the game has changed through the years.

www.Baseball1.com
This site is a nice archive of various topics, ranging from Sabermetrics to the Negro leagues. It also has a fine database of downloadable stats from baseball's early era.

www.Baseball-Reference.com
In my opinion, this is the premier website for baseball stat junkies. Here, you will find current standings and boxscores, and past stats going back to 1871. You'll also discover a comprehensive list of past players, managers, post-season results and awards.

www.BaseballThinkFactory.org
A general discussion site, with articles on all kinds of topics, including the minor league draft and current baseball events. At any given time, you might find up to 1000 people viewing the site.

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Barry Bonds-Who's Your Daddy?

By James Raymond
Article Word Count: 356

To real baseball fans, Babe Ruth is the greatest home run hitter of all time. When he hit 60 home runs in 1927, he hit more home runs than any of the other (7) American League TEAMS. When Bonds hit 73 homers in 2001, every team in the National League out-homered him. Of course they did, it's simply not human for one player to out-homer an entire league .

Statistics Through 6/22/07( Projected HR'S Per Aaron's At Bats)

Name---Homers----- At Bats---- HR per AB------ Slugging Ave------- HRs Projected

Aaron-----755-------- 12364--------6.1% -------------.555----------------------- 755

Bonds---- 749--------- 9,683-------- 7.7 ---------------.608----------------------- 909

Ruth----- 714------- ----8398-------- 8.5--------------- .690-----------------------1051

Mays---- 660--------- 10,881-------- 6.0----------------.557------------------------750

Looking at those numbers, anyone can see that Barry Bonds is great, but Babe Ruth was better. The Babe won 12 Home Run titles to Barry’s two. He won six RBI crowns to Bond’s one. Ruth also led his league in Total Bases seven times, while Bonds achieved that feat only once. Ruth's lifetime batting average was .342 vs Barry's .299. Also weight training and "flaxseed oil" have helped out at the plate. According to baseball-reference.com, there were 1.12 homers per game in 2001-three times more than in 1927. ( Notice I didn't even mention steroids )

Of course Barry was much superior in the speed department. He stole over 500 bases in his career while Ruth stole just 123. Barry is also the superior outfielder. It was fun to watch him play left field and cut off those hits. Barry won eight Gold Gloves during his career and many of us consider him to be the top defensive left fielder of all time.

One of the reasons Ruth had less at bats was that he pitched from 1915 through 1919. He was the best left-handed pitcher in the American League during that period with a record of 89-46 and posting an ERA of 2.18. He also was an incredible postseason pitcher. In three world series, Ruth pitched 31 innings with a record of 3-0 and an ERA of 0.87.

In summary, I think we all agree that Bonds is a great player. But when you think of Baseball and Homer Runs, you think of Babe Ruth. Bonds could hit 8000 home runs and that wouldn't change.

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The Worst Baseball Team Ever - The Philadelphia Phillies 10,000 Losses and Counting

By CJ Carter
Article Word Count: 301

They started off on May 1st 1883 as the Philadelphia Quakers. The Quakers lost their first game 4-3 and went on an 8 game skid. This is how the Philadelphia Phillies began their march to become one of the worst franchises in professional sports. Not only that, but during their first year, the would be Philadelphia Phillies lost 81 of their inaugural 98 games. So it is no wonder that the Phillies became the greatest losers in sports when they became the first professional team to lose 10,000 games.

In typical Phillies fashion, yet another instance of the cruel irony which embodies the Phillies played out when the youngest player ever to reach 100 home runs struck out to end the game and give them they‘re 10,000 loss. But Ryan Howard isn’t the first great player to play for a sorry team. Mr. Cub himself Ernie Banks was a 2 time MVP. The Cubs are also one of the worth franchises in history. Ted Williams always seemed to come up short in October when it came to squaring off in the World Series. Tony Gwynn, looked upon by many as the greatest hitter since Ted Williams, never could lay his hands on a ring. Great players and poor teams seem to always form an unholy union.

The point of all this is that it’s not so extraordinary to be a loser. In fact it is much more common to be a loser than a winner. Winners are unique in the fact that they triumph over the masses. So that fact that many news papers made note of the fact of the Phillies 10,000 loses does not make them a horrible organization. Considering they have been in existence for more than 100 years is a testament to their good business sense and means more than their 10,000 loses ever will.

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Steroids* - Homeruns* - Asterisks* - Nonsense

By Joe Brindley
Article Word Count: 376

With Barry Bonds on the verge of breaking Hank Aaron’s all time home run record, one has to wonder if all the hoopla is logical or not. Steroids follow Bonds continually and there is still no proof that he ever did any of the substances. Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa are under the looking glass as well and again there is no proof that they did the roids or not.

So where does that leave us? Will we acknowledge Bonds as the all time homerun champ or not? If not, would we still welcome McGwire if he was going to break the record? Seems like Big Mac and Sosa were accepted by all the fans where Bonds is some kind of villain. Maybe we should just say Roger Maris is still the single season home run leader and keep the asterisks. Let’s say Babe Ruth is still the all time champ and that all his stats weren’t recorded in his early career. Sounds okay? Well, who cares, really.

A-Rod will probably end up the all time homerun champ within ten years and we will forget all about the steroid decade. Why do we care so much for home runs anyway? For my money, the record breaker I think we should be remembering the most is Cal Ripken, but that’s just me. Or what about Sadahara Oh, the Japanese great who hit over 800 home runs? Maybe he should be remembered as the all time home run champ? Oh, I see…you only count players in America? Sure, well, what about Josh Gibson? Many called him the greatest home run hitter ever? He was also in America. Oh, I see…he was in the Negro leagues.

I think we’re all getting a little too picky and involved in the damn stats more than what we should be doing. We should be taking our kids to the ball games so they can enjoy the American past time without writing down each double and error. Eat your damn hotdog, hug your kid, and enjoy the game…and when you see your child’s smile with ketchup all around his mouth and cheering his favorite player you will not see an asterisk anywhere on his face.

Joe Brindley writes screenplays and sports commentary.
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