Three Bags Full

I started watching the 1993 movie “Rookie of the Year” this morning. I had never seen it before. It’s not exactly a documentary. It’s about a 12 year old boy who has a freak accident that causes him to be able to throw a baseball over 100 MPH and he becomes a pitcher on the Cubs.

Not a particularly good movie.

Anyway at one point early in his “career” they show him striking out Bobby Bonilla and Pedro Guerrero (I think it was Pedro, but really I’m just assuming since I didn’t recognize him). And then, the kid strikes out, as credited at the end, Barry L. Bonds.

Bonds was wearing his Pittsburgh uniform. I wasn’t sure it was him. I Tivoed it back a few times to confirm it. He was skinny as a rail. I thought it might be an actor playing him, but he got full credit at the end. I don’t recommend the movie, but it’s worth seeing Bonds for those 3 seconds.

This morning, there was a little item in the paper listing the top 5 players with career extra base hits. Barry just passed the Babe this week. The list was:

Aaron 1477
Musial 1377
Bonds 1358
Ruth 1356
Mays 1323

They broke it down by doubles, triples and homers. Look at the list and think about the following question: List those 5 players in order of number of triples.

Got it?

Here is the list:
Musial 177 (19th all-time)
Mays 140 (#64)
Ruth 136 (#71)
Aaron 98
Bonds 77


Surprised? Weren’t you sure Bonds or Mays would be at the top? Aren’t you shocked that the Babe had almost as many as Willie and almost twice as many as Barry? And isn’t Musial’s number amazing? I always thought triples was about speed, but apparently not.

Stan the Man wasn’t exactly known for his speed. He had 725 doubles, third all time behind Tris Speaker and Pete Rose. All of the guys ahead of him on that triples list played in that earlier era when nobody hit homers and they had parks like the Polo Grounds where it was 485 feet to the centerfield wall. Yet Stan the Man, despite his 3630 hits and 1599 walks only stole 78 bases, a figure Rickey Henderson topped 6 times in single seasons. There must be something different required to hit triples besides speed. Maybe it helped him that he is the only guy on that top five extra base hit list below 660 homers (he only had 475).

By the way, 500 doubles is a tie for 43rd on the list between Goose Goslin and a guy who will surprise you – John Olerud. It’s a pretty impressive list of names, most of whom are in the Hall of Fame. There are only three active players over 500 doubles: Barry (569), Biggio (617, 10th all time and coming up on Aaron) and Luis Gonzalez (not Col. Gonzalez), who has 506, tied with the Babe at #38, Oh yeah, technically there is another active player, Raffy Palmiero, #14 with 585. There is a pretty good chance that’s where he’s going to finish.

I got this info on the MLB site. It’s sortable. I just ran a sort on total bases. Stan the Man is #2 on that list behind Hank. Barry’s #7. Willie’s third and the Babe is #5. It’s a list of the all-time greats. Palmiero is #10.

That list is nothing but Hall of Famers, with a few notable exeptions. At #24 is Andre Dawson. I don’t for the life of me understand why that guy isn’t in. On this list he’s ahead of Yount (#25), Hornsby, Banks, Henderson, Mantle, Clemente, Schmidt, Matthews and Gwynn, among many others. The guy was a stud, at the plate, on the bases, and in the field. What am I missing?

Anyway, getting back to Barry, I just can’t explain that triples number. He’s got 506 stolen bases. The Babe was fatter than me, and even pitched for a few years. It’s been a bad year for the Babe and his “non-records”. But he can rest in peace knowing that Barry’s never, ever, going to pass him in triples.

PS. If you want a better movie about a young kid in baseball, try "Little Big League" if only for a great line by Jason Robards. He plays a super rich guy who owns the Minnesota Twins, which he leaves to his junior high school grandson when he dies. One of his grandson's friends asked him if he was richer than Jed Clampett. He answered, "I piss on Jed Clampett."