I was in the shower this morning thinking about if Destiny's Child REALLY needed that third member, Michelle, when I had the idea of today's post. I have always been a statistics guy. I love them. I like looking at them, calculating them, and applying them in world situations. So I thought, why not talk about the all time leaders in major categories in baseball history and give my input on them. Below I have ranked what I believe to be the 5 most important statistical records held in baseball. Enjoy.
1) Hits- Pete Rose isn't allowed into the Hall of Fame because he bet on games as a manager of the Cincinnati Reds. But if he were to be put on the ballot, based on his on the field abilities he would get 100% of the vote. Rose accumulated 4256 hits in his 23 year career. He played for the Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, and the Montreal Expos from 1963 to 1986. A fiery player in his own right, had Pete Rose not bet on baseball, there is no doubt that he would have been one of the all time great players. Many people do not consider him to be the all time hit leader because of his actions but I do. I believe that off the field business should not effect the outcome of a player's on the field greatness.
3) Strikeouts- During his playing days, Nolan Ryan struck out 5714 of the batters that he faced. He holds the record by a massive margin of 839 to Randy Johnson. Ryan was a power pitcher that also hold the records for the most no hitters thrown, 7. His 27 year career was in it's prime a few years before I was born but just by reading and hearing stories on his style of pitching, I know that I would have killed to see him play at least once before my eyes. While I believe that his record of 7 career no hitters will be broken soon, I can see a pitcher breaking his record for the most strikeouts but not in the distant future.
4) Career Home Runs- Barry Bonds hit 762 home runs in a 21 year career with the Pittsburgh Pirates and the San Francisco Giants. The man was an absolute power house. He kinda slouched over in his batting stance and wiggled the bat around waiting for the pitch. But when he swung and made contact, everyone watching thought it was going to travel 500 feet out of the stadium. He had this electricity about him that I absolutely loved. Sure he has had a lot of steroid allegations against him but until he is proven guilty he will be the undisputed Home Run King and will eventually find himself in the Hall of Fame.
Just because I have listed my top five records in baseball doesn't mean the others are not important.
Records such as most stolen bases (Ricky Henderson, 1406), and lowest Earned Run Average (Ed Walsh, 1.82) may not have made my cut but are still incredibly important to baseball. I strongly believe that statistical records say a lot about a player because of the level of consistency that he put up in his career.
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