More links

I’ve added links for Ichiro, Barry Lamar Bonds, and John “I want to be close to my family” Olerud.

Because I love stat tracking so.

Comparing the numbers, Bret Boone is having an even lousier year than I thought he was.

Just remember the final lines for all four men from 2001, and you will see the problems with age.

	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
I(NMI)S	157	692	127	242	34	8	8	69	30	53	56	14	0.350	0.381	0.457	0.838
B (R) B	158	623	118	206	37	3	37	141	40	110	5	5	0.331	0.372	0.578	0.950
JGO	159	572	91	173	32	1	21	95	94	70	3	1	0.302	0.401	0.472	0.873
B(L)B	153	476	129	156	32	2	73	137	177	93	13	3	0.328	0.515	0.863	1.378

2001 is widely considerd to be the best year in the careers of each man. Of the four “stars’ of the diamond, only Ichiro and Bonds have a chance to put up similar numbers for average. Bonds of course, has traded singles for free passes, and has changed the meaning of “BB”

Looking at John Olerud, it is obvious that the man has never used a performance enhancing substance. Probably not even when he had a brain anuerysm. Many fans (myself included, but that’s a long story) suspect both BB’s of using something prior to the 2001 year.

Me, I don’t care. If a scout had come up to me in the years 1988-1991, and told me that if I took the pill, I’d be a millionaire, I’d have gobbled it down like candy, and asked for a protein shake to wash it down. Pass the Andro, please.

But they didn’t, so I didn’t, and believe it or not, I ended up with a post jock body anyhow (an even longer story).

But Ichiro hasn’t changed one bit. He hasn’t aged appreciable, and is in fact coming into his prime. the other three are past it, as well as such terms can be applied.

Barry Bonds doesn’t hit so much these days, rahter he intimidates pitchers into making mistakes, and then punishes them. Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron had similar techniques at the end of their careers.

We just didn’t have TV cameras to watch Ruth. We get to watch Barry, though, and it’s a blast

If he maintains his current pace, he will join the 700 club (Baseball’s 2nd most exclusive) in late September. He’ll take the crown by the end of his current contract.

Do you think maybe we can talk him into going for Sadahiro Oh’s and Josh Gibson’s records. Because if he breaks those, people in the United States will have to acknowledge them.

rant off.