Baseball notes …

Baseball Digest, May, 2002 by Bill Deane

* With his 73 homers for the Giants, Barry Bonds set not only a major league record, but also a professional mark. Bonds eclipsed the record established by Joe Bauman, who hit 72 for Roswell of the Class C Longhorn League in 1954. Almost forgotten is the fact that 2001 was Bonds' first season with 50 or more home runs. Bonds, who stole 52 bases for the Pirates in 1990, thus became only the second player to hit 50 homers in one season and steal 50 bases in another. The other player to match this feat? He is Brady Anderson, who had 53 swipes for the Baltimore Orioeles in 1992 and 50 homers in 1996.

* Mark McGwire's paltry .187 batting average for the Cardinals was enough to push him into retirement. But Big Mac's patience and power translated into respectable figures in two more-important categories. McGwire's .316 on-base average and .492 slugging percentage were higher than the respective figures of such luminaries as Anaheim's Garret Anderson, Arizona's Matt Williams, and Atlanta's Andruw Jones. McGwire finished his career with 306 homers in his last six seasons--an average of 51 per year.

* When the 2001 season started, Dennis Eckersley owned the highest career strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.25)in history, among pitchers with at least 2,000 strikeouts. By the time the season ended, Eck ranked only third. Atlanta's Greg Maddux leap-frogged over him with another excellent season, vaulting his ratio from 3.21 to 3.32. At one point, Maddux went more than two months (June 20-August 22) without issuing an unintentional walk. But Arizona's Curt Schilling left both of them in the dust when he notched his 2,000th strikeout late in the campaign. Schilling's career ratio is a nifty 3.78. Schilling probably won't get to hold onto the leadership for very long, however Boston's Pedro Martinez, with a 4.24 ratio, was just 19 strikeouts away from 2,000 at the start of the 2002 campaign.

* Roy Oswalt was a welcome addition to the Astros' staff in 2001. Called up from New Orleans (AAA) in May, Oswalt posted a 14-3 record (.824 percentage) with a 2.73 ERA---outstanding, particularly given that he pitched half of his games at hitter-friendly Enron Field. Former manager Larry Dierker remarked that "If he had pitched from Opening Day, we'd be talking about him for the N.L. Pitcher of the Year." Not so fast. Consider the cases of a couple of other mid-season call-ups who won 10-plus games with .800 or better winning percentages and sub-three ERAs as rookie starting pitchers:

--Jim Nash, 1966--debuted on July 3, after going 7-4 for Mobile (AA). Nash went 12-1 (.923) with a 2.06 ERA for the hapless Kansas City As. But Nash was just 56-63 the rest of his career, which was over at age 27.

--Cal Eldred, 1992--after going 10-6 for Denver (AA), Eldred was 11-2 (.846) with a 1.79 ERA for Milwaukee. Since then, he's gone 61-66 with just one winning season in nine injury-plagued years.

* The Mets' Mike Piazza and the Rockies' Larry Walker joined the exclusive "300-.300 Club" in 2001. Each d his 300th career home run while maintaining a lifetime batting average above .300. Only 17 others players--including the Astros' Jeff Bagwell and the White Sox' Frank Thomas--have a least 300 home runs and a .300 career average. In 2002, Boston's Manny Ramirez (277 HR, .312 BA) should join the list:

* Arthur Rhodes posted a perfect 8-0 record for the Mariners last year to become just the 11th pitcher to finish a season with a 1.000 winning percentage with at least eight victories. Below is the undefeated list:

* Lost amid the offensive milestones reached by San Diego's Rickey Henderson (3,000th hit, all-time runs scoring leader) in 2001 was a defensive achievement. By catching 158 fly balls, Henderson reached 6,365 career outfield putouts, edging past Hall of Fame center fielders Max Carey (6,363) and Ty Cobb (6,361). That places Henderson third on the all-time list behind only two other Hall of Fame center fielders, Willie Mays (7,095) and Tris Speaker (6,788). Not bad for a left fielder who has been accused throughout his career of lacking reliability or consistent hustle.

* Three catchers reached 1,500 hits in 2001: the Rangers' Ivan Rodriguez (1,595), the Giants' Benito Santiago (1,531), and the Mets' Mike Piazza (1,507). Not impressed? Through 2001, only 24 players--who caught in at least half of their games played--had amassed as many as 1,500 hits. See the chart below.

* Robin Ventura had a disappointing year for the Mets, but it did include a grand slam, the 15th of his career With 15, Ventura is now all alone in ninth place on the all-time slam list, behind Lou Gehrig (23), Eddie Murray (19), Willie McCovey (18), Jimmie Foxx (17), Ted Williams (17), Hank Aaron (16), Dave Kingman (16) and Babe Ruth (16).-Active players close behind include Ken Griffey, Jr. and Manny Ramirez with 14 each. At 29, Ramirez apppears to have an excellent chance of surpassing Gehrig's record. Other players active at the end of the 2001 season with at least ten bases-loaded homers included: Mark McGwire (14), Harold Baines (13), Mike Piazza (12), Matt Williams (11), Eric Davis (11), Devon White (11), Barry Bonds (10), Jay Buhner (10), Ellis Burks (10) and Andres Galarraga (10).