500 reasons to pay attention

Sporting News, The, May 19, 2003 by Todd Jones

Milestones are everywhere in baseball. The biggest ones are 3,000 hits, 300 wins, 500 home runs, a .400 batting average and the Triple Crown for hitters and pitchers.

The one mark that is evolving the fastest is 500 homers. If you have 3,000 hits, you're an automatic Hall of Famer. If you reach 300 wins, you're in also. But in this era of great hitters, 500 homers may not get you an automatic berth the way it used to. This season, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro already have hit their 500th homers, and Fred McGriff has fewer than 20 to go. After those guys, Ken Griffey Jr. is 31 homers away, a mark he's sure to reach, and Juan Gonzalez entered the week with 417.

Some writers don't consider 500 homers the feat it once was, but I say 500 is 500 is 500. These writers will always come up with some excuse: Pitching is watered down; the ball is juiced; the players are juiced; whatever. Still, you have to average 25 homers for 20 years to get there. Just because more guys hit 50 in a season than they used to should not diminish from anyone hitting 500. Some people take health and desire and not being figured out at the plate for granted. They shouldn't.

Palmeiro has been a tremendous hitter in our era. He has the quickest hands of any power hitter, and he never looks like he's swinging hard. His swing is pure. Another thing about Raffy is he does it the right way. When he takes you deep, he never showboats. He never watches it. He never puts the attention on himself. I wonder whether his low-key manner is why he has not been given the proper credit for his feats. If so, that's a bad sign to the kids.

McGriff is the definition of a consistent slugger. He seems to hit in the mid-30s every year, but not too much gets made of it. He also has homered in a record 42 ballparks. That's definitely cool.

Gonzalez got sidetracked with Detroit, but he's back to his old form. He has tremendous plate coverage--you can't make a mistake to him over the plate. He needs some solid years to reach 500, but the way he has started this season, he could get there in just a couple of years.

Then there's Griffey. He's so good that when he reaches 500, people will say, "Is that all?" He's that special guy. He rarely got hurt while in Seattle, and now he can't stay healthy. Go figure. But he's so good, he should be fine.

To understand the dynamic of a true slugger in your lineup, you have to have one on your team. When I was in Detroit, we had Gonzalez. He didn't do the things he was used to doing when he was with the Tigers, but when he was in the lineup, pitchers paid attention. It's the same in Denver. Every pitcher facing the Rockies knows where Larry Walker and Todd Helton are at all times. Pitchers will do all they can to avoid facing them.

Once hitters earn that reputation, they are treated much differently. They never get pitched to when the game's on the line. That's why, for the most part, it's the big guys who take you to the playoffs but the little guys who are the postseason MVPs. If you have a choice to pitch to a big guy or a little guy, you'll take your chances with the Mark Lemkes of the world.

Those big guys are hard to pitch to any time, but they're especially tough when a game--or a milestone--is on the line.

E-mail Todd Jones, a reliever for the Rockies, at tjones@sportingnews.com.