Zowee, that was fast! I hear you exclaim.
Indeed it was—and no knock on The Polar Bear, a likable young lad who seems to have come honestly by all his success.
So what number home run did Pete need to hit in order to breach the Mets' loftiest heights???
That's right. That's all it take to get you into the all-time top ten of a reputedly major-league baseball team that has now been in existence for over 60 seasons.
Who is the all-time Mets leader in HRs?
Why it's still old friend, Darryl Strawberry, at 252.
That's quite an accomplishment. Of course, on the YANKEES, Darryl's 252 would have barely slipped him on to the top ten, just ahead of Graig Nettles' 250.
But hey. Comparisons are odious. Am I right?
Pete the Polar Bear is now No. 10 on the Mets' all-time list. Huh. That would put him at No. 37 on the Yankees' all-time home run chart, just ahead of Alfonso Soriano, and still 14 dingers behind...Gary Sanchez.
It's fun looking at the Metsies 1-50 list in general, courtesy of baseballreference.com.
It's like going through a moldy old attic nobody has cleaned out for years and years. Ed Kranepool's still on there (#13). So is Ron Swoboda (#28), Lee Mazzilli (tied for #29), and Jim Hickman (tied for #35). Frank Thomas—no, not The Big Hurt, but a broken down old National League slugger who led the team in HRs their very first year of existence, in the Polo Grounds, with 34. Thomas only hit 18 more for the Metsies, but he's still tied for (#41)—and first in the hearts of Mets fans.
Well, more like last in the hippocampus. But never mind. All it takes is 43 roundtrippers (Eddie Murray) to make the Top 50 for the Queens team. Only the Top 15 have as many as 100.
Well, I don't like to brag, but we have some slightly higher numbers.
Our No. 1 hit 659 blasts with us. Betcha can't guess who that is.
You could field an entire team with Yankees who have hit over 200 homers. (Just make you-know-who pitch.)
The first 43 have 100 or more, but that will likely change soon, as Stanton (93) and The Gleyber (86) reach the century mark.
But hey, I didn't mean to make this all about our guys. A very hardy and sincere congratulations to Pete, who only needs one more to tie Lucas Duda, and another eight to get past Michael Conforto.
He might even catch Dave Kingman this year! We Yankees fans can only wish him Godspeed.
Well, that was remarkably churlish.
ReplyDeleteAmazin'
ReplyDeleteWhat? I don't know how you can think that. I'm just sincerely congratulating our crosstown "rivals." Long may they wave.
ReplyDeleteWinnie,
ReplyDeleteChurlish AND insubordinate!
Now go report to Mr. Oh-Shag-Hennessey's office!
That Yankee lifetime HR list is really interesting. For example:
ReplyDeleteIn 885 games as a Yankee Chris Chambliss only hit 79
In 544 Games Aaron Hicks has hit 73
But if you ask any Yankee fan of a certain age we would swear that Chambliss was a big HR guy and that Hicks sucks. (which he still does)
Or
Bye Bye Balboni The mighty home run hitter had the same number of HRs (41) as Gio Urshala. With only four more ABs.
Last one
Kyle Higashioka and Chli Davis both have 22 HRS with Davis having only 7 more ABs.
Wait one more...
ReplyDeleteThis one is just wild.
Player A 379 AB 8 HR
Player B 366 AB 7 HR
Player A Joe Girardi
Player B Mel Stottlemyre
Yeah, I remember Stottlemyre was a surprisingly good hitter.
ReplyDeleteA hilarious bit in Bouton's book: sometime in the mid-60s, Stottlemyre apparently hit an inside-the-park, grand-slam home run in Yankee Stadium.
A reporter asked Bouton what he thought about it. Bouton replied, deadpan, that he was really ticked off because now all the Yankee pitchers would be expected to hit inside-the-park, grand-slam home runs.
The reporter wrote it like he was serious.
ReplyDeleteI remember that Granny by Mel. Infield in, outfielders playing close in like it was a little league game and the fat kid was up.
Mel hit one over the center fielder's head and the ball rolled all the way out to the monuments which were on the field back then. Death Valley. Where many of DiMaggio's home runs went to die.
Hilarious moment in Yankees history.