Most Hits: 1st 13 MLB Seasons

Some say Ichiro has been only an average player because his OPS is so low. Good stuff. I always liked Ichiro as well. I love his quotes…always respectful. Seems like the 4000 hit thing stirred up a bunch of haters. There was a link on Ichiro's Baseball Reference page to a Radical Baseball post. The guy actually lives and dies by one stat: On Base Average. He does not even mention WAR. Seems like he is judging every player by the same criteria, when players can be great for different reasons. By his OBA measure Greg Maddux and Warren Spahn are not Hall of Famers. His link: http://radicalbaseball.blogspot.com/2013/08/ichiro-suzuki-is-he-great-hitter.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+RadicalBaseball+%28Radical+Baseball%29

Not every agrees with him: http://www.mlbinjurynews.com/2013/08/is-ichiro-suzuki-hall-of-fame-material.html 

This week's Sports Illustrated noted he is the all-time leader in hits in the first 13 seasons in the majors. That tidbit got me thinking, who has he beaten? There might be others, but here are several notables, including three active players. I even gave other players the benefit of the doubt, excluding September call-up hits. Ichiro is still over 50 hits ahead of the next closest competitor.

First column: Hits in first 13 MLB seasons.
Second column: Total hits.
Player (all-time rank)

2726 2726 Ichiro Suzuki (57)
2577 3630 Stan Musial (4) excl 20 call-up hits
2547 4256 Pete Rose (1)
2530 2721 Lou Gehrig (60) excl 17 call-up hits
2523 3311 Derek Jeter (11) excl 12 call-up hits
2474 2812 George Sisler (48)
2434 3771 Hank Aaron (3)
2397 3420 Honus Wagner (7) excl 81 call-up hits
2392 3010 Wade Boggs (26)
2386 3514 Tris Speaker (5) excl 29 call-up hits
2360 2923 Alex Rodriquez (37) excl 44 call-up hits
2352 2352 Michael Young (128)
2351 4189 Ty Cobb (2)
2351 3283 Willie Mays (12) excl 30 hit military yr
2347 2347 Albert Pujols (131)
2304 2304 Kirby Puckett (146) in 12 seasons
2244 2590 Vladimir Guerrero (82) excl 5 call-up hits
2238 3000 Roberto Clemente (28)
2222 3184 Cal Ripken (15) excl 5 call-up hits
2214 2214 Joe DiMaggio (174) spent 3 yrs in military
2204 3141 Tony Gwynn (19)
2196 2724 Roberto Alomar (59)
2173 3243 Nap Lajole (14) excl 57 call-up hits
2148 2654 Ted Williams (73) excl 2 yrs w/ 41 hits
2115 2726 Chipper Jones (57) excl 2 call-up hits
2112 3419 Carl Yastrzemski (8)
2076 3319 Paul Molitor (9) excl 10 hits in 1984

Cap Anson, currently sixth on the career hit list. He retired in 1897 after 27 seasons with a then record 3,435 hits. He did not play 100 games until his 14th season. The most games he ever played in any one season was 146.

DiMaggio averaged 193 hits his first seven seasons, then served in the military for three years. He averaged 168 hits his first three seasons back. Joe retired after only 13 MLB seasons.

Evan Gattis Bobblehead Night

Left work at 3:15 and headed to the Gwinnett game. Was so early I stopped at QT for a cold drink to sip while I waited for the gates to open. When I arrived I parked near the outfield gate, as usual. Left everything in the car and walked over to the main entrance to buy tickets. There were already at least 50 people in line, waiting for Evan Gattis bobbleheads. While in line I checked my phone for work emails, and missed a season ticket holder give away three nice seats. The guy next to me took them, then returned to his friend at the front of the line. He had been buying extra tickets to get more bobbleheads.

It was Three Dollar Thursday, so I took my chances and bought nine dollars worth of tickets, with hopes of getting three bobbleheads. Then I checked out the air-conditioned Fan Shop. While inside I overheard that the outfield gate wouldn’t be open tonight. I quickly went back outside and took my place in line. It was 4:05, so I had a wait of almost an hour…without my cold drink or book to read. Later the two lines became four lines, and I secured a place near the front of the line. I was sweating like a pig in the hot August sun. Chatted with the old lady in front of me, and we both greeted our favorite usher, who walked over and welcomed us with hugs.

Once the gates opened I grabbed my first bobblehead, got my hand stamped, and raced back across the parking lot to my faraway car. Dumped the bobblehead and used ticket in the trunk and raced back to the front gate. Repeated this two more times. With plenty of bobbleheads still stacked up I bought two more tickets and made another trip to the car. By now I was really sweating. After claiming my fifth bobblehead I stayed inside the gates. I could’ve continued to buy tickets and gobble up more bobbleheads, but five was enough.

To beat the heat I went back into the air-conditioned fan shop. Since it was the next to last game the fan shop had everything half price. I just had to buy one of those white bear stocking caps. Have no idea why.

Standing in line to buy the fourth and fifth tickets I saw a guy holding a replica of a 1969 Braves road jersey. He turned it around and saw it was number 35. He was talking to an old guy with his back to me: Phil Niekro. After signing some autographs and posing for pictures Phil went up to the Will Call window to get his tickets.  Later they showed him sitting behind the plate. When I walked past I saw he was sitting with several people, all younger than him.

When I finally took a seat there wasn’t too much time before first pitch. Got all ready to keep score, and checked eBay: already seven Gattis bobbleheads had been posted. During the game I copied a photo and posted one of mine for sale, at an expensive price. We’ll see if anyone snaps it up. Later I posted one on Craig’s List.

Durham scored twice in the top of the first, but Gwinnett scored three in the bottom of the inning. Constanza had three hits in his first three at bats, making the game look easy. Weak arm in the outfield. Cunningham had a nice sacrifice bunt, two walks, and a single. Much stronger arm. Mejia struck out three times, including once in the bottom of the ninth with the tying run on third. Then Brandon Boggs struck out to end the game.

After the game I was the first car out of the parking lot, at 9:20 pm. My drink was cool again, so I supped on Cheerios and diet Mtn Dew…knowing the caffeine would spoil my slumber. Called Ceil and Anna on the 45 mile drive home, and detoured up Peachtree Industrial to pick up Anna. She and Brittany had been in Midtown at a meeting of a new small church. Didn’t get home until almost eleven.

My Uecker jersey delivered yesterday. Very nice, fits well. The tail is not too long, not too short, but looks short because the Cooperstown Collection tag is placed too high, not all the way at the bottom of the shirt. The front number was almost under my armpit when I tried it on. Numbers are made from some sort of felt. Don’t know how they’ll hold up after repeated washings. I want to wear it to games, and the jersey will look best with a navy T-shirt under it. But if I wear two shirts I will sweat even more.

NFL by the Numbers

A listing of the greatest NFL players by jersey number. Includes Hall of Famers and other stars. I also worked in several famous Falcons.

I used Pro Football Reference’s numerical list of players with the highest value, adding and resorting players to my preference. This list only went back to 1950, and left off many great players. http://www.pro-football-reference.com/blog/?p=3212

Next I perused an ESPN ranking of greatest quarterbacks by number. Since the listing stopped with number 19, the list inexplicably left off John Hadl (21) and Otto Graham (60).

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs07/news/story?id=3218941

Knowing so many Hall of Famers were left off, I went to the “Professional Football” Hall of Fame website, which has a listing of enshrinees by number. Since this list was by last name only, there were dozens of players I had to look up to get their first names. http://www.profootballhof.com/hof/jerseys-number.aspx  

Though the list became quite long, I decided to not trim any names off the list. Back in the old days players changed numbers quite often. Today when great players change teams they often hang on to their favorite number. With the exception of Otto Graham, this list shows only their most prevalent number.  

00. Jim Otto, Ken Burrough

0. George Plimpton

1. Lambeau, F Pollard, P Driscoll, Moon, J Conzelman, G Anderson, Yepremian, T Franklin, Elam

2. Charlie Trippi, Matt Ryan, Doug Flutie, Aaron Brooks, Tim Couch

3. Bronco Nagurski, Darryl Lamonica, Jan Stenerud, Tony Canadeo, Bobby Hebert, Pete Gogolak

4. B. Farve, Jason Hansen, Tuffy Leemans, A. Vinatieri, J. Harbaugh, S. Fuller, Tim Mazzetti

5. Paul Hornung, George McAfee, Donovan McNabb, Harmon Wages, Morten Andersen, Terry Hanratty

6. Kevin Butler, Marc Wilson, Bubby Brister

7. J Theisman, B Rothlisberger, G Halas, M Hein, D Clark, A Parker, J Elway, B Waterfield, B Jones

8. Steve Young, Larry Wilson, Troy Aikman, Archie Manning, Mark Brunell

9. Ray Guy, Sonny Jurgensen, Jim McMahon, Drew Brees

10. Fran Tarkenton, Eli Manning, Jim Zorn, Steve Bartkowski

11. Norm Van Brocklin, Joe Guyon, Link Lyman, Joe Kapp, Phil Simms, Drew Bledsoe

12. Tom Brady, Terry Bradshaw, Roger Staubach, Bob Griese, Joe Namath, John Brodie, Jim Kelly

13. D Marino, G Chamberlin, K Warner, J Scott, D Maynard, F Ryan, P Henry, J Stydahar, G Traction

14. Don Hutson, Y.A. Tittle, Otto Graham, Dan Fouts, Ken Anderson, Fred Cox

15. Bart Starr, Steve Van Buren, Earl Morrall, Jack Kemp, Vince Ferragamo, Jeff Hostetler

16. Joe Montana, Frank Gifford, Len Dawson, George Blanda, Ed Healey, George Musso

17. H. Carmichal, B. Kilmer, R. Petitbon, D. Meredith, Turk Edwards, Red Badgro, Bob Berry, J. Hart

18. Peyton Manning, Emmitt Thomas, Roman Gabriel, Charlie Joiner, Robin Tote

19. Johnny Unitas, Lance Alworth, Bernie Kosar, Bob Lee

20. Barry Sanders, Lem Barney, Cliff Battles, Mel Renfro, Gino Cappelletti

21. D. Sanders, C. Branch, L. Tomlinson, J. Kiick, James Brooks, John Hadl, Dan Fortmann

22. Bobby Layne, Emmitt Smith, Paul Krause, Mike Haynes, Mercury Morris, Bob Hayes, Roger Wehrli

23. Mike Wagner, Bobby Butler, JT Thomas, Troy Vincent

24. Willie Brown, Willie Wood, Champ Bailey, Lenny Moore, Jack Christiansen

25. Fred Biletnikoff, Tommy McDonald, Bruiser Kinard, Charlie Garner, Art Malone, Jim Bakken

26. Rod Woodson, Herb Adderley, Lydell Mitchell, Billy Lothridge

27. Ken Houston, Steve Atwater, Eddie George

28. Marshall Faulk, Yale Lary, Darrell Green, Curtis Martin

29. Eric Dickerson, Harold Jackson, Sam Madison

30. Clarke Hinkle, Bill Willis, Terrell Davis, Lawrence McCutcheon, Ahman Green

31. William Andrews, Donnie Shell, Wilbert Montgomery, Jim Taylor, Priest Holmes

32. Jim Brown, Franco Harris, OJ Simpson, Marcus Allen, Edgerrin James, Ray Easterling

33. Sammy Baugh, Tony Dorsett, Roger Craig, Ollie Matson, Cannonball Butler

34. Herschel Walker, W. Payton, Joe Perry, T. Thomas, Cornell Green, E. Campbell, Bo Jackson

35. John Henry Johnson, Calvin Hill, Pete Pihos, Bill Dudley, Aeneas Williams

36. Jerome Bettis, LeRoy Butler, Bill Thompson

37. Doak Walker, Pat Fischer, Jimmy Johnson, Carnell Lake

38. Arnie Herber, Roland James, Bob Tucker, Eugene Daniel

39. Larry Csonka, Hugh McElhenny, Sam Cunningham, Carl Lee

40. Gale Sayers, Elroy Hirsch, Wayne Millner, James Hasty, Bobby Boyd

41. Tom Matte, Eugene Robinson, Phil Villapiano, Randy Logan

42. Sid Luckman, Charlie Taylor, Paul Warfield, Ronnie Lott, Johnny Robinson, John Gilliam

43. Cliff Harris, Dan Perkins, Larry Brown, George Atkinson

44. Floyd Little, Jerrel Wilson, Dick LeBeau, Chuck Foreman, John Riggins, Leroy Kelly

45. Emlen Tunnell, Gary Fencik, Dave Grayson

46. Todd Christensen, Tim McDonald, Danny Abramowicz, Chuck Muncie

47. Mel Blount, John Lynch, Joey Browner

48. Les Richter, Stephen Davis, Ken Ellis, Wes Hopkins

49. Bobby Mitchell, Erich Barnes, Dennis Smith

50. M. Singletary, Bill Curry, Ken Strong, Alex Wojciechowicz, G. Brezina, J. Siemon, Paul Naumoff

51. Dick Butkus, Jim Ringo, Sam Mills, James Farrior

52. Ray Lewis, Mike Webster, Frank Gatski, Robert Brazile

53. Mick Tingelhoff, Harry Carson, Randy Gradishar

54. Randy White, Chuck Howley, Zach Thomas

55. Chris Hanburger, Steve Owen, Junior Seau, Derrick Brooks

56. Lawrence Taylor, Chris Doleman, Hardy Nickerson, Andre Tippett, Joe Schmidt, Bill Hewitt

57. Dwight Stephenson, Jeff Van Note, Clay Matthews, Rickey Jackson, Mo Lewis

58. Jack Lambert, Isiah Robertson, Derrick Thomas, Jessie Tuggle

59. Jam Ham, Donnie Edwards, Seth Joyner

60. Chuck Bednarik, Tommy Nobis, Otto Graham, Larry Grantham, Roy Winston

61. Bill George, Curly Culp, Nate Newton, Bob DiMarco

62. Jim Langer, Guy McIntyre, Adam Timmerman

63. Gene Upshaw, Willie Lanier, Dermontti Dawson, Mike Munchak, Lee Roy Selmon

64. Jerry Kramer, Dave Wilcox, Jack Reynolds, Randall McDaniel

65. Tom Mack, Elvin Bethea, Gary Zimmerman

66. Ray Nitschke, Bulldog Turner, Larry Little, Billy Shaw, Gene Hickerson, Bill Bergey

67. Ed White, Art Still, Grady Alderman

68. LC Greenwood, Joe Delamielleure, Russ Grimm, Will Shields, Kevin Mawae

69. Will Wolford, Tim Krumrie, Jon Runyan

70. Sam Huff, Art Donovan, Jim Marshall, Ernie Stautner, Rayfield Wright

71. Alex Karras, George Connor, John Zook, Willie Anderson, Walter Jones

72. Ed Too Tall Jones, Dan Dierdorf, Diron Talbert, William Perry

73. Ron Yary, Leo Nomellini, John Hannah, Larry Allen, Arnie Weinmeister

74. M. Olsen, B. Lilly, Henry Jordan, Ron Mix, Mike McCormack, Harris Barton, F. Dean, B. Matthews

75. Deacon Jones, Joe Greene, Forrest Gregg, George Kunz, Howie Long, Jonathan Ogden

76. Lou Groza, Marion Motley, Bob Brown, Lou Creekmur, Orlando Pace, Steve McMichael

77. Red Grange, Jim Parker, Willie Roaf, Dick Schafrath

78. A. Shell, Curly Culp, B. Smith, Bobby Bell, A. Munoz, Jackie Slater, M. Kenn, Stan Jones

79. Roosevelt Brown, Harvey Martin, Bob St. Clair, Ron McDole, Ray Childress

80. J Rice, S Largent, J Lofton, Tom Fears, K Winslow, A Carter, Jack Butler, Len Ford, J. O'Brien

81. Raymond Berry, Night Train Lane, Carl Eller, Andy Robustelli, Doug Atkins, Jackie Smith, Art Monk

82. John Stallworth, Ozzie Newsome, Jimmy Smith, Ken Burrow  

83. Ted Hendricks, John Jefferson, Andre Reed, Mark Clayton, Mike Clark

84. Randy Moss, Shannon Sharpe, Gary Clark

85. Nick Buoniconti, Jack Youngblood, Del Shofner

86. Buck Buchanan, Jim Mitchell, Verlon Biggs, Stanley Morgan, Dante Lavelli

87. Willie Davis, Dave Casper, Claude Humphrey, Dwight Clark, Reggie Wayne

88. J Mackey, Alan Page, T Gonzalez, M Harrison, L Swann, M Irvin, Charlie Sanders

89. Gino Marchetti, Mike Ditka, Otis Taylor, Dave Robinson, Fred Dryer

90. Neil Smith, Larry Brooks, Rob Burnett

91. Kevin Greene, Chester McGlocklin, Leslie O’Neal

92. Reggie White, Michael Strahan Ted Washington

93. John Randle, Kevin Carter, Trevor Pryce

94. Dana Stubblefield, Charles Haley, Chad Brown

95. Richard Dent, Sam Adams, Greg Lloyd

96. Cortez Kennedy, Sean Jones, Clyde Simmons

97. Cornelius Bennett, La’Roi Glover, Bryant Young

98. Jessie Armistead, Greg Ellis, Julian Peterson

99. Dan Hampton, Jason Taylor, Mark Gastineau, Warren Sapp

eBay Success

Not much went on with us this weekend. Friday Ceil was worn out from the week, but drank some strong coffee and painted Anna’s bedroom. First we ran to Home Depot for paint. Then I ran up to Kroger and bought hot dogs, buns, cabbage (for slaw), and baked beans. I fixed the supper, then watched the Braves.

Saturday I took Matthew up to Milton to spend time with Sarah. Started putting jerseys on eBay, and spent the most of the day doing that. Watched the Braves, the golf tourney, and the end of the Red Sox victory over the Dodgers. Ceil went grocery shopping, and fixed orange chicken. Around 9:30 pm I posted a Saints jersey on eBay. I had bought the jersey for $5.00 week or so at Goodwill. As I was going upstairs to bed around 11 pm someone paid the Buy It Now price for it: $87.00. Not bad.

Sunday I put more stuff on eBay. Passion wasn’t having services again this week, but Anna’s small group did meet. Like you I watched the Braves beat the Cardinals, and then turned over to watch Tiger birdie 17 and just miss on 18. Matthew reluctantly did some schoolwork, and was rewarded with Panda Express. I trimmed the hedges and posted more items on eBay. Right now I have 21 items for sale, a new record. I don’t research as much as I should. There are several items I have posted but haven’t sold. I keep reposting them, slowly lowering the price, hoping someone will buy them.

A few years ago I read a diet/exercise book that one day a week you could eat whatever you want as a reward for sticking to the plan the other six days. Mellow Mushroom may have the best pizza in town.

Sold on eBay

SOLD ON EBAY

41. 1996 Olympic volunteer shirt large

40. Minnesota Twins baseball jersey

39. Mark McGwire Cardinals jersey

38. Cardinals pullover

37. Nationals pullover

36. Chargers Tomlinson jersey

35. Jason Terry lime green Hawks jersey

34. Vintage Buffalo Bills jersey

33. New York Yankees BP jersey

32. Baltimore Orioles BP jersey

31. Dave Winfield Padres jersey $76.00

30. Saints throwback jersey $88.00

29. Vintage NFL thermos $40.00

28. Chipper Jones kid’s jersey $35.00

27. Peachtree Road Race T-shirt $25.00

26. Braves dress shirt

25. Kansas State baseball jersey

24. BP Olympic pin set

23. Garrison Hearst Georgia jersey

22. Jerry Rice 49ers jersey

21. OJ Simpson 49ers jersey

20. Sid Bream bobblehead $60.00

19. 1996 Olympic volunteer shirt medium

18. Tim Tebow Gators jersey

17. Jim McMahon Bears jersey

16. Golden State Warriors T-shirt

15. Seattle Mariners navy jersey

14. Ichiro Mariners home jersey

13. White Sox jersey

12. Milwaukee Braves long sleeve T-shirt

11. Gerald Riggs Falcons jersey

10. Eli Manning Giants jersey

9. Brewers jacket

8. Braves pullover

7. Jerry Stackhouse Bullets jersey

6. Syracuse Chiefs baseball jersey

5. Otis Nixon Braves jersey shirt

4. Children’s shoes

3. That 70’s Show polyester pants

2. John Elway Broncos jersey

1. Odyssey putter

CURRENTLY FOR SALE

1996 Olympic volunteer shirt

Adrian Peterson Vikings throwback jersey

Bo Jackson Kansas City Royals jersey

Ebbets Field Flannels Veracruz flannel jersey

Jason Varitek Red Sox youth jersey

Joe Rudi Louisville Slugger bat

Len Dawson Chiefs youth jersey

Marvin Harrison Colts jersey

Masters linen vest

Michael Jordan White Sox jersey

Mike Schmidt Phillies St Patrick’s jersey

Navy Cubs jersey

Nike Air Moc high

Nike Air Moc low

Oregon #4 jersey small

Oregon #5 jersey small

Oregon #24 youth jersey

Terrell Davis Broncos jersey

Vintage Batman pennant

Vintage Lithuanian Basketball T-Shirt

Mid Market Advantages

Will’s home-school high school baseball team has a new assistant coach: Mark Wohlers.

Tracked down the house Smoltz is trying to sell in Milton. Basically across the street from Anna’s friend’s house. The Google satellite view makes it look like you could hike through the woods the Hurt’s house to Smoltz’s property without crossing a road. Might be a fence or a creek, though. Might have to try it some time.

Ceil asked if there was an upcoming bark in the park, so I looked up the Gwinnett, Rome , and Chattanooga websites to see. While on the Lookouts site I checked out the stats, and provided a Puig update since ESPN hadn’t reported the news. Earlier this year Johnny had seen Puig play up in Chattanooga.

It made me think: If the Braves were a big market team they’d have the money to be more heavily involved in the free agent market. Flops like BJ Upton would be more commonplace. Tickets would be harder to get. Traffic and parking would be worse. All around quality of life would be worse. Instead the Braves manage their money and develop young players in the minors. I kinda like things the way they are, even if it means we can’t throw money at every problem that comes along.

Nice to see a win engineered by Schafer, Laird, Janish, Terdo, and E Johnson. Is Fredi playing Terdo and Schafer against lefties and Gattis and BJ against righties? Fredi is giving BJ every opportunity, but hopefully when it comes down to the key games Fredi will play the guys producing the most. BL isn’t even putting the ball in play.  

Simmons’ home run swing yesterday looked just like a Jeter swing. Great catch by him Saturday, in foul ground. C Johnson also made a good catch, feeling his way along the rail. I’m starting to forget what the C stands for.

Gattis Schafer Wohlers Smoltz

Going into Thursday night’s game the Braves were 8-1 in regular-season games against the Cardinals since the beginning of 2012. Right after Tim Hudson broke his ankle on July 25 the Braves swept the Cardinals, including the nationally-televised games Saturday afternoon (Fox) and Sunday night (ESPN).

Now Beachy is having elbow problems again. Frank Wren needs to be fired if he can’t trade BJ Upton and Dan Uggla to the Tigers for Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander.

Not sure if Gattis is taking balls to right field as much, though I have seen him go that way some. Doesn’t seem like he is being pitched any different. Gattis had that long fly in NY that advanced the runner to third (why isn’t that a sac fly? Had he bunted the runner over it would’ve been a sacrifice). Gattis continues to hit the ball hard, but strikes out like everyone else. Last night he made a strong throw to second that almost nailed the runner. In NY he skied that long throw to first after Simmons tried to deek the runner.

Seems like Schafer is still more productive than BJ. I’m glad to see all the quotes from the Uptons that show them to be caring, team-oriented guys. I know BJ must be one of the fastest on the team, but it didn’t look like he was running hard on that grounder last night. maybe he just let up a little when he saw the play had been made.

Another wild pitch/passed ball scored a run last night. I’ve seen more of those this year than ever before.

Finished the Mantle book. Learned a lot that I didn’t know. A sad story, actually.

My son’s old home-school high school baseball team has a new assistant coach: Mark Wohlers.

Tracked down the house Smoltz is trying to sell in Milton. Basically across the street from the Hargreaves’ house. The Google satellite view makes it look like you could hike through the woods from the Hurt’s house to Smoltz’s property without crossing a road. Might be a fence or a creek, though. Might have to try it some time.

Thursday night Ceil went to the Hargreaves for a send-off tea for Hannah, who will be spending the school year overseas. Anna hung out with Caroline at Starbucks, their second coffee date of the week. Matthew and I went to Walgreens and the elementary school field. M threw his new Frisbee, and I tried to kick. Leg still hurts, so I quickly shut it down. Came back, popped corn, and watched the game. Went to bed after the Braves were retired in the eighth.

My nephew Gibson is a senior lineman for a local home-school high school football team. Next month they’re playing the East Cobb team, who have two players we know: Anna’s friend Jack and Mary-Clayton’s younger brother Thomas. Gibson has one of those huge Justin Tuck style facemasks. I told him that when I played my face mask was just a single bar. Didn’t tell him the single bar just for practice.

Mr. 4000

Ichiro Suzuki collected his 4000th hit Wednesday night. Here are some numbers…hopefully not all have I noted before.

1278 in Japan, an average of 142 over 9 seasons
2722 in the US, an average of 209 over 13 seasons.

Ichiro joins Paul Waner, Ritchie Ashburn, and Albert Pujols are the only major leaguers with at least 150 hits in each of their first 12 seasons. Suzuki has at least 178 hits in each of his 13 MLB seasons, but only has 116 hits so far this year. He is a career .320 hitter.

Players with 4000 professional hits:
4683 Pete Rose (303/375/409/784)
4355 Ty Cobb (366/433/512/945)
4229 Julio Franco (298/365/417/782)
4095 Hank Aaron (305/374/555/928)
4093 Jigger Statz (285/337/373/710)
4001 Stan Musial (331/417/559/976)
4000 Ichiro Suzuki (320/362/416/778)

Julio Franco's hit total includes time spent in the minors, MLB, Mexican, Japan, Korea, and Dominican.

Heyward Goes Down

Quite disheartening for Jason Heyward to go down. The big guy had really put everything together this last month, and was the Brave playing the best all-around baseball. Losing him hurts. Amazing that the pitch did not knock Heyward down.

That said, all hope is not lost. Before the HBP Fredi was already giving equal playing time to Jordan Schafer over BJ Upton. There has been no improvement this week in BJ’s performance. With the Braves fighting for home field advantage it’s doubtful Fredi will be increasing BJ’s playing time. Hopefully Gattis can heat up by the end of September and Reed Johnson can bounce back to provide pinch-hitting depth. I’d like to see an outfield of Gattis/Schafer/Justin most of the time.

Despite missing the last five weeks of the season, can Jason still win the Gold Glove? ESPN noted that Heyward has 64 defensive runs saved in rightfield since 2010. No one else has 40 in that span.

More Heyward stats from DOB:

Last 21 games: .366 avg, 1.052 OPS, 5 HR, 15 rbi, 6 2B, 17 wins

Last 64 games: .301 avg, slugged over 500, 43 runs, 29 rbi, 27 extra base hits (11 HR)  

Season ending injuries: Pena, Hudson , Venters, O’Flaherty, Martinez , Pastornicky, Heyward. Other injuries with extended missed time: McCann, Freeman, Uggla, BJ Upton, Beachy, Gattis, Schafer, Walden, Laird, Walden.

Right now the Braves have a 15 game lead in the division, and are three games ahead of the Pirates and Dodgers for the beat record in the NL. Pittsburgh has lost six of their last ten.

Should the Braves finish strong, what chance does Freddie Freeman have of winning MVP? I had already heard a tiny bit of chatter, and with him having to carry the team through this rash of injuries only enhances his candidacy. Who is his competition? Joey Votto, Yadier Molina, and Andrew McCutchen (who will get the northeastern media vote).

PL  avg obp slg ops runs hits 2b hr rbi bb  K

FF  314 390 479 869 68 135 22 15 83 50  94

AM 319 395 511 906 78 148 32 17 72 56  81

JV  316 435 502 937 84 146 26 18 59 98 110

YM 332 374 500 874 52 129 35 10 59 24  38

Freddie also leads the league in hitting with runners in scoring position. With more years of experience, Votto and McCutchen have that edge over Freeman.     

SI College Football Rankings

Sports Illustrated College Rankings

(offense + defense + special teams)

(overall ranking in parenthesis)

269 Alabama (1)

265 TCU (16)

261 Stanford (2)

261 Oregon (5)

258 Ohio State (4)

258 Florida (9)

258 LSU (14)

257 Texas A&M (3)

257 FSU (13)

254 Oklahoma (19)

253 South Carolina (6)

252 Georgia (12)

250 UCLA (21)

248 Virginia Tech (25)

248 Clemson (10)

247 Vanderbilt (23)

244 Notre Dame (8)

228 Louisville (7)

Sports Illustrated’s top offenses

99 Texas A&M

96 Georgia

95 Oregon

93 Alabama

92 Ohio State

91 Louisville

91 Clemson

90 Baylor, Michigan, Oklahoma

89 South Carolina

Sports Illustrated’s top defenses

93 Alabama, Stanford, Florida

92 Notre Dame

91 Michigan State

90 LSU

87 South Carolina, TCU

86 FSU

85 Vandy, Virginia Tech

81 Oregon

80 Ohio State, Michigan

78 Georgia

77 UCLA

76 Texas A&M, Oklahoma

75 Louisville, Texas

74 Clemson, Northwestern

Sports Illustrated’s top special teams

90 TCU

89 LSU

88 Oklahoma, Virginia Tech

87 Florida, Northwestern

86 Ohio State, Vanderbilt

85 Oregon, UCLA

84 Northern Illinois

83 Alabama, FSU, Clemson

79 Texas, Boise State

78 Georgia

77 South Carolina

Kicking

Heard about the ARod beaning but didn’t see it. Umpire went crazy? If umpires have forgotten their place in the game, perhaps it’s time to replace them with technology. I was worried that by hitting Harper two times Saturday, the Braves wound wake up a sleeping giant.

On the way home from work Friday I bought a football at Play It Again Sports, and went to the nearby elementary school to kick. After all those years I didn’t do too bad. But Saturday my instep hurt. Forget the Falcons and GT…I’m shooting for # 1…Alabama. In the Dome August 31.

Saturday morning I cleaned upstairs. Late Saturday afternoon I took Matthew to a party in Acworth. While I was waiting on him I walked a mile in flip-flops. Almost turned my ankle. Got home and stayed up and watched the rest of the Braves game.

Passion City Church took the Sunday off. Anna opened birthday presents. Ceil baked brownies and sweet rolls (I had neither). I drove up to Walton High and kicked in the Astroturf stadium until my leg started hurting. Took Matthew to Roswell and bought Anna a nice Rosemary beach t-shirt. Drove back to Roswell with Anna. Paid bills and watched Duck Dynasty.

Dock accepted the SPdL job. Drew Kelly mentioned it on Facebook. Dock can retire from Mercer, I suppose.

Duck Dynasty: I’d rather watch re-runs of DD than the LLWS, which I have avoided so far.

Don't Confuse Me with the Facts

Concerning Deion Sanders, some guy Paul tweeted "sometimes it gets forgotten that he played in the World Series and nfl game on same day". I had to point out his error.

I found a nice explanation in the LA Times saying how stories like Deion's get exaggerated over time. It was the 1992 NLCS, not the World Series. Deion had doubled the night before, but didn't get in the Sunday baseball game after playing for the Falcons the next day. I linked the article.

Last night he responded: "he suited up. he was on the roster of two diff teams in two diff sports on same day. that was the point". That's not what he said, but I won't argue with him any more.

Signs You are an Introvert

1. Find small talk cumbersome.

2. Go to parties, but not to meet people.

3. Often feel alone in a crowd.

4. Networking makes you feel like a phony.

5. Been called “too intense”.

6. Easily distracted.

7. Downtime doesn’t feel unproductive to you.

8. Giving a talk in front of 500 people is less stressful than having to mingle with those people afterwards.

9. Sit at the end of the bench on the subway – not in the middle.  

10. Start to shut down after you’ve been active for too long.

11. In a relationship with an extrovert.

12. Rather be an expert at one thing than try to do everything.

13. Actively avoid any shows that might involve audience participation.

14. Screen all your calls – even from your friends.

15. Notice details that others don’t.

16. Have a constantly running inner monologue.

17. Have low blood pressure.

18. Been called an “old soul” – since your 20’s.

19. Don’t feel “high” from your surroundings.

20. Look at the big picture.

21. Been told to “come out of your shell”

22. You’re a writer.

23. Alternate between phases of work and solitude, and periods of social activity.

I am 1,2,3,4,7,8,9,10,12,13,15,16,17,18,19,21,22, and 23. Eighteen of 23.

From the Huffington Post, not my usual source for information.