Joins Manny in that elite club this year! Youngest player ever to accomplish it. I bet you all are thrilled

even so hopefully in another 8-10 years he'll make us all forget about Barry Balco!

He is undoubtedly the second greatest pure baseball player ever, behind Babe Ruth, of course (only because A-Rod can't pitch).

Character wise he is a jerk but so was Teddy Ballgame.

The irony is that he is an even better shortstop than Jeter.

I marvel at his pure ability as much as I mock his asininity.

All of us between 25 and 40 have been fortunate to grow up in baseball in the zenith of shortstops. Hopefully with Tejada, etc. the best is yet to come.

Congratulations to Alex Rodriguez for hitting what should hopefully be the halfway point.

I really hope he suffers some horrific injury on the way. Yes, that's mean, I know, but I don't want that piece of sh*t having the HR record, just like I don't want Bonds to have it.

Please, Pujols, Dunn, Miggy, someone...save us.

Congrats A-Rod....you still suck at life

I always admire that in baseball fans. I always hated the "So and So Sucks" type fans who can't appreciate talent because they're too jaded by personal hatred.

I've often felt that way about players... take Pedro for example. I never really liked him that much but always marvelled at his ability, in fact I enjoyed watching him pitch most of the time. George Brett comes to mind too... I always thought he was a shithead but man.. he could play!

Cheers ~ Jamie

"Gosh, we're all mighty impressed down here, I can tell you."

It's fitting that his 400th HR was hit in a meaningless situation in a blowout game.

Congrats, Mr. Unclutch.

Actually I am, he's on my fantasy team. (I feel like the guy in the School House Rock that says "Hooray, I'm with the other team")

You mean as the greatest player never to win a World Series?

I'll agree except for the fact that A-Rod sees 2 therapists.

Teddy Ballgame saw 2 tours of duty.

<rant>

I'm not saying send A-Rod off to Iraq (or even fake a story about saving an insurgent from being run over by a tank), but lets not forget this small detail about #9 (which conceivably could have made us forget about The Babe) before we dismantle his character and, though not directly, liken it to Rodriguez (who may make us forget about Barry BALCo).

</rant>

EDIT: Just acknowledging that the if's and's or but's, though meaningless and speculative, apply to the Yankees too.... Mantle immediately comes to mind. He's great as is, but he could have been much better if it wasn't for the injuries and alcohol.

I love Ted Williams but he was giving fans the finger and spitting on them way before he ever saw a battlefield. Likely attributable to a horrific childhood but pretty extreme stuff, even for latter day standards. This is a guy who used to misplay balls in the field on purpose to spite the fans for booing him or just because he didnt feel like it. He refused to ever tip his hat for the Fenway faithful after being razzed earlier in his career and true to his word never did. This is a guy with personality/character pathology which far preceded any heroism or wartime duty. He is also a god...

ARod may not be as much as an overt misanthrope but is much more simplistic and a much less interesting character study than #9. He is much less lacking in conventional character; I guess I meant "character" from a mental health standpoint rather than a quality of human being standpoint.

I love my Mitchell Ness Ted jersey and wear it for every TV game .

Congrats A-Rod.

While I marvel at your ability, if I ever see you standing on the sidewalk on Newbury St and a large truck is rumbling around the corner the corner from Arlington St, I'll be sure to push you in front of it.

Great job hitting number 400 A-Rod. That must have raised the value of my autographed rookie card a couple of bucks. Continue to keep hitting homers, so I can sell the card fifty years from now and retire to a nice, big house .

Get ahold of yourself.

Barry Bonds, Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Ken Griffey, and Joe DiMaggio all say hi.

Bonds is a druggie. Griffey just wasn't durable, it's too bad, I wonder what his numbers would be like. All of the guys you mentioned were outfielders and Arod was a gold glove shortstop. That kind of separates him a bit in my opinion.

I'll second most of what kirinsdad wrote, and also chime in that Williams' two tours of duty had very little to do with character, or lack thereof - he had little choice in the matter. He didn't want to go either time and complained to the press that he was being treated unfairly by "gutless politicians." To his credit, he served with distinction as a flight instructor and later as a combat pilot despite his reluctance.

But if Rodriguez were in the exact same situation he would go as well. Further, if personal therapists had been around in the 1940s, the Red Sox would have had Ted seeing a full-fledged all-star team of them.

The Splinter towers over Rodriguez both as a misanthrope and as a hitter.

misanthrope is an underutilized word

If so, then may you be one as well my friend.

Congrats to the "Cooler" on 400.

As far as the Ted comparison... Ted was a jerk, no doubt about it, only acknowledging the fans with his middle finger and being belligerent with the press and other players, but at least he was honest. Ted wasn't spotlight hungry and was twice the hitter the Cooler is. Arod is full of shit and because of that, he will never be the player/man Ted Williams was.

Edit: Ted loved baseball and he loved to hit. Arod loves money.

I definitely wouldn't put half of those guys above Arod, and thats saying a lot since I think Arod is a total cowbell.



They are both jerks who play good baseball. Rosey colored glasses for the past being set aside, the comparison is apt.

Statistically absolutely, but they each approached playing the game very differently. Be it pointing to the ceterfield camera and giving the number one sign with and outstretched arm while rounding second base after a home run or talking about saving some yankee loving brat from boston trafic, Arod is nauseatingly fake. My point is Ted never was a poser in that way, as much of a jerk as he was.

A-Rod hit home run #400?

Yawn.

Whatever.

He still has no World Series ring yet.

And you do?

As I look into my crystal ball, I see a 40-year old A-Rod in 2016 still without a world series ring.

Since we all know America loves to root for the old superstar that has yet to win that elusive title, no matter how much of a tool he is, A-Rod will again become the darling of America as he breaks Aaron's home run record (that's right, Aaron will still have it) during the world series at Fenway Park as a member of the Red Sox. He will then be greeted in the dugout by first-year manager Jason Varitek.

Yeah, if I win the World Series ring raffle.........

I sure have a better chance than A-Rod does....

Your prognostication made me smile, but A-Rod can't break Hank Aaron's home run record DURING the World Series........

Bonds is an asterisk.

Mays is #4 in my book right now behind Ruth, Teddy, and #44.

Mantle would have been the best undoubtedly were it not for lifelong bone problems and a wicked drinking habit.

Griffey can barely get through a season and is now unfortunately a woulda coulda.

DiMaggio was a phenomenal all around player but maybe makes top #5 if you throw out The Human Asterisk.

I'm pulling for Albie and Miggie....

Ted Williams was a much better person off the baseball field than on it.

We do, however, have to give our true geniuses some leighway - Picasso's paintings came at the cost of a dysfunctional personal life and epic style asshole behaviour. James Joyce, Mozart, Fitzgerald - all brilliant, and all of their flaws forgiven because we should tolerate such dysfunction for those who produce such unblemished beauty.

If being spit on is the cost of seeing Teddy hit his "red seat" homer in person I might be inclined to think it's worth it.

That being said, Rodriguez, while a great all round player (probably the best in baseball presently) posesses no true athletic genius of a MacEnroe, Bird, Gretzky, Magic type of calibre.

Anyhow - I hope Pujols takes the record, and I hope Bonds is eaten by the Pac-Bell seals while sprinting away from a group of autograph seekers.

From the Bergen Record:





It's this kind of phony, rehearsed line begging for NY fans to love him that makes people dislike him...

Here's why A-Rod (who, you should not fail to note, is a 3d baseman and not a SS) is not 2nd best.

First, A-Rod's last full season was his age 28 season so let's take the stats of the players I listed through age 28:

A-Rod - he's the baseline - .305/.381/.574 - 381HR 205 SB and 5590 ABs. 1HR/14.7 ABs.

Note that I have included SBs because, I am assuming, you included SBs in your statement that he's the 2nd best all around pure ballplayer.

Willie Mays thru age 28 - .317/.392/.590 250 HR 179 SB in 4074 ABs. 1HR/16.3 ABs.

Mickey Mantle thru age 28 - .307/.422/.567 320 HR 112 SB in 5005 ABs - note that Mantle was in the top 10 in SBs in every year except one from 1953-1960 and twice he was in the top 10 with single numbers in SBs. Teams did not run as much then. 1HR/15.6 ABs.

Ken Griffey thru age 28 - .300/.378/.567 - 350 HR 143 SB and 5226 ABs. 1HR/14.9 ABs

Joe DiMaggio thru age 27 (He was in WWII during his age 28 season) - .339/.400/.607 - He had 219 HRs and a negligible amount of SBs and 3978 ABs. 1HR/18.1 ABs. I am guessing his HRs were reduced a bit by playing in a certain cavern built by Babe Ruth.

When you compare Rodriguez to those four guys, he's right in the middle of the pack. He has the best HR/AB ratio among those guys, but he has a few negatives as well. He now plays a relatively inconsequential position (relatively poorly, I might add). His OBP is only above Griffey's. His SLG is above Griffey and Mantle's, but is still lower than Mays and DiMaggio. The bottom line is this, there is no quesion that Alex Rodriguez deserves consideration among the greats to play the game, but it's far far far too early to say that he's second only to Babe Ruth. Ken Griffey, in particular, says hi to that one. My inclusion of Griffey in this analysis was to illustrate how different things can look only 3-4 years removed from a tremendous season. Griffey's status among the greats of the game is so different now from what it was even 3 years ago.

p.s. I got sick of using the calculator when it came time to Bonds whose first great year wasn't until he was 25.

Yes. Exactly.



At the risk of veering off-topic a bit, which of these things is not like the other? Fitzgerald had immense talent as a writer, and certainly was a Grade A alcoholic, but a genius he was not. At least in my opinion. Certainly not in the same sense of the others' genius. He just wrote like a madman for dozens of years before his drinking killed him and managed to have brief bouts with excellence ("The Great Gatsby," "Rich Boy," "The Ice Palace," arguably "Tender Is The Night" and "Bernice Bobs Her Hair").

Now, put Faulkner in that group, and you're on to something.

Understood, just using a bit of dramatic license....

And you know this, how ? As sure as you are that he would go, I am sure that he would pull a modern day Cpl. Klinger.

A Red Sox fan, a Faulknerite, and you set me up with bleacher seats last weekend.

Tell your wife from me that she's a lucky woman.

Jamie, congratulations. We shouldn't belittle A-Rod's very significant milestone. Well done, A Rod - and Jamie, enjoy the moment. This is part of why baseball is great.

And George King reports that Arod is giving the bat he hit the HR with to..... George Steinbrenner. Pardon me while I throw up in my mouth.

Now that's hardly fair, Caspir. If my boss decided to increase my salary to eight figures annually, I'd give him my baseball bat, too.

Maybe he thinks it will keep Georges foot out of his ass. Arod a brown noser... what a shocker.

More phoniness. What a shock...

After giving the bat to George he helped a blind lady cross the street and climbed a tree to save a stranded kitten.

-------Sigh........What a saint.

I posted a reply in here yesterday, but apparently someone must not have liked it because it has apparently been deleted.

I didn't realize we were asked to post in here only if we could avoid insulting that assclown Rodriguez.

I think if someone decides to delete one of your posts, they should at least PM you as to why.

So, why? And whom?

Rodriguez remains an assclown.

If one of the moderators feels a post is worthless, they have every right to delete it. While some people feel they can post whatever they want on this site, we do adhere to standards. And they're not high, either, which tells you something about a post when it gets deleted.

I understand, but it was pretty funny, and I wouldn't even have known it was deleted if someone else hadn't PM'd me and said "Hey, your great post was gone when I went back to laugh over it again."

Look, I'll take it to PM rather than pollute with this, but I've not had a post deleted before and it seemed pretty strange for this particular one to be.

Thank you

oh.. and whomever made the Klinger comment just had me cracking up laughing! That's a damn funny analogy.. plus Max cracks me up!

That's what I'm here for Jamie. That's what I'm here for.

I go to one Brewer game in my life and I get hit with a bat thrown by Rey Sanchez and E-Rod hits his 400th. Oh the agony.