These Are The Days

During the beginning of the 70s TV Comedy All In The Family Archie and Edith were at the piano singing Those Were the Days. As students of history, baseball or otherwards we have a tendency to look back in history to find those good old days. But sometimes the good old days are now. About 2 weeks ago I was speaking with Howie about the teams we drafted. And I made the comment I thought both of our Shortstops(Stephen Drew and Troy Tulowitski) will have big years. This also got me thinking about the current crop of shortstops in the NL. If you look back into baseball history there has never been anything close to the talent and depth of shortstops. For the most part for the past 100 years the position of SS was manned by the guy who hit 220 but had a good glove. The first great shortstop Honus Wagner was said to be not only a great hitter but the best fielding shortstop of his time. If we look at the top 20 shortstops of all time as listed by Bill James in the historical abstract-PUBLISHED IN 2001!!!!! we see some guys most fans have never even heard of

1.Honus Wagner
2.Arky Vaughn
3.Cal Ripken
4.Robin Yount
5.Ernie Banks
6.Barry Larkin
7.Ozzie Smith
8.Joe Cronin
9.Alan Trammell
10.Pee Wee Reese
11.Luke Appling
12.Lou Boudreau
13.Luis Aparicio
14.George Davis
15.Jim Fregosi
16.Phil Rizzuto
17.Alex Rodriguez
18.Hughie Jennings
19.Maury Wills
20.Johnny Pesky

As I said this list was complied in 2001 which helps illustrate my point very well. If you look at this list half these guys had almost no power at all. Almost all were good fielders with Vaughn and Fregosi being the exceptions. Only 8 of the 20 had lifetime 300 averages. And only Banks,Ripken,Wagner and A-Rod were considered power hitters in their time, Knowing that these were the greatest of all time should help us appreciate what we now have even more. As we all know things started to change at shortstop with Cal Ripken. Then around the turn of the century we had the big 4 in the AL. Everyone knew just how good the combination of A-Rod,Nomar, Jeter and Tejada was. We were told of a golden era at shortstop and that was absolutely true. But how many people are telling us how lucky we are to being baseball fans in 2009 and seeing half a dozen guys all either in their primes of just approaching their best years. And they all play in the weaker league.

1.Hanley Ramirez-A true five tool guy who can beat with power, speed or average. His fielding is a bit erratic and this point in his career but all the physical tools to be a gold glover are there. And he keeps getting better and better.

2.Jose Reyes-Everyone knows what a prolific base stealer Reyes is but then his batting gets overlooked by some. This guy is a 200 hit a year machine. Now playing his games in Citi Field he should smash all post world war 2 records for triples. And he has double figure HR power. Another guy who is still improving.

3.Jimmy Rollins-Rollins already has an MVP award. And like the above two guys can beat you with both his legs and his bat. Rollins is also the heart and soul of the team that won the World Series. Pee Wee Reese, Phil Rizzuto and Derek Jeter got alot of credit for being leaders on championship teams why not J-Roll.

4.Stephen Drew-Quick name the SS who has the most extra base hits over the past two seasons? Wrong, its Stephen Drew. Another player who still hasn't reached his magic 27 season. I predict this guy will be a superstar. He started the season hitting 3rd.

5,Troy Tulowitski-Great rookie year. And he was hurt last year in the first half but came back with a strong second half. This guy is a outstanding hitter anywhere. But playing in Coors certainly does not hurt. This will only be his third season. He should be the cornerstone of the Rox going forward.

6.Rafael Furcal-This is the one guy who is not in the mid 20 age range. Furcal has been one of the steadiest most consistent performers for years. While his career numbers don't jump out at you they are very solid. A career 286 average which would put him in about the middle of the above top 20 list. 260 stolen bases is a terrific number that should easily go over 300 by the time he retires. And a career slugging average of 412 tells he is just not a singles hitter. At 31 he certainly has some more years in the tank.

7.JJ Hardy-Hardy is a guy who is notorious for having one great half and one awful half. If he can do it over 162 games he could be very dangerous.

So if you are watching a NL game today chances are you are seeing an above average SS. Twenty years when some of us are reaching retirement and other are reaching the primes of their lives we will all be able to say remember the good old days when we had HanRam, Reyes and J-Roll all in the same division. Its time someone other than me talks about this.

This weeks notes-This week saw two players hit for cycles. Orlando Hudson and Ian Kinsler. If did not know how rare it is to hit for the cycle but here is a couple of incredible stats. 1-O-Dogs cycle was the first one ever by a Dodger in Dodger Stadium. 2.Three teams San Diego,Florida and Tampa have never had a cycle. Kinsler ended up with 6 hits in his game.

Milestones-Gary Sheffield hit his 500 HR this week. It was the first time ever that a player hit his 500th as a pinch hitter. And on Monday night Paul Konerko and Jermaine Dye each hit their 300th Homer in back to back at bats.

Random Notes-I watched alot of the KC-Texas game last night. Zack Grienke was absolutely dominant. What struck me was in the ninth with him at just about 100 pitches he gave up a hit with one out. The score was 2-0 KC. Soria is warming up in the Royals pen. Trey Hillman comes out and leaves Grienke in. Wow it was like old school lets actually let a starting pitcher finish a game. And Grienke did complete his shutout the first complete game shutout of his career. And knowing he did it in Texas against that powerful Ranger lineup made it that much more of an incredible accomplishment.

Toronto is pounding the baseball and getting decent pitching after Roy Halladay. Toronto is now 9-4 with the best record in the AL. But I'm ready buying.

The Marlins keep winning. I'm sticking with 85 wins. Somehow I can't see the Fish averaging close to 7 runs a game for very much longer.

Brad Lidge blew a save last night his first in over a year as a Phillie. Last season Philys bullpen had a season for the ages. Some regression is to be expected.

Fantasy-Well after two weeks Howie is on top. I know he was happy with his team right after the draft and they have not disappointed. And if A-Rod comes back strong this could be a good season for the Northern Hirsch's. As for the rest of us the standings change on a nightly basis. Its kind of like a rugby scrum. Hopefully this week brings all of us good pitching and NO INJURIES(sorry Mike). Have a good week.