For starters, I feel like a Catholic in confession because it’s been several weeks since my last posting. Anyway, I’m back now (from vacation, from midterms, etc.) so here comes an overdue column...
Baseball’s a funny thing. A player can play his whole career and do very well, put up nice stats, be a consistent performer, play on some winning clubs and yet make next to no impact on his peers or fans of the game.
Marquis Grissom announced his retirement yesterday, after 17 seasons for six different clubs. He broke in with the Montreal Expos in 1989 and has played with stars such as Larry Walker, Moises Alou, Pedro Martinez, Chipper Jones, Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, David Justice, Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez, Orel Hershiser, Bartolo Colon, Gary Sheffield, Eric Gagne, and Barry Bonds.
To say the least, Grissom never stood out among his more famous teammates. And yet, here’s an interesting tidbit of trivia about him: Grissom leaves as one of seven players with 2,000 hits, 200 home runs and 400 stolen bases, joining Craig Biggio, Roberto Alomar, Barry Bonds, Rickey Henderson, Paul Molitor and Joe Morgan. Those seven are all first-ballot Hall of Famers (Molitor and Morgan are already in, the other five are soon to follow in the next two to seven years).
Honestly, would anyone have ever thought that Grissom is in a stat-club with seven of the all-time greats? That’s why I love baseball so much – there’s no shortage of surprises.
Baseball’s a funny thing. A player can play his whole career and do very well, put up nice stats, be a consistent performer, play on some winning clubs and yet make next to no impact on his peers or fans of the game.
Marquis Grissom announced his retirement yesterday, after 17 seasons for six different clubs. He broke in with the Montreal Expos in 1989 and has played with stars such as Larry Walker, Moises Alou, Pedro Martinez, Chipper Jones, Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, David Justice, Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez, Orel Hershiser, Bartolo Colon, Gary Sheffield, Eric Gagne, and Barry Bonds.
To say the least, Grissom never stood out among his more famous teammates. And yet, here’s an interesting tidbit of trivia about him: Grissom leaves as one of seven players with 2,000 hits, 200 home runs and 400 stolen bases, joining Craig Biggio, Roberto Alomar, Barry Bonds, Rickey Henderson, Paul Molitor and Joe Morgan. Those seven are all first-ballot Hall of Famers (Molitor and Morgan are already in, the other five are soon to follow in the next two to seven years).
Honestly, would anyone have ever thought that Grissom is in a stat-club with seven of the all-time greats? That’s why I love baseball so much – there’s no shortage of surprises.
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