Baseball Musings: Sosa at 600

June 20, 2007

Sosa at 600

Sammy Sosa hits number 600 against his former club, the Cubs. He becomes the fifth player to crack the 600 level behind Aaron, Bonds, Ruth and Mays. Now that he's reached the milestone, I wonder how long he'll stay with the Rangers. His OPS is just a bit over .750, so he's not exactly tearing up the league. It seems to me the Rangers could find a better DH.

Will Sosa get into the Hall of Fame? Or will the cork bat and steroid allegations hurt his chances?

Posted by David Pinto at 11:36 PM | Sluggers | TrackBack (0)

Comments

Congratulations to Sammy "Better living through chemistry" Sosa

Not every era had a huge home run hitter in the entire league yet the 90's and early 00's had a couple on every team.

Posted by: Dave at June 21, 2007 12:02 AM

It's too bad that putting Sosa in the HoF requires you to put that guy in SF in as well.

Posted by: Chris at June 21, 2007 12:40 AM

I'd cast a vote to put him in the hall of fame for no other reason than hitting #600 against marquis, with marquis wearing sosa's old uniform number. There is SO much justice in that, from an STL fan's POV, at least...

Posted by: SleepyCA at June 21, 2007 02:51 AM

I think coming back from the dead, to hit # 600, makes me think that maybe I should rethink my anti-Sammy stance. I think I've held on too much to ONE corked bat and unconfirmed steroid abuse.

Posted by: Devon Young at June 21, 2007 03:02 AM

You'd THINK the Rangers could find a better DH. But it's amusing to me just how bad some of the DHs are in the league. Fully 11 out of 19 full-time DHs can't even post a positive MLVr. It's pretty astonishing to me.

Posted by: Colin at June 21, 2007 11:57 AM

It's too bad that putting Sosa in the HoF requires you to put that guy in SF in as well.
Posted by Chris at June 21, 2007 12:40 AM

your frakking kidding me right? Its ignorant comments like this that have led baseball into the craphole its in with steroids. Go back to your rock and watch the oh so clean NFL.

Posted by: gregory at June 22, 2007 06:31 PM

re: sammy sosa

In this case, the fact that Sosa is over 600 home runs as opposed to 500 home runs settles the HOF debate in his favor.

rarely has a player been as one dimensional as Sammy Sosa or has his value been as highly derived from the homer as it has been for Sammy Sosa.

He did not walk as much as most home run hitters of his clout; he didn't hit for average the way most homer hitters of his type did; and his extra base hits totals for doubles and triples were not exceptional. He struck out an awful lot.

He did do some other things very well. At the start of his career, he was very fast. He covered a lot of ground in the outfield, and even when he was older, he was still a pretty good outfielder. He could steal a base into his 30s, and he was a 30-30 man in 1995.

He did learn to take a pitch later in his career, drawing more than 100 walks in 2001 and 2002, and more than 90 walks in 2000, which was quite a development for a player who used to walk less than fifty times a year.

He had slugging percentages in the six hundreds three times, and in 2001, slugged .737. He was voted the MVP in 1998, and was a six-time all-star, and was second in the MVP voting in 2002.

I think the best comparable to him would be Mike Schmidt. Like Schmidt, Sosa hit mainly homers, not too many doubles or triples, and a lot of fly balls, so not too many double plays. Like Schmidt, Sosa had speed. Like Schmidt, Sosa was a good defensive player, though maybe not the gold glove player that Schmidt was.

Like Schmidt, Sosa was misunderstood for much of his career, but revered in certain circles (e.g. latin america). Unlike Schmidt, he never had a Pete Rose or a World Series to shine in, and but for Bartman, we will never know what he might have done in a world series. I like to think he would have done well.

If Schmidt had played in Sosa's era, his numbers would look a lot like Sosa's--more than six hundred homers, not too many triples or doubles, and a few years slugging six hundres and maybe one slugging seven hundred.

If Schmidt had played left field, he'd have been a lot like Sosa, and if Sosa had played third base, he'd have been a lot like Schmidt.

Both were accused of being more interested in themselves than in their teams.

But in the end, you could not deny their Hall of Fame Credentials. Schmidt was lucky enough to follow his MVP 1980 year with a World Series MVP chaser in 1980, that led to two more MVP years--but then again, he never played in an era with Barry Bonds.

I believe Sosa belongs in the Hall clearly and unreservedly.

As for the cork bat, let us not forget than Don Drysdale, Jim Bunning, Don Sutton, and Gaylord Perry, all fairly recent Hall inductees, have confessed at one time or another, to loading up the ball with that slippery elm. That's a much worse form of cheating than corking the bat. We have no way of knowing if any of those guys would have won even a single game without loading up or cutting or greasing the ball. Without cheating, they might have been just another fastballer who lost.

I for one am not going to judge harshly on sosa, especially if a US Senator says he threw spitballs and wishes he did it as well as Don Drysdale. (see the Neyer-Bill James guide to pitchers).

--art kyriazis, philly

Posted by: art kyriazis at June 24, 2007 03:55 PM

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