All-Time Greats Archives

Greg Maddux earned his 350th victory last night, allowing just one unearned run over six innings. The run came on Maddux's own throwing error, a bunt the gold glove winner threw into left field. The Padres bullpen allowed one other run, but that was enough to make a three run homer by Adrian Gonzalez stand up. Ubaldo Jimenez pitched a spectacular 6 2/3 innings, striking out eleven Padres, but his one mistake to Gonzalez cost him the game.

After the game, Maddux kept the celebration low key. Hoffman gave him the ball, even though Trevor usually keeps his them as a memento of his saves:

Maddux called it a "cool" gesture, then explained that the best part for him is handing the ball to a loved one. "I'll give it to my kid, let him go play with it," Maddux said.

He had praise his catcher, making his major league debut:

He seemed especially happy for catcher Luke Carlin, who was making his major league debut and caught a future Hall of Famer in Maddux and a probable Hall of Famer in Hoffman.

"He gave a real good target," Maddux said. "He looked like he actually had fun."
Carlin was still grinning well after the game.

"It was kind of like all of my dreams came true at once," said the 27-year-old, who was drafted by the Tigers in 2002 and played six-plus seasons in the minors.

"It was a privilege, an honor. I'm pretty much speechless. How could anybody envision this?"

Maddux did not walk a batter last night. In his career, he's walked less than one batter per nine innings against the Rockies, his lowest number against a team he's faced for at least 50 innings.

Congratulations to a great pitcher reaching a lofty milestone!

Jon Weisman posts a wonderful portrait of Jackie Robinson at Dodger Thoughts.

Alex Rodriguez homered in the first inning in Tampa Bay tonight, tying Ted Williams and Willie McCovey for 15th on the all-time home run list.

What's impressive is that Rodriguez is in his seasonal age 32 season. At the end of their age 32 seasons, Williams had 323 and McCovey stood at 352. Alex is likely to be 200 home runs ahead of both of them at the same age by the end of the year.

Dugout Central looks at the bad timing of Fred McGriff's career. He was always one of my favorites. I think the big reason Fred didn't stick in the minds of baseball fans was that he didn't ride the wave of big offense from 1993 on. Paul O'Neill, for example, ramped up his game at that time period, but McGriff, after a great 1994, saw his slugging drop. Bad timing, indeed.

Baseball Digest Daily uncovers Branch Rickey's scouting report on Don Drysdale. Rickey was as impressed with Don's intelligence as his fastball. Branch wanted Pittsburgh to sign Drysdale, but his dad worked for the Dodgers and they won the signing.

Joe Posanski wonders which player was better, Clemente or Kaline? I've felt for a while that Roberto was a bit overrated as a hitter, as he had a low OBA for a player with a high batting average. As hitters, I find the argument similar to a Boggs/Gwynn comparison.

The Hall of Fame changed leadership today, but it's not clear why. It sounds like Dale Petroskey was a bad businessman. Save the Fame Game responds with praise for both the incoming and outgoing presidents.

I wonder if accepting the asterisk ball has anything to do with it?

Deadspin reports that someone is auctioning a nude picture of Willie Mays from 1962. I want to know what's in the needle? B-12?

The writers talk with Yogi Berra.

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Steve Caimano wonders why Stan Musial isn't included in discussions of the greatest living ballplayer:

Stan Musial may be the most underrated Hall of Famer and deserves to be considered "The Greatest Living Ballplayer". This statement may seem odd to you because the conversation around the unofficial title of TGLB, ever since the passing of Ted Williams, has centered on two men: Willie Mays and Hank Aaron. While there can be no question that the "Say Hey Kid" and "Hammerin' Hank" are two of the greatest to play the game, "The Man" is at least their equal. Somehow this fact seems to have escaped the notice of the public at large. Let's try and change that, shall we.

In my mind, there are some things working against Stan. He was more a double hitter than a home run hitter, and fans (with rare exceptions like me) don't care that much about doubles. He also played three seasons in a major leagues depleted of talent by WWII. Stan only missed 1945 due to the war, and none of his peak playing time. Frankly, the stats he posted in 1943 and 1944 are suspect due to the lack of competition. Across town, the Browns were playing a one-armed centerfielder, while the Cardinals went with one of the great hitters of all time? Something wasn't kosher there.

On top of that, Stan didn't set any all-time records. If he had passed Speaker for the doubles record, or Ruth for the runs or RBI records, he'd be at the top of the discussion. No doubt Musial was one of the greatest hitters who ever lived, but he fell just behind the Ruth/Williams/Mays/Aaron lead. Besides, at this point, Bonds is the greatest hitter who ever lived, with or without steroids.

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Matt Bouffard weighs in on whether Roy White was really a better leftfielder than Jim Rice. Growing up in Bridgeport, CT during Roy White's prime, I got to watch him a lot. Roy was never hyped as a player. Bobby Murcer, the centerfield from Oklahoma got that, or Thurman Munson. Even the awful Horace Clarke and Gene Michael got more press, it seemed. Roy was more like Dwight Evans, an excellent ballplayer whose skill of getting on base wasn't something that excited writers.

Congratulations to Dave Niehaus:

Niehaus has been chosen as the 2008 winner of the Ford C. Frick Award for broadcast excellence. He will be honored during the Hall of Fame induction ceremony July 27 at Cooperstown, N.Y. The announcement Tuesday comes on Niehaus' 73rd birthday.

One of the great things about the MLB Extra Innings package is that the whole country gets to hear top announcers like Niehaus on a daily basis.

Defensive Indifference responds to Catfish Stew over how much emotion and stats should figure into a Hall of Fame argument.

I just want to throw in my two cents on the Jim Rice strikes fear argument. That may have been true in the late 1970s, but most of the years I attended games at Fenway the correct strategy with one out and Rice coming up third was to throw eight straight balls, then let Rice hit the first pitch into a double play. Jim never thought, "This guy is wild, I'll wait for him to throw one down the plate." He thought, "This guy threw eight straight balls, he has to throw his next pitch over the plate, I'm going to swing!" He posted great stats in that time period, but spent a lot of the Red Sox outs.

If you want to help save the Hall of Fame game, this site wants you to e-mail the powers that be.

Lou Gehrig is the top ten Yankees first baseman. (Hat tip, My Baseball Bias)

This reminds me of the only good joke I've ever invented. After the 1986 World Series, the standard joke was, "Bill Buckner tried to commit suicide by running in front of a truck, but it went between his legs." Here's my take on that series:

After the 1986 World Series, Bill Buckner drove John McNamara and Davey Johnson on a ski trip. While driving up the mountain, Buckner's foot seized, slamming on the gas pedal and sending the car and passengers over a cliff to their doom.

When they get to heaven, God feels bad for Davey and John since they won't get to manage the All-Star game. God says, "We have lots of great players here, why don't you choose sides and play a game? Davey, since you won the World Series, pick first. Whom would you like at first base?"

Johnson replies, "Lou Gehrig, of course."

"And you, John?" God asks.

"I'll take Bill Buckner," McNamara responds.

God is surprised by the choice. "With all the great players we have here, why Buckner?"

"Because he's the one who got us here!"

My latest Sporting News column discusses why closers are now allowed in the Hall of Fame. You can see a larger version of the graph here.

Congratulations to Goose Gossage on his election to the Hall of Fame:

Goose Gossage became only the fifth relief pitcher elected to the Hall of Fame, earning baseball's highest honor Tuesday on his ninth try on the ballot.

Known for his overpowering fastball, fiery temperament and bushy mustache, the Goose received 466 of 543 votes (85.8 percent) from 10-year members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Gossage is a favorite of mine, so I'm very happy to see him elected.

Baseball Crank provides us with a trend chart for the candidates. Rice, Dawson and Blyleven made major steps forward, with Jim just missing induction by 2.8% of the vote. At that level, he probably goes in next year. Blyleven has three more years for Rich Lederer to work his magic so he might get in as well.

I'm very disappointed in Tim Raines 24.3 percent. I just saw Steve Phillips and Joe Sheehan on the Hot List. Phillips says Raines doesn't look like a Hall of Famer to him, while Joe points out that Tim was a much better player than Rice. I was waiting for Joe to say, "that's why you were a lousy GM, Steve," but to his credit Joe refrained.

McGwire neither gained nor lost support. Voters are going to wait until they know what went on with Mark and steroids.

The official voting results are here.

Goose gets 86% of the vote, the only player elected to the Hall of Fame this year. More in a bit.

Chris Jaffe pens a set of Hall of Fame guidelines for predicting elections. He sees Gossage getting in this year, and Rice just missing by a hair.

Dan Fox looks at how Tim Raines's base running ability might get him in the Hall of Fame. The voting will be announced Tuesday at 2 PM EST.

It's somewhat interesting, with all the talk of steroids going on now, no one brings up Tim's cocaine problem. One writer, who appears to be voting for anyone who played before the 1990s, excuses it:

The 10th man on my ballot (and electors may vote for only 10) is Tim Raines. Raines had drug issues, but they were recreational drug issues. Cocaine, to be exact. "Coke" was illegal, but no one has suggested it made for better careers. It messed up Raines' head but it didn't attack the integrity of the on-field product.

Oh really? Someone high on drugs is doing the best he can do on the field?

From what I remember, Raines had a problem early in his career that I don't remember repeating. A youthful indiscretion. It would not keep me from voting for him, but it should not be so easily dismissed, either.

Chone Smith comes up with a retrosheet era Hall of the Exceptionally Good. I'd rank Grich over Whitaker, simply because he played his career in tougher ballparks for a hitter.

John Delcos publishes his Hall of Fame ballot, voting for Gossage. I also appreciate his honesty in not voting for McGwire:

Did not vote for Mark McGwire because of the steroid issue.

(I fixed a typo in the above quote.) If Mark were clean, there would be no debate about his qualifications for the hall. Voters need to realize that the steroid issue is a prefectly good reason for not voting for McGwire. With many years on the ballot, there's plenty of time to debate this issue and see what we learn.

Jeff at Brew Crew Ball explains why he hates the Hall of Fame:

If the system were salvageable, I might feel differently. But as it is, we have a Hall of Fame that is ill-defined, one with low standards due to previous mistakes, and one with a very mixed bag (that's putting it mildly) of voters.

This year, statheads (at least the ones who are willing to put Bert Blyleven on the backburner) are going crazy trying to get Tim Raines elected. In response, they're getting stupid arguments about Raines's drug use, comparisons with Vince Coleman, and my all-time favorite: "I won't vote for him his first time on the ballot because he's not that good." [Not a direct quote, but too close for comfort.]

I don't hate the Hall, but I try not to get too caught up in the voting hoopla anymore. In general, the writers do a good job and the veterans committee doesn't. If you stuck with the writers version of the hall, my guess is people would be much happier. Still, it often comes down to popularity. If Jim Rice had Joe Carter's relationship with the press, he would have been elected on the second ballot.

Here's another Hall of Fame vote for Goose Gossage. Grant does use the weaselly argument to keep McGwire off the ballot, however:

For me, McGwire's case is singular. It all comes down to home runs. Yes, he has 583 homers and currently ranks eighth on the all-time list, but I suspect he'll be out of the top 10 within five years. While I have no proof that McGwire used steroids, I must consider the possibility of inflated stats in the steroids decades (1995-2004). In the previous decade (1985-94), McGwire ranked seventh in homers. In the steroid decade, he ranked eight. Guess the question is: Will his homer total stand the test of time. Good question: It hasn't been 25 seasons since McGwire first broke in, that won't happen until 2010. But since 1986 (McGwire's first season), McGwire currently ranks only fourth behind Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Ken Griffey Jr.. Four other active players are within 100 homers of McGwire. It's conceivable that among his "contemporaries," McGwire may not end up in the top 10. If your case is built on home run ability, then you better be at the very top of the list.

McGwire combined the ability to get on base with the ability to hit home runs. He wasn't Dave Kingman. I'm perfectly fine with writers not voting for McGwire because they believe he used steroids. Trying to find a statistical reason not to vote for Mark, however, is simply looking for an excuse so you don't have to deal with that issue.

Dan Fox notes that when you adjust Jim Rice's career for his home park, he doesn't look as impressive. Here's a simpler version:

Rice, Career	Home	Away
Batting Average	.320	.277
On-Base Average	.374	.330
Slugging Average	.546	.459

Rice's road numbers just don't scream hall of fame.

Dan Lewis rounded up five Internet writers, including your truly, to discuss why various players should or should not go into the Hall of Fame.

The latest Hall of Fame Ballot is out, and the new class is pretty weak. Of the new class, Raines would get my vote, as I have a soft spot for leadoff men. Raines was very productive from age 21 to age 38. He posted a fine OBA of .385 for his career, has an excellent stolen base percentage, and hit over 100 triples. He's Rickey Henderson light, but a fine player. The weak ballot may open the door for a Goose Gossage election, and I'm also curious to see how McGwire does the second time around. Were the writers just trying to keep him from a first ballot election, or are they really taking a hard line?

Joe Nuxhall died overnight:

Nuxhall's place in baseball lore was secured the moment he stepped onto a big-league field. With major league rosters depleted during World War II, he got a chance to pitch in relief for the Reds on June 10, 1944.

No one in modern baseball history has played in the majors at such a young age -- 15 years, 10 months, 11 days old. He got two outs against St. Louis before losing his composure, then went eight years before pitching for the Reds again.

"When you think of all the individuals that played at the major league level and you're the youngest in the history of the game and in the Guinness Book of Records, it does make you in awe of it," Nuxhall said on the 50th anniversary of his debut.

Nuxhall went on to a good career, pitching his best in 1963 as he posted a 15-8 record with a 2.61 ERA. He then became a long-time and beloved broadcaster for the Reds:

Nuxhall and play-by-play announcer Marty Brennaman described the Big Red Machine's two World Series titles in the 1970s, Pete Rose's return as player-manager and then banishment for gambling in the 1980s, and another World Series championship in 1990.

My thoughts go out to his family and friends.

Barry Bonds says he'll boycott the Hall of Fame if his ball goes in with an asterisk. It's possible their evil plan is working!

I'm in agreement with Bonds on this one. The Hall of Fame should not accept the ball with an asterisk.

Jim Thome made his 500th home run count in a big way. The White Sox scored eight runs in their last three at bats, erasing a 7-1 deficit to defeat the Angels 9-7. The last two runs came on a walk-off home run by Jim Thome both winning the game and becoming the third player this season to reach the 500 milestone. Hats off to Jim Thome on becoming the 23rd player in major league history to reach that level.

Gene Orza left a comment to this post. That made my day!

The Houston Astros retired Jeff Bagwell's number today.

His closest friend on the team, Brad Ausmus, seemed to speak for an entire clubhouse and perhaps an entire city.

''He was the quintessential teammate,'' Brad Ausmus told fans. ''He was a superstar who always put the team before himself. Between he and (Biggio), they always shouldered the blame when he struggled and deflected the credit when we won.

Bagwell entered the peak years of his career just as offense was exploding in the major leagues. He came close to being a .300-.400-.500 player, missing only in batting average with a career mark of .297. And he did this despite the early part of his career in the Astrodome. While his career ended early, it's certainly a career worth celebrating.

It was noted in this Sports Illustrated article that with his 100th run scored Saturday, Alex Rodriguez became the first player to hit 35 homers, drive in 100 runs and score 100 runs ten years in a row. However, the best streak among the three for Alex is the streak of scoring 100 runs a season:

Most consecutive seasons scoring at least 100 runs.

Player	Streak
Lou Gehrig	13
Henry Aaron	13
Willie Mays	12
Alex Rodriguez	12
Stan Musial	11

One would think some great leadoff man would be in the top five here, but Billy Hamilton finishes tied for sixth with ten straight season of 100 runs scored. It's just easier for great sluggers to score a lot of runs. All these hitters owned great OBAs, and with their power didn't depend on others to drive them in as much as a low power leadoff hitter.

Notice that over the time period of Alex's streak (1996-present), A-Rod scored nearly 100 runs more than his nearest competitor, Derek Jeter (the current Yankees employee the top three on the list). He gets on base, hits for power, and he's even a great base stealer, swiping bases with an 80% success rate. He's the complete offensive player.

There's a good, level headed debate going on over at ESPN between Jim Caple, Rob Neyer and Jayson Stark on who is the greatest slugger of all time. Caple is really out of his league here, as he right off misses the point of the question. But what I find interesting is this comment from Caple:

But I agree with what both of you are saying. We always place statistics in context with what was going on in the era. Or we should. Ruth hit his home runs in an era when no minorities were allowed to play, when he never had to face the likes of Pedro Martinez or Bob Gibson, when there were no sliders, and a time when the talent base was further diminished because much of the male population was malnourished (source: William Manchester's account of 1940 draftees in "The Glory and the Dream'').

I wasn't aware of the malnourishment, but I'm not surprised. The 1930s were a rough time. However let me try to refute this argument against Ruth. While we don't know how Babe would have done against the best Negro League pitchers, how many of these players would really have made the majors? If Ruth was facing poor talent, weren't the best Negro League pitchers facing talent that was even worse?

At the time, there were 400 men on active rosters in the majors. There was a much larger talent pool to pull from than in the Negro Leagues, since the population of whites was nine times higher than the population of blacks. Since you're pulling from a larger talent pool, given the same number of players the average player in MLB at the time was likely to be better than the average player in the Negro Leagues by a lot.

You see this in the Olympics all the time. The big countries dominate, because with large populations they're more likely to have lots of players at the high end of the normal curve.

Now add in the nutrition study. If white males were malnourished, don't you think black males were malnourished? And I would bet that blacks were even in worse shape than whites, since in other aspects of their lives that was true. So the best pitchers and hitters of the Negro Leagues had it even better than Babe Ruth. Their competition came from an even smaller talent pool, and they were likely more poorly fed. So why would we expect black players of the 1920s to really improve the level of performance in the major leagues, enough to make a difference to Babe Ruth?

I think analysts see what happened after the integration of blacks into baseball post WWII and generalize back to what would have happened in the 1920s and 1930s. But the country changed after WWII, and so that may not be a legitimate comparison. The elite Negro League pitchers of the 1920s may not have looked so good when they were regularly facing teams with a higher concentration of good hitting talent.

None of this is to condone the racism of baseball before 1947. But in my mind, taking down Ruth a peg because of that doesn't make a lot of sense. The best black pitchers of the Negro Leagues were likely not as good as most elite white pitchers, so I don't see where they would have made a big difference.

I'm watching Baseball Tonight and it looks like today's Hall of Fame crowd will shatter the previous attendance record. There's lots of love today for Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken. The induction ceremonies are on ESPN Classic at 1:30 PM EDT.

Alex Rodriguez hit career home run 499 Wednesday night against the Kansas City Royals as the Yankees took the game 7-1.

Note Alex's eye's in the picture. Even at the end of his follow through, he's kept his eye on the ball.

When Rodriguez hits his 500th home run, he'll be the youngest man to reach that plateau. Based on seasonal age, Alex (who is 31) will be a year younger than the former fastest to 500, Jimmie Foxx. In terms of seasons, Alex is getting there one year and two months faster than double-X. Foxx's 500th home run came with his final long ball of his age 32 season.

Now, Alex is an old 31. Seasonal age represents your age on June 30th of the given year. It's the age you spend at which you spend half the season. Alex turns 32 on Friday (a nice day for number 500). Fox was also an old in terms of age versus seasonal age, but if you figure his final home run came sometime in September, he would have been 32 years and eleven months when the shot came.

Beating Foxx by a year isn't the most impressive thing about Alex and seasonal age. Consider:

• Alex stands first through seasonal age 31 by 35 home runs, and there's still two months left to go.


• He's second through seasonal age 32, one behind Foxx.
• Alex stands second through age 33, tied with Sammy Sosa and nineteen twenty behind Foxx.
• Through seasonal age 34, Alex stands seventh.

A-Rod finally falls off the top ten at seasonal age 35, but if he hits twenty more this season he'll rank eighth, one ahead of Mantle. And if you don't think age is important, when the season started, Alex was one of four players with a shot at cracking 500 home runs this season. Thomas, Thome and Manny Ramirez were all ahead of him. Rodriguez passed Thome and Ramriez and will likely get to 500 before either of them, and shaved nineteen home runs off Thomas' lead. He now trails Frank by four. Alex still has enough youth to keep blasting lots of home runs for a few more years.

Craig Biggio announced his retirement last night before the game:

After a 20-year career in which he stayed with one franchise, played multiple positions at an All-Star level and joined the elite 3,000 hit club, the Houston Astros infielder said Tuesday he will retire at the end of this season.

"There are a lot of guys that have the game taken away from them by injury," he said. "For me to be able to walk away now, on top, on my own accord, I'm very happy with that. I'm in a good place. I think I've done everything that I was supposed to do on a baseball field. I have nothing to be disappointed about."

He certainly punctuated his announcement with a bang:

Just to show how players have grown, Biggio appears small to me, but he's the same height and weight as two other players with 3000 hits, Willie Mays and Carl Yastrzemski. (All are 5' 11" and weight between 180 and 185 pounds.) That's another thing that gets left out as a cause of the great offensive era we're in. That players are a lot bigger than the superstars of the previous generation.

Congratulations to Craig Biggio on a great career!

Well, before there were blogs there were diaries, and Joe DiMaggio kept one. There's nothing juicy in them, but I liked this one:

He chafed at the benefits piling up early in 1991 to honor the 50th anniversary of his 56-game hitting streak. "If I thought this would be taking place due to the streak," he wrote on Jan. 14 with sarcasm (or was it disdain?), "I would have stopped hitting at 40 games."

The hand-written pages will be up for auction at some point.

The Astros are ready to move Biggio out of the lineup, at least on the road:

Biggio, who got his 3,000th hit on June 28, is OK with the arrangement, manager Phil Garner said Saturday, adding that the plan could change should Biggio go on a hitting tear. Burke started Saturday at second base and batted leadoff against the Chicago Cubs.

"It's difficult to have the conversation," Garner said, referring to Biggio, his 41-year-old second baseman who is one of the most popular players in Astros history. "And that's why it's subject to change."

I appreciate the Astros sticking with one of their greatest players as he went for 3000 hits, but Craig just isn't contributing wins any more. It's time for him to step aside.

The Mets designated Julio Franco for assignment today:

The New York Mets cut the 48-year-old utilityman Thursday, opting to give 22-year-old outfielder Lastings Milledge another chance in the majors.

The NL East leaders announced the move before starting the second half with a game against Cincinnati.

Franco hit only .200 in 50 at-bats with one home run and eight RBIs. Mostly a pinch-hitter, he also played a bit at first base and third base this season.

Popular in the clubhouse, Franco often acted as a coach, motivating both veterans and younger players. There has been speculation he might eventually have that role full-time; this week, the Mets hired Rickey Henderson as a coach.

Milledge can only hope he Lastings as long as Franco. Julio was a late bloomer, putting together his best years starting at age 28 and lasting through age 37. He was the only player still in the majors who debuted before I graduated from college. I hope he has a successful career coaching and managing.

George Brett wins a trademark infringement lawsuit, with the judge citing the pine-tar incident.

Joe Christensen and a group of reporters sat down for breakfast with Harmon Killebrew yesterday to talk about Home Run Derby.

Couple interesting notes: Killebrew said the winner of each one-on-one contest received $2,000. The runner-up received $1,000, and the players could make an additional $500 for hitting three homers in a row.

That might not sound like much by today's standards, but in 1959, the Washington Senators paid Killebrew $9,000. He said he worked in a men's clothing store in the offseason to help pay the bills. A different era, indeed.

"I haven't seen [the 'Home Run Derby' episodes] in years," Killebrew said. "So this is kind of fun to watch them again."

Somehow, they fit it into a half hour show.

Ken Griffey, Jr. hits the Reds third home run of the game to make the score 6-0 over Arizona. The blast ties Griffey with former Reds great Frank Robinson for sixth on the all-time home run list. Robinson is second on the Reds all time list with 324, Griffey ninth with 188.

The Heater is soliciting remembrances of Hank Aaron.

Craig Biggio knocked out two doubles this evening, raising his career total to 660. That's the same number of home runs Willie Mays hit. He needs six more to pass George Brett for fifth on the all time list. Of course, he may have a devil of a time getting there. :-)

The Astros lead the Phillies 7-3 in the top of the ninth.

Update: Dan Wheeler gives up a bases loaded double to Ruiz, but the Astros manage to hang on for a 7-5 win as Trever Miller comes on and gets the save. It seems Astros relievers like to keep fans on the edge of their seats in the ninth this year.

There's a great round up on the Biggio milestone at the Houston Chronicle. They provide plenty of links to stats and photos as well.

Craig Biggio picks up his third hit of the night to reach 3000 for his career. Two big milestones on the same day, much like August 4, 1985, when Tom Seaver reached 300 wins and Rod Carew reached 3000 hits. Congratulations to Craig on the milestone and an outstanding Hall of Fame career!

Now however, it's time to hang up the spikes. He's a shell of the hitter he used to be, with an OBA under .300. He's not helping the club, and it's time to go out on a high note and take a coaching or front office job.

Craig Biggio enters tonight's game at 2996 hits. That means he can hit the 3000 hit mark in any game, so keep your eyes open! I still wonder how soon after his 3000th hit the Astros bench him. A .279 OBA is just abysmal.

There's a new web site honoring Hank Aaron and raising money for worthy causes. Check it out at We Know Better.

The Mariners hold a pre-game ceremony in honor of Ken Griffey. Buhner and Edgar attended, and Griffey spoke. He talked about flying back into Seattle from Oakland and got a bit nostalgic. The crowd gave him a standing ovation and there were plenty of signs asking him to return to the Mariners. It was a nice touch.

Bill Russell and Bill Gates received honorary degrees from Harvard yesterday. As members of the 25th reunion class, we were close to them before the procession began. Here's Russell in his cap and gown:

Gates is standing next to him. Here's Gates by himself. Sorry for the quality, but I was using my cell phone:

After the morning exercises, Gates spoke in the afternoon at the meeting of the Harvard Alumni Association. The 25th reunion class sat on the stage for that one. As we left the yard, we passed very close to Russell.

Joe Christensen wrote a feature story on Tony Oliva, and in his blog gives us some background on the interview, including a great story about Tony and Telly Savalas.

Derek Jeter picked up three hits tonight, including a triple to lead off the seventh. That ties him, and then puts him two hits past the Yankee Clipper, Joe DiMaggio. Jeter now ranks fifth on the Yankees all time hit list, a list headed by Lou Gehrig with 2721. At 2216, Derek is about 2 1/2 seasons off that number. Barring injury, he'll be the first Yankees player to reach 3000 hits with the team.

Craig Biggio knocked out two hits today to bring his career total to 2966. He scored two from the leadoff spot as Houston defeats Arizona 5-2. Both the hits landed for doubles, putting Craig at 649. He's be the seventh player to reach 650 doubles for his career. While 700 looks out of reach, he should be able to reach George Brett at 655 doubles.

However, Craig no longer belongs in the leadoff spot. I appreciate the Astros giving him the opportunity to reach 3000 hits, but he shouldn't be doing it from an important offensive position. With a .309 OBA, let him bat seventh or eighth.

Hudson and Hairston accounted for the Arizona runs with homers, so $20 will go to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

Rickey Henderson is going to retire!

Henderson told reporters that he intends to officially announce his retirement this summer, unless, of course, a team says, "Hey, let me see, can you go out there and play?," in which case he'll return to action.

Given that the independent league teams are no longer interested in him despite his gaudy OBAs, I think Rickey is already retired. Does anyone know if playing in an independent league keeps the Hall of Fame clock from starting?