The 200 Homerun 400 Steals Club

Pete the other day at work was telling me that Jimmie Rollins of the Philadelphia Phillies is on the cusp of joining an exclusive club. With one more homer, Rollins would join the 200HR/400 Steals club. In total (not counting Rollins) there are nine players who have reached that plateau. I guessed three right off the bat and faltered on a few guesses. Here is the list:

Roberto Alomar (210 HR/474 SB)
Craig Biggio (291 HR/414 SB)
Barry Bonds (762 HR/514 SB)
Bobby Bonds (332 HR/461 SB)
Johnny Damon (235 HR/408 SB)
Rickey Henderson (297 HR/1406 SB)
Marquis Grissom (227 HR/489 SB)
Paul Molitor (234 HR/504 SB)
Joe Morgan (268 HR/689 SB)

I had guessed Barry Bonds, Henderson and Morgan while Pete added Paul Molitor. I thought that maybe Lou Brock and Tim Raines were on that list. I never would have imagined that Marquis Grissom was on this list. It's a pretty impressive list.

Good luck to Jimmie Rollins as he looks to hit is 200th homerun to join the club.

Sisco Kid

Pete Rose Played With 11 Hall of Famers

In an interview yesterday with Dan Patrick, Pete Rose spoke on a number of subjects. Once subject that piqued my interest was based in a comment that he made. Here is the quote:

“I know nobody that played with me took steroids,” he said. “I played with 11 Hall of Famers and played against 52 Hall of Famers, and I don’t know any of them linked to steroids.”

Now that got my wheels a-turning. Who are these 11 Hall of Famers that Rose played with. Consider this, Rose played from 1963-1986 (ironically the same number of years that he has been suspended).  In thinking about which teams he played with I came up with 7 definite answers. Here are the ones I got off the bat (in that order):

Johnny Bench
Joe Morgan
Tony Perez
Mike Schmidt
Steve Carlton
Tom Seaver
Frank Robinson

When I asked Pete for his input, aside from my first five answers, he gave me this one:

Barry Larkin

Now that makes 8. So I decided to think about who he played with on Montreal while with the Expos that became Hall of Famers. Andre Dawson came immediately to mind but I was unsure if Dawson signed with the Chicago Cubs before or after 1984. After checking the trusty Baseball Reference.com Dawson did in face play with Rose in Montreal as well as Gary Carter. That put us at 10.

Here is where it gets tricky. We were absolutely stumped. I went and checked every year that Rose played and looked to see who his teammates were and found a player who had a cup of coffee with the Philadelphia Phillies in the form of 6-at bats during the 1981 season. Any guesses? It was an 18-year old Ryne Sandberg. Bringing the list to 11.

Now I'm going to sound like an infomerical: Wait!!!! There's more. I'm going to add a 12th Hall of Famer. Now Pete didn't play with him but played for him: Sparky Anderson was the manager of the Big Red Machine.

So there you have the list. Maybe if I'm feeling up to it I'll try to deduce who were the 52 Hall of Famers that Pete Rose played against....Maybe ;)

Until Then, enjoy the clip of the interview Pete Rose did with Dan Patrick on July 25, 2013:

Sisco Kid