Adrián Beltré Makes History...Again April 6, 2018

Texas Rangers 3B Adrián Beltré made history once again during yesterday's game against the Oakland A's. With his 2 for 3 performance, Beltré passed Hall of Famer Rod Carew with his career hit number 3,054. In doing so, Beltré became the player born in Latin America with most career hits. Beltré was born in the Dominican Republic while Carew was born in Panama. But Beltré's history making didn't end there. 

With his second hit of the game, Beltré tied another Hall of Famer on the All-Time Hits list. This time, he stood side by side with Rickey Henderson. Both players are on the list with 3,055 hits. Hall of Famer Craig Biggio sits just ahead with 3,060 hits. Now here is where the fun really begins.

In front of Biggio is Seattle Mariners outfielder (and future Hall of Famer) Ichiro Suziki. Ichiro currently has 3, 082 hits and is the player who has most career hits that was born in a foreign country. Plus add to the 3,000 hit mix is Los Angeles Angeles (I almost typed California and Anaheim before finally typing Los Angeles, LOL) 1B/DH Albert Pujols. Pujols, who like Ichiro and Beltré is a future Hall of Famer, currently sits at 2,975 career hits. 

It is also conceivable that a 200 hit season puts Beltré at 14th on the list just past Hall of Famer Cal Ripken, who sits at 3,184 hits. The 2018 season is shaping up nicely as a race within the 3,000 hit club.

After Pujols, where do we sit in terms of current players on the cusp of the 3,000 club. You have Detroit Tigers 1B Miguel Cabrera with 2,643 hits and Seattle Mariners 2B Robinson Cano with 2,386 hits. After that, it'll be a while before we have a discussion about who might be next to reach the 3,000 hit club.

Until Then Keep Playing Ball,
Baseball Sisco
#BaseballSisco
#BaseballSiscoKidStyle

For Further Reading:

• Career Hits List from Baseball Reference.com
• Active Hits List from Baseball Reference.com

Jose Altuve Joins Rarefied Air

Jose Altuve put together one of the most impressive seasons with his 2014 American League batting and hits titles. Altuve finished with a .341 batting average with 225 hits. Now consider this, Altuve's 225 hits places him in 3rd place All-Time for Hits by a Latino Ballplayer.

Now keeping in mind of such sluggers that have recently played the game as Miguel Cabrera, Albert Pujols, Adrian Beltran, Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz, Nelson Cruz, Alex Rodriguez, Vladimir Guerrero and Latino legends such as Roberto Clemente, Vic Power (Victor Pellot), Tony Oliva and Pedro Guerrero, Altuve had more hits in his 2014 season than all those players ever did in an individual season. Now consider that the record most hits in one season is 262 hits, which is held by Ichiro Suzuki, here are the two Latinos to have more hits that Jose Altuve

Rod Carew
At the age of 31, Panamanian Rod Carew put up a career high 239 hits during the 1977 season in which he won the American League Most Valuable Player Award while a member of the Minnesota Twins. 1977 was also a career year for Carew in terms of batting average. Carew hit .388 that season with 38 doubles, 16 triples and 14 home runs while driving in 100 runs and scoring 128 runs.

Matteo Alou
One of the famed trio of Alou Brothers from the Dominican Republic, Matteo Alou racked up a career high 231 hits for the 1969 Pittsburgh Pirates. Alou batted .331 with a league leading 41 doubles, 6 triples and 1 home run while driving in 48 runs and scoring 105 runs.

Jose Altuve
What's impressive about Altuve's 2014 season is that he was able to do so at the young age of 24. Altuve batted a career high .341 with a career high 225 hits. He raked 47 doubles, 3 triples and 7 home runs with 59 Runs batted in and 85 runs scored. Add to that, the league leading 56 stolen bases that Altuve swiped.

Will Altuve get much AL MVP consideration outside of Houston? The front runners are currently Mike Trout, Nelson Cruz, Adam Jones and Victor Martinez. I think it will be hard for Altuve to win the AL MVP though if I had a vote, he'd be my pick. What do you think, does he have a chance to win AL MVP?

Hasta la próxima, no dejamos de jugar el Beisbol,
Baseball Sisco
#baseballsisco
#baseballsiscokidstyle

For Further Reading:
- Click here to access Jose Altuve's career statistics from Baseball Reference.com
- Click here to access Rod Carew's career statistics from Baseball Reference.com
- Click here to access Matteo Alou's career statistics from Baseball Reference.com
- Click here to access the Single-Season Leaders & Records for Hits from Baseball Reference.com

Ryne Sandberg and a Dearth of Hall of Famers As Managers

Ryne Sandberg's recent promotion as interim manager of the Philadephia Phillies brought up something that was on my mind upon finishing reading Mike Schmidt's book Clearing the Bases: Juiced Players, Monster Salaries, Sham Records, and a Hall of Famer's Search for the Soul of Baseball:

In the book Mike Schmidt talks about his inability to get a managerial position at the Major League level and devotes some time to the idea as to why there aren't many Hall of Famers that become managers. At the time of the printing of the book in 2006, Schmidt states:

In the last thirty years, only two Hall of Fame players have managed in the majors: Yogi Berra and Frank Robinson. Only one (Robbie) is a big league manager today. Babe Ruth wanted to manage the Yankees when he retired and the offered him the Newark Bears. See what I mean?

Schmidt offers a theory as to why this is so using himself as an example:

Before 2004, I had nothing on my résumé to that would lead anyone to conclude that I had the right stuff to manage a team. As a player, my dealings with the press had been dicey at best. I'd been a high profile player, known to be a bit self-centered, and not necessarily a strong person outside the clubhouse.

How could I work for someone?

How could I work "within" a team where my opinion counted but wasn't the final one.

How in the hell can Mike Schmidt fit in as an everyday working stiff, dedicated to making an organization a winner without being the top dog?

Aside from these concerns, any GM hiring me-Especially a GM in Philadelphia-would have to factor in the political fallout should I fall flat on my face and have to get canned.

Firing a Hall of Famer, especially one who has a statue at the stadium entrance, can be tricky.

To view this from a General Manager's perspective is to realize why so many high-profile players today ever get reasonable consideration for major league managerial jobs.

His theory concerning himself is rather candid and honest. He would get a chance to manage the Class A Florida State League Phillies Affiliate in Clearwater which he found to be an uncomfortable fit due to political and philosophical differences at the Single-A level. Schmidt also poses a general view as to why there aren't many Hall of Famers who have become managers in the last 30-40 years:

The general feel in baseball seems to be that high-achieving ballplayers don't make good managers because they don't have the patience to work with players of lesser skills.

This point made me think at least in the case of hitting coaches. Why is it that the best hitting coaches are the ones who weren't great hitters. As recently as this season, we saw Hall of Famer George Brett become the hitting coach for the Kansas City Royals only to step down less than two months after taking the position. In the article George Brett Resigns as Hitting Coach by the Associated Press dated July 25th, 2013 from ESPN.com, an interesting point came up:

He said at the time of his hiring May 30 that he always found the game easier to do than say -- that is, he found it natural to play and difficult to instruct. That never did change.

"I found out I was a better player, a better hitter, in my opinion, than a teacher," he admitted. "I was not a good mechanical hitting coach."

Brett said he has played several rounds of golf with Fred Couples over the years, yet the former Masters champion never gave him any tips. Not long ago, Brett asked him why.

"He told me, 'George, I know my swing, but I don't know yours,' " Brett said.

Rod Carew also found difficulties as a hitting coach  when he was hired as the Hitting instructor of the Milwaukee Brewers in 1999, holding the position until October 2001. According to John Donaldson's article Milwaukee Brewers Spring Training 2002 from CNNSI.com:

The Brewers set a major league record last year by striking out a stunning 1,399 times, with Jose Hernandez and Richie Sexson going neck-and-neck for the whiff crown (Hernandez won, 185-178). All the missing contributed to a team batting average of .251, better only than the impotent Mets and Pirates, and a 13-25 record in one-run games, the worst in the NL.

The Brewers also became the first team to have more strikeouts than hits.

All that led to the firing of hitting coach Rod Carew -- who struck out only 1,028 times in 19 years.

On the flipside, Tony Gwynn has found success as the head coach of his alma-mater's varsity Baseball team the San Diego State Aztecs. His eight-year record stands at 242-241 (.501) and his coaching record in league play stands at 124-82 (.602). But this isn't coaching and/or managing in the big leagues.

There have been recent cases of successful players being productive managers. Joe Torre found success with the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers as Don Mattingly has currently done with the Dodgers and Mike Scioscia with the Angels. But in looking at the current managerial roster in the pros (along with Mattingly), Dusty Baker, Kirk Gibson and Robin Ventura stand out to me as being productive players during their career making the jump to being productive managers. The rest (in my opinion) don't stack up.

We'll see if Sandberg gets a chance to have the "Interim" tag removed from his title with the Phillies or if he gets a chance with another team such as the Chicago Cubs in the future. Time will tell.

Sisco Kid

Casi casi Roberto, good showing for Edgar and a tear for El Gato

This past week was the election for the class of 2010 Baseball Hall of Fame. First off congratulations to Andre Dawson who was only player elected by the Baseball writers. Puerto Rican Roberto Alomar came very close to achieving election to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. Falling 8 votes short of enshrinement, Alomar received 73.7% of the vote (75% is needed for enshrinement). Had Alomar received the necessary 75% of the ballot, he would have been the first Latino ballplayer since Rod Carew was elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 1991. Alomar would have been the first Puerto Rican elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility since Roberto Clemente was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1973.

Roberto Alomar was the model of consistency at both second base forming one of the best double play combinations (with future Hall of Famer Omar Vizquel) and at the plate. In 17 seasons, Alomar had a career batting average of .300 where he amassed 2724 hits (504 2B, 80 3B, 210 HR) and 1134 RBI. In terms of modern metrics, Alomar had a career OBP% of .371 and a SLG% of .443 for an OPS of .814 and had 474 SB. His best season was 1999 with the Cleveland Indians where he came in 3rd in the MVP race batting .323 with 182 hits (40 2B, 3 3B, 24 HR) and 120 RBI and led the league in runs scored with 138. That season Alomar also had an OPS of .955 (.442 OBP and .553 SLG). Alomar was a 12-time All-Star, a 10-time Gold Glove award winner and also won 4 Silver Slugger awards.

Current second-basemen like Robinson Cano and Dan Uggla can thank Roberto Alomar (and future Hall of Famer Jeff Kent) for laying the foundation for the second-baseman that can superb on both the field and at the plate.

The Latino presence on the Hall of Fame ballot was also augmented by the great show of support for Puerto Rican Edgar Martinez. The funny thing about the situation with Edgar is that there were many writers that predicted that he wouldn't even get the necessary 5% of the vote to remain eligible for next year's ballot. Why? These writers felt that since Martinez was a Designated Hitter and not a "complete" ballplayer (not playing the field) it would diminish his chances to make it into the Hall of Fame. We're not talking about Dave Kingman here, Edgar Martinez is not only a DH, he's the best DH (hey, the award for the best DH is named after him). Well, 195 votes good for 36.2% of the vote is an excellent starting point for Martinez.

In 18 seasons, Martinez had a career a career batting average of .312 where he amassed 2247 hits (514 2B, 15 3B, 309 HR) and 1261 RBI. In terms of modern metrics, Martinez had a career OBP% of .418 and a SLG% of .515 for an OPS of .933. Martinez also walked more (1283) than he struck out (1202) further cementing his status of a dependable hitter, His best season was the memorable 1995 season with the Seattle Mariners where he came in 3rd in the MVP race batting a league leading .356 with 182 hits (52 2B, 0 3B, 29 HR) and 113 RBI and led the league in runs scored with 121. That season Martinez also had an OPS of 1.107 (league leading .479 OBP and .628 SLG). Martinez was a 7-time All-Star and won 5 Silver Slugger awards.

In my opinion, if you are asked to do a job as Edgar Martinez was in being written in the lineup as a DH, and you are superb in that position, then why should you not be both considered the best in the game at your position and best in the game to be inducted in the Hall of Fame. The DH is used in mostly all levels of baseball from College, Minor League, Japanese League and the American League (The National League is the only one that does not use the DH for regular league play). At some point the anti-DH bias that is often seen with baseball traditionalist has to be broken and it would be amazing if the player to do it is the same player that raised the position to the level that it occupies today.

Sadly, Andres Galarraga is no longer eligible for the Hall of Fame. Galarraga who hails from Venezuela was unable to get the necessary 5% of the vote (22 votes for 4.1%). In 19 seasons, Galarraga had a career a career batting average of .288 where he amassed 2333 hits (444 2B, 32 3B, 399 HR) and 1425 RBI. In terms of modern metrics, Martinez had a career OBP% of .347 and a SLG% of .499 for an OPS of .846. His best season was 1996 with the Colorado Rockies where he led the league with 47Hr 150 RBI and had a .304BA. Galarraga a 5-time All-Star, 2-time Gold Glove award winner and also won 2 Silver Slugger awards.

Galarraga was a personal favorite of fine who played the game with class and grace even when faced with personal turmoil. I didn't think he would be elected in, but I wish that he would have at least been given the chance to get his 15 years to get the necessary votes. He can eventually get in by getting elected by the Veteran's committee. I don't think it will happen, but it doesn't diminish how good of a player he was.

What do you think. Any opinions or comments? Feel free to add to the conversation.
Hasta Luego,
FH.