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Yankees Chasing Records: A-Rod and Jeter
By Brian | August 27, 2009 | Share on Facebook
Rooting for the Yankees has always meant more than aiming at the current year’s World Series; the bigger picture has also included their place in baseball’s history. This era is no exception, with the principal players being Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter. Here’s a quick analysis of where they stand with regard to home runs and hits, respectively:
Alex Rodriguez is chasing Barry Bonds’ lifetime home run record of 762 home runs. He currently stands in 9th place with 575, at the age of 34. Interestingly, if he ends this season with 30 home runs, and then hits 30 in each of the next six years (when he’ll be 40 years old), he will end the 2015 season with exactly 763 home runs. Given that A-Rod has averaged 42 home runs per year since 1996 (his first full year), I’d say 30 per year until he’s 40 is very doable. Of course, if he continues to average 42 per year, then he’d end the 2015 season with 847. If this year is any indication, though, that’s likely a stretch goal at best.
Derek Jeter’s story is not as encouraging. Pete Rose holds the all-time hits record with 4,256 hits. Derek, at the age of 35, currently sits in 59th place with 2,704 (NOTE: the hits category is much more dense than the home run category – Derek’s next 25 hits move him up seven slots). If Derek ends this season with 200 hits, and then averages 200 hits until he’s 40 (the 2014 season), he will end his career with 3,735 hits, putting him in fourth place all-time, just 36 hits behind #3 – Hank Aaron, and 521 hits behind Pete Rose. To reach Rose, he’d have to continue to average 200 hits until he was 43 years old (2017). Add to this the fact that Jeter’s averaged 194 hits per year since 1996 (also his first full year), so 200 per year is not a slam dunk like A-Rod’s 30 home runs per year seems to be (barring injury, of course). Not that fourth place on the all-time hits list is anything to sneeze at, of course, but #1 is looking pretty bleak right now.
Topics: Sports Talk | 4 Comments »
Prediction #2: Alex Rodriguez will eclipse neither Hank Aaron nor Barry Bonds as the all-time leader in homeruns.
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