Stats and Baseball Fans, Contemplating the Sport and Greatness

    The statistic that I and many people pay attention to the most in baseball is the home run. Why? It is pretty cool, it is simple and signifies gargantuan power and finesse, patience and skill, going back to the legendary Babe the Bambino Ruth, who made it a thing of myth and lore. Yes, blame the Babe in the 1920s. But eventually someone else was going to capture the imagination of us fans and baseball historians with these tremendous clouts. 

    Boiled down, the home run is the simplest and the most mammoth feat in this sport. Picturesque, memorable, representing all the strength and grace of human capability. One person against the master hurler, a person on the mound some twenty plus yards away. There are the elements, the distances, the light or dark or shadows, the bays, the parks, the walls and balconies. The soaring heights and the close jumps over the fences. Swing for the fences!

    And yet, as much time as I and others scrutinize, lionize, and glorify the long ball hitters, some of the most exciting and favorite players of all time have been singles hitters, guys with running ability, like my personal favorite Tim Rock Raines, Senior, or Ichiro Suzuki, or Tony Gwyn. They hit the ball. Now we have a guy named Luis Arraez, who might become the first guy to hit .400 since Ted Williams back in 1940.

    So, having started this blog post a few days ago, I would like to sum up these thoughts by saying: 

    Baseball and stats are interesting and are debated endlessly by some of us geeks and aficionados, but bottom line, it is easiest and most dynamic, yea, sexiest, to cover.

    It covers the current hyperbole and penetrates the lore of the game, the mystic and sublime heights of where the game has been since the 1920s, into this century a hundred years on.

    Long live the game and the long ball, and its champions.