Soto Surpasses 200 Career Homers at age 25: What Next, and Who Did He Pass?

    'Tis the season of Juan Soto, the winter of his maxing out his free agency, and making a lot of moolah. He is still young and very high up on most of the charts. I wish he would join, or re-join the Washington Nationals. If he joined my second favorite team, the Chicago White Sox, that would be grand.

    

    Not the Dodgers, not the Braves. No, no, and others no. Not the Phillies. Heavens, how many Hall of Fame Nats need to go there? 

    Today I was trying to remember a case when a great player waited to sign till near the end of the off-season, like deep into February. Was it Barry Bonds? Alex Rodriguez? I said Manny Ramirez. I don't know. I told a friend that talks baseball with me that I would Google it. I will. 

    Maybe now.

    Here is Soto's recent achievements by the end of 2024, the Yankees came up short against Los Doyers. It was a year. Kershaw did not play; he was hurt.

    Here is the near 200 club, all time.

    

371.	Buddy Bell (18)	201	10009	R	HR Log
	Juan Soto (7, 25)	201	4088	L	HR Log
	Gene Tenace (15)	201	5527	R	HR Log
374.	Rafael Devers (8, 27)	200	4215	L	HR Log
	Bill Freehan (15)	200	6900	R	HR Log
	Oscar Gamble (17)	200	5197	L	HR Log
	Josh Hamilton (9)	200	4350	L	HR Log
	Adam Lind (12)	200	5029	L	HR Log
	Don Mincher (13)	200	4726	L	HR Log
	Corey Seager (10, 30)	200	4442	L	HR Log
381.	César Cedeño (17)	199	8133	R	HR Log
	Jackie Jensen (11)	199	6080	R	HR Log
	Juan Uribe (16)	199	6715	R	HR Log
384.	Eric Hosmer (13)	198	6977	L	HR Log
	Barry Larkin+ (19)	198	9057	R	HR Log
	Justin Turner (16, 39)	198	6311	R	HR Log
	Rondell White (15)	198	5852	R	HR Log
388.	Michael Cuddyer (15)	197	6102	R	HR Log
	Dave Henderson (14)	197	5677	R	HR Log
	Dick McAuliffe (16)	197	7162	L	HR Log
391.	Cody Bellinger (8, 28)	196	4109	L	HR Log
	Cliff Johnson (15)	196	4603	R	HR Log
	Justin Smoak (11)	196	4750	B	HR Log
	Ken Williams (14)	196	5625	L	HR Log

    How much more will Justin Turner play after age 39? Former Dodger. Bellinger (age 28) is special. Seager, too. Age 30. Devers got pop. He's only 27. I would guess each of those four will be around till 2034, you think? Where will we be?

    I hope to talk about them later. Cuz, baseball is special. It may not be the most exciting, but it brings a special thing to us. Like Ohtani. Amazing prowess.

    Soto and Ohtani together? With Betts? Oy ve.

    Josh Hamilton on this list. A man of travails and hopes. I hope he is okay. Mincher and Tenace look like players before my time. I know about Ken Williams. I think. The later commentator? The Hawk?

Who did Bryce Harper pass in Home Runs in 2024? Well, at Least the Last Few

114.	Joe Adcock (17)	336	7305	R	HR Log
	Bryce Harper (13, 31)	336	7085	L	HR Log
116.	Robinson Canó (17)	335	9550	L	HR Log
	Darryl Strawberry (17)	335	6326	L	HR Log
118.	Moisés Alou (17)	332	7913	R	HR Log
	Bobby Bonds (14)	332	8090	R	HR Log
120.	Hank Greenberg+ (13)	331	6098	R	HR Log
	Derrek Lee (15)	331	7963	R	HR Log
	J.D. Martinez (14, 36)	331	6865	R	HR Log
123.	Shawn Green (15)	328	7963	L	HR Log
	Mo Vaughn (12)	328	6410	L	HR Log
125.	Jermaine Dye (14)	325	7214	R	HR Log
	Willie Horton (18)	325	8052	R	HR Log
	Justin Upton (16)	325	7649	R	HR Log
128.	Gary Carter+ (19)	324	9019	R	HR Log
	Lance Parrish (19)	324	7797	R	HR Log
	Carlos Santana (15, 38)	324	8780	B	HR Log
131.	Ron Gant (16)	321	7320	R	HR Log
132.	Vinny Castilla (16)	320	7384	R	HR Log
	Troy Glaus (13)	320	6355	R	HR Log
134.	Jay Bruce (14)	319	6642	L	HR Log
	Cecil Fielder (13)	319	5939	R	HR Log
	Prince Fielder (12)	319	6853	L	HR Log
	Andrew McCutchen (16, 37)	319	9156	R	HR Log

He tied Joe Adcock at age 31, for 114th all-time with 336 overall homers? Who was Adcock? He played till age 38 from 1950 to 1966. Started with the Reds for three years, then to the Milwaukee Braves, and finishing with the California Angels, with a touch of Minnesota. No, Cleveland. I guess in 1964 they were the LA Angels? Then California for two years. He had 38 homers in 1956, age 28. His second-best year was 35 long balls in 1961, the great year of Roger Maris.

    Maris should mean something to a few history buffs of baseball. Overall, not one of the career leaders, but was a bright star that out did the single-season record of the Babe. Was it 61 in '61? For the record, the great Maris hit a total of 275 in 11 years. A flash in the pan, as it were, but quite a flash. His second-best year was 39 in 1960, at age 26. 1961, what a season! He was seeing the ball, and must have peaked in strength. Maybe the pitchers were caught unawares, or the back up behind him were raking...

    Robinson Cano and Darryl Strawberry both played 17 years. The Straw man was huge with the Mets, especially 1986, and then the Dodgers. Cocaine may or may not have helped him on the field. Off the diamond, probably not. Oh, yeah, of course Darryl finished with the Yankees in 1999, helping them win two titles. He played in the outfield with my guy Tim Raines. Brief stint in San Fran in 1994 till the strike. That ruined a lot... for me, for everyone. Perhaps it ruined the Giants for a while.

    Cano ended his career with the Mets, Padres, and Braves in 2022, and that was it. Pretty good run.

    I'll let you look through the other names below. I know most of them as they are mostly in my lifetime. Lessee... Yeah, only Hank Greenberg was an oldie but goodie. He finished his Hall of Fame career in 1947. I saw all of the others play during the course of my half century of watching the game.

    Better than football, or soccer, in my opinion.

    

Staying Up Late and Testing the Fates: BYU Loses on a Karma Bitten Night

    These were late games lately. Trying to get another chunk of audiences. They got me! I would be at some of these games if I could. My old acquaintance in the Green Valley area of central California goes to every game. I try to watch everyone, but I have to miss some because of work, and I was guilted by another acquaintance for other observations of a game for staying home from a church party and watching the game the next week...

    

    We can't have everything, huh? Certainly not as far as unbeaten seasons for the football Cougars...

    "Oh, yeah," I told my wife a day or so later. "This is what it feels like to lose."

    Yep, the great and sometimes lucky, and certainly opportunistic BYU Cougars could not get it done. They had chances, and played till the end, but blew opportunities left and right. Through the whole game.

    

    BYU should have been up at the half by 3, or 7, or 10, or 14. Nope. Tied.

    Then in the third quarter nothing much else on offense. We scored only a field goal the whole second half. And lost in the last possession. There was the dumb turnover on the pooched kick that led to Kansas' only score in the second half.

    And that was it. Jayhawks have beaten us two years in a row, and both times did not have to be that way. Last year the referees were worse when they called no targeting or foul against the egregious hit on Parker Kingston. But Saturday night, the 16th, they missed some fouls too.

    Oh, well. At least it was worse last year.

    BYU earned its own loss. Must improve.

    The offense has to be better. 13 points against Kansas was not good enough at all.

    The D really only gave up 10. Not their fault for the last seven.

    QB and Co lost the game, plus special teams. 

    Arizona State is looking tough. Must-see TV. I am glad there are no church parties scheduled then. No more guilt for watching Saturday football games! Sunday is another matter...

    Undefeated Army plays a tough one-loss Notre-Dame. My IU plays at Ohio State, a huge game! Do I have to get used to Indiana losing again?

    What a season. My main complaint is BYU itself, not playing its game.

    They can, they should, they will. Maybe.

    Stay tuned.

    

    

The 31 Conferences Continued: the Last Half a Few Days Later

    More teams will have played and lost. I got to the Metro Atlantic, or some such league, when I more or less learned I had homework to do, which consumed me off-hours, in some ways.

    Like college basketball, but I happen to like this.

    So, where were we? Yes, the 31 conferences and how many are left of each undefeated! YES!

    And I am happy to announce it is the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. The MAAC. Not the MAC. That will come shortly.

    There are 13 teams, and only the Siena Saints are 3-0 and undefeated. How 'bout 'dem Saints, woot woot?

    How many more conferences/leagues to go? About 14. Let's see how many undefeateds are still among them: maybe 12? Remember, there are a total of 364 D-1 teams total.

    The real MAC. Mid-American Conference, one of the original "super (i.e. high number) conferences. Now down to 12. And, there are none left with no defeats! I think I saw a good portion of one-loss Eastern Michigan go down last night. It was really the only thing on, maybe. EMU: 3-1. Many more losses to come, me thinks.

    There are eight in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. The MEAC? It is a HBCU league, speaking of acronyms. Historically black college or university. Sorry, my friends: they have all lost! At least one. But I think some will have some winning seasons. We hold out for these perennial underdogs. At least I do. I visited a HBCU campus this past summer. It was cool. Virginia State.

    There are a dozen (as in 12) in the Missouri Valley Conference. Wait for it;

    And the Drake Bulldogs are without a loss! Yet... They are a fabulous, tremendous Two and Oh! (2-0). They should lose this weekend. Or at least this month, and/or soon.

    Eleven (a poor baker's dozen) remaining in the Mountain West. Conference. Meaning, records aside, this conference is imploding due to the Big Ten's savagery of the West Coast schools, and the Big-12 and ACC finishing the job minus Oregon State and Washington State. So, they will continue to exist by sacking the MWC. Thus is the way of things.

    The MWC this year, kind of its last as such, as FIVE whopping teams left among those without a loss. Way to go, Mountain West folks! Here's cheering for ya. BYU and Utah and TCU were MWC, once upon a shadow.

    The Northeast Conference has nine teams (paging Mercyhurst!), and nary among them have maintained a perfect margin. Sorry, Charlie. Get used to the L column.

    The Ohio Valley Conference has eleven. Oh, that poor, poor baker. Conference numbers are odd, a lot, literally, because of all the shifting, scrapping, and scraping. And pandering and money making. This is capitalism. Profiting greatly when elite while the poor boys and girls sweat and work... Russian authors, anyone? Oh, yeah. All of the eleven have suffered a loss thus far, a week and half plus into the '24-'25 season.

        Ten, an even steven, in the Patriot League. And all have gone down in a game. As of November 15, halfway through this somewhat rainier month. Most of the U.S. is having a drought time, by the way, due to pressures in the north, it seems. Look it up.

        The powerful and mighty and rich and decadent SEC. The Southeastern Conference. There are 16 of them now, after pillaging the guts out of the heartland and Bible country and ending up with Texas and Oklahoma. Now we got super conferences, for sure. It was the idea of the WAC in the 1990s, but they got weaker back then. Now we got fan bases, TV rights, and passion and champions. Hopefully they stay at 16. Big Ten has 18, don't ya know (in my worst Minnesotah accent.

    Undefeateds? A word I have now coined to the chagrin of this spell-check? Drum roll...

    11 left! Yowza. Some think Alabama is the best. We shall see. I have my doubts... But I would welcome them over UConn, or Duke, or UNC. Or Kentucky, despite me liking Mark Pope at the helm. Awkward for me. More on that later.

    Who next? Almost done? I forgot the numbering thing like I did in the last post.

        Ten in the Southern Conference. One remains with no loss! The Paladins. What is one of those? Who do they belong to? Furman. Where is that? At the top of the Southern Conference, that is where!

    12, a real dozen, in the Southland Conference. All defeated. Sorry, Incarnate Word et al. We still have the Big Guy, upstairs, with a name like that.

    I peeked. About four to go. This is fun, but a chore. Such is blogging and life.

    I could be doing something else. Reading a book, one I checked out in May 115 pages to go. Or watching a show. Well, I am, because my son is watching his newest binge show, non-stop. Season 4... The Mentalist, oy ve.

    Another twelve in the Southwestern Conference. Another league of HBCUs. And the losers or winners overall is:   The Alabama A & M Bulldogs! Well, the Bulldogs be winnin'!

    Nine in the current Summit League. No one left, but all will fight to the hilt. Meaning, losing builds character. We are building towards March. 2025.

    14 in the Sun Belt Conference. All have lost at least one. Most are where it is warmer and sunnier. Not as much James Madison, but they have moved up from D-1AA, or the FCS. The smaller guys.

    Two to go? Lessee...

        

    11 in the WAC. Western Athletic Conference. The aforementioned OSU and WSU, as in the Beavers and Cougars, are with them now! Huh. Okay, new to me. But that is good to know. Who has not lost as of this Friday night, as I type? Five! Gonzaga, (rated 4th in the nation, killing Baylor), Oregon State, St. Mary's, Washington State, and the SAN FRANCISCO DONS!

    And finally, last but not least, the whoops... I mixed up the West Coast Conference with the above. Scratch the one up there, with Gonzaga et al, and put the WAC down here. Okay? WCC has SF and WSU and OSU... You can do the math.

    The WAC, which used to be BYU and Utah as I grew up, has nine.

    And one team, the Thunderous Southern Utah Thunderbirds, are undefeated and 3-0!

    Amazing. And there you have it, 31 conferences representing all 364 teams.

    And only X have survived thus far. Got it? 

    And by February of 2025 it will likely be zero. Except and unless for IU or BYU, by chance.

    But not likely at all. We shall see and reap.

    Cheers, college basketball fans. May we see our teams and schools triumph!

    It's only a game, after all.

    

    

    

31 Conferences - One Week in: How Many have All or Partial Teams with a Loss?

31 Conferences - One Week in: How Many have All Teams with a Loss?

    For those counting, or not, there are thirty-one division one men's basketball conferences in the United States. They play in 49 states, and maybe one territory. Not Alaska. Maybe St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, or Puerto Rico. Maybe not; does not seem likely the more I think about it. I will check.

    But this means a lot of teams. Growing all the time. 364 this season, now in 2024.

    The beginning of the 2024 hoops time has begun. A whole week has passed. Most teams have played twice. Some three times, and a few outliers still zero. Maybe tonight? I wanted to take a census of which conferences all have a loss, or more, per team. 

    Here goes:

    

    1) Atlantic Sun. 7 out of 12 squads have already lost.

    2) America East. 8 of 9 have lost. Tulane is 3-0!

    3) Atlantic 10. 7 of 15 have lost, at least one.

    4) Atlantic Coast (C). Only four of 18 have lost. UNC lost at Kansas, and it was close.

    5) Big 12. 3 out of 16 have lost. Some consider this the best one in the land. (Go BYU!).

    6) Big East. 3 of 11 have lost. Four are ranked, including the Huskies of UConn. (Go, anyone but them!)

    7) Big Sky. 9 of 10 have lost. Remaining unblemished: Northern Arizona.

    8) Big South. 7 of 9 are marked. High Point and Longwood hanging around past the first week...

    9) Big Ten. 4 of 18 have lost. Hoosiers, still perfect. Go IU! Fight, fight, fight! Beat Purdue. And Nebraska, why don't ya?

    10) Big West. 8 of 11 are losers, but not out by a long shot. Unbeatens: Hawai'i, UC-Irvine, UC- Santa Barabara. Just because you lose early does not eliminate anyone. It is just fun and interesting to see how long all the undefeateds last. Indiana was the last perfect one in 1976! Lots of great teams since then.

    11) Coastal Athletic. 10 of 14 have lost. Remaining with 0 losses? Charleston, Drexel, Hofstra, and UNC-Wilmington.

    12) Conference USA. 6 of 10 have lost.

    13) Horizon League. 11 for 11 have lost!

    14) Ivy League. 3 of 8 have lost. Not bad, brainiacs.

    More later.

    Teams are playing and losing as we speak.

    

     

    

What is Going On? IU Football Beats Michigan and Remains Perfect

    Wow. I am not used to this. Curt Cignetti has changed things up.

    Michigan was tough, sure, but we won. I watched it, albeit tired; I had a mini-nap around 2ish prior to the 3:30 match up. I got up early and played basketball, then stayed awake for the morning instead of taking a normal post exercise nap.

    The second half was not that good offensively, but it was good enough! Third time in my lifetime. We. Beat. Michigan. They are down, only 5-4 going in, but they are always a threat.

    Two weeks to challenge the big Kahuna, Ohio State. Should be thrilling. Hopefully. They will play in mid-afternoon?

    Speaking of hopes: we hope that the running back Ellison is not too hurt. He left the Michigan game with a bad leg or foot, it appeared. Plus, we need the services of the defensive back who was kicked out for targeting. Jamir Johnson? 

    All said, I think the Hoosiers are in good shape.

    They have NEVER had ten wins in one season before.

        All-time series now going towards the Hoosiers now 11 wins, to UM's paltry 62. 

Do I have a favorite player? Hmmm... many good ones. All the receivers. Sarratt had a couple key drops that would have made the final score less tense, but he is awesome and will bounce back. Miles Rice and Omar Cooper have been clutch. The big Tight End Horton has done well.

    Rourke is good as starting QB, and his back up is sweet, too. The brother of the IU basketball great!

    Lawton is great, all the defenders, Fisher and Walker and Kamara.

    Go IU. These days are amazing.

Did You Do Anything for your God or Higher Purpose Today?

Huh, I thought that I published this.

    I did feel that I did some good things for Higher Purposes and God yesterday.

    I spent some good time with family. I reached out to some people regarding their welfare. I attended church and participated in some songs for the upcoming Christmas season.

    I did not go crazy with calories, which is important for me to be in better shape this coming weekend, and in general.

    I cried during Pie Jesu; that felt somewhat cathartic, I would say. I was able to talk to few people, like a friend who recently lost his 101 year-old mother. Born in 1923? Wow.