You are probably well aware (whether you care...) that A-Rod has just entered the 600 HR club. Well, this evening, August 14, 2010, Alex's stellar performance against the Kansas City Royals puts him in another exclusive fraternity... a little less glamorous but maybe more impressive. His 3 Home Run - 5 Runs Batted In performance gives Rodriguez, who just turned 35, 1803 RBI for his career. He has achieved that mountainous total in just 8725 at bats.
Is that impressive? Well, consider this. Alex has played 109 games this year. He's supposedly 'not having that good' a year, but he's only three ribbie's shy of cracking 100 for the 13th consecutive campaign and 14th out of his 15 full seasons in the bigs.
How many will he get till his tank runs empty? Sadly, Alex's age (35) is not a reliable predictor. Lou Gehrig finished with 1995 RBI, and grabbed all of them before HE was 36. Jimmie Foxx, with 1922 RBI, actually grabbed his even quicker than A-Rod, pushing across 1863 by the age of 34. Gehrig, of course was cut down prematurely by a fatal disease that got him out of the line-up permanently, just prior to turning 36. Jimmie Foxx was a heavy drinker. That probably cost him several years of playing time, though that's hard to measure.
But let's look at someone who took care of himself and had the good fortune of good health... the great Henry Aaron! During Hammerin' Hank's fabled career he was badly overlooked and underrated. He had 510 Home Runs, 484 Doubles, 1603 Runs, and 1627 RBI... all by the ripe old age of 34! The remarkably durable Henry had already appeared in 2279 games and batted 8889 times. To put that in perspective, Henry Louis Aaron had already passed Henry Louis Gehrig in games played, and we all know how tough the Iron Horse was!
It took Henry Aaron two more campaigns to crash th 1800 RBI barrier. At 36 the all-time HR king (until the 21st century) knocked in 118 runs. This magnificent Hall of Famer did it again a year later... 118 RBIs! At 37, Aaron belted hs career high 47 home runs and left little doubt that his sights were set on George Herman Ruth in the HR department. By the age of 37, Henry had collected a colossal 1960 RBI, on his way to his own record of 2297! By the way... Henry Aaron is 76 years old now. Know what? He's STILL underrated!
But back to Alex Rodriguez. Nobody underrates A-Rod. Indeed, whatever he does, according to most, he's 'supposed to' do it. It's hard to exceed expectations when your salary is eight-figures...HIGH eight-figures! But Alex is only 260-ish HRs away from that Mount Olympus, and less than 500 RBI shy of the all-time RBI crown as well. Forget 5 good years for a second; if Alex has a decent finish this year, say 110 (he's at 97 now)... and knocks in 85 each of the next two seasons, the list of greats he passes until he knocks on the 2000-RBI door will be every bit as impressive as his HR totals... again, maybe more so. Musial... Cobb... Say Hey... Teddy Ballgame... Barry Bonds... Eddie Murray... Yaz. A-Rod will be younger than each of these gentlemen were when they set their respective RBI standards!
But what about catching Henry? Well, that's the terrific thing about lifetime records and chasing them. Let's reset the clock here; if Alex gets to 2000 RBI, that still leaves him nearly 300 shy of Aaron. For that matter, it leaves hin more than 200 short of the Babe! So if... IF... A-Rod can crack the door to the 2000-RBI club AND keep marching, each step will force each of us ponder seriously who deserves Hall-of-Fame recognition from the 'steroid era'. Each step will also make us once again appreciate anew the stunning achievements set down before by the baseball immortals whose numbers guys like A-Rod chase.
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