Baseball History

I like sports quite a bit, but rarely discuss them on this blog. There is just so much to discuss when it comes to sports, and the pace is so rapid, that it would be impossible to keep up. With that being said, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge how awesome baseball has been in the month of September. Let's start with Albert Pujols.

When Albert signed a one year contract with St. Louis at the beginning of the season, I didn't think much of it honestly. I figured it would be a final swan song to cap off a hall of fame career in the city where it all started. Albert has been great this season, anything but an aged veteran on a publicity tour. Watching him climb the all-time home run leaders list has been pure entertainment. As he approached and passed A-Rod for fourth all-time, and then last night hitting career home run 700, it has been awesome to watch. He joined Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, and the Babe as only the fourth person in MLB history to hit 700 or more home runs.  Adding fuel to this fire is Aaron Judge's chase of Roger Maris' AL home run record of 61 homers. As of today, Judge has 60 home runs this season, just one shy of Roger's record. Not since the Sosa & McGwire season in '98 have I went out of my way to watch people bat in anticipation of a home run. It is fantastic sports drama.

Providing less drama but possibly more impressive is the record set by Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina for 325 career starts as a battery. The duo they passed set the record of 324 in 1975, and no other battery has even come close since. Think about all the variables and perfect circumstances of events that have to take place to make this happen. First of all, you have to have two players who are good enough to stick around the big leagues that long. Second of all, you have to have said players play together essentially for the duration of their career. In the era of free agency and trades, accomplishing this task will be exceedingly rare. Additionally, the game is different today in terms of how pitchers are utilized, with less frequent starts and larger rotations. They say records are meant to be broken, but I honestly think this record will never fall. It has been an amazing month of baseball and an absolute joy to watch.