Over the weekend, we saw three major milestones in Major League Baseball passed. We saw two historic homeruns smacked, and one pitching hallmark eclipsed – a mark that may never be reached again.   So where do they all rank? Which one of the three historic outings is “worth” the most and which one will be, or should be, forgotten. Let’s start in the Bronx. Alex Rodriguez finally smacked his 500 career homerun Saturday night at home against

Kansas City. I would rank this historic swing as the third of the three milestones this weekend. Only because overall, this is just a speed bump. The Yankees and A-Rod only slowed down long enough to see what they hit and then kept on driving. This homerun was significant for Rodriguez, personally because the dinger lifted him out of his slump that saw him stuck on no. 499. The fact is that A-Rod will break the all-time HR record and this is just one step.  The Yankees are rolling and will break into the post season with A-Rod’s help – unlike any other of their New York counterparts from the NFL. Their season is not over, which brings me to milestone no. 2. A few shorts hours after A-Rod cranked no. 500, Barry Bonds tied Hank Aaron’s mark for career homeruns.

…  Ok, Ok, something positive…at least we only have one more homer to go before we never have to talk about him again!  The greatest milestone that occurred over the weekend was definitely Tom Glavine’s entrance to the 300-win club. Glavine is a class act and exemplifies all that is good about the game of baseball. While he has let his actions speak for him on the field, he is a family man that has kept out of the tabloids. He has managed to stay off the banned substances list. He has triumphed over injuries and changing teams to punch his ticket to Cooperstown. But what is more significant is that this benchmark of success may never be reached again by any other pitcher.  Randy Johnson is closest to the mark but his future is in serious doubt after season-ending back surgery. We may never see The Big Unit take the mound again, let alone notch the 16 wins he needs to join the club. Mike Mussina is also close but needs 50+ wins to get there. The fact is that even though some pitchers are extending their careers into their 40s, pitchers are not pitching seven plus innings anymore. Positions like closer and middle-reliever have become specialized/situational positions where teams that want to win will pull the starter earlier and earlier in the game so it may take several more years to get the needed wins to get to 300.  Glavine gets the nod for the most stirring performance of the three this weekend, there was nothing artificial about it and his accomplishment is only highlighted by that fact that we fans may never see it repeated. Get free baseball picks.

Tags: ,