I'll Take Potpourri for $200, Alex

Jason Michael Barker

This week there are a couple of topics I thought worthy of bandwidth...

Big Mac serves 500
It will be old news by the time you get around to reading this, but Mark McGwire hit his 500th career home run on Thursday night in St. Louis. In a game also featuring Tony Gwynn on his way to hit number 3,000 (he finished the night stuck on 2,999), McGwire stole the show by belting number 501 later in the contest. I'm also happy to see him hitting so well even without the dreaded Andro, but that's a piece for another time.

McGwire's numbers the past few seasons (and for his career) have been nothing short of spectacular, but for me two particular statistics stood out from the rest. The first is how long it took him to get to 500, as in just 5,784 at-bats, or 314 fewer than it took previous record holder Babe Ruth. The second, in case you're keeping track, is that McGwire has hit one home run every 11.5 at-bats during his career.

Now stop to consider all the time McGwire has missed with injuries during his career. The two big seasons he missed were 1993 and 1994, when he played in just 27 and 47 games respectively. Also keep in mind 1989, when he missed 19 games, 1992 (23), and 1996 (32). All that adds up to a huge chunk of time that he could have been playing, but wasn't. Suppose he hadn't missed all those games -- we might be talking about McGwire having hit home run number 600 instead of "just" 500.

Lords Fit for a King
Looking for a good book to pass the time until the post-season, or planning ahead for how to spend your off-season? Allow me to suggest John Helyar's Lords of the Realm (at press time, just $5.59 from Amazon.com. Click the link for current price). The book's tag line, "The Real History of Baseball," is nothing short of 110% accurate. Helyar weaves the fascinating tale of the economic history of the game, starting back in 1871 with the creation of the first professional league, the National Association of Professional Baseball Players, which lasted 25 years until dissolving.

Lords is both intriguing and shocking. For someone who wasn't familiar with the way the game used to be, in the days before a strong players union, the stories are jaw-dropping -- from general managers lying to players about salaries to the owners refusal to recognize television as the future until it's nearly too late, to the collusion era of the 1980s. For instance, Dodgers GM Buzzie Bavasi once told outfielder (and current broadcaster) Ron Fairly that he was the fourth-highest paid player on the team, after greats Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale and Maury Wills. Later, Fairly was stunned to learn that he ranked ninth.

Perhaps the most compelling character in the book is Marvin Miller, who in so many ways made the game what it is today. As someone who didn't know much about him before reading the book, I was amazed by both his persistence and skillful negotiating tactics, which were often nothing short of brilliant. In writing about Miller, Helyar does not simply introduce him when he was hired to work for the players. Instead, the reader is treated to Miller's history before baseball, when he worked as a United States arbitrator and was key in victories of the U.S. Steelworker's Union. Similar backgrounds of such influential baseball figures as Walter O'Malley, Bart Giamatti, Ted Turner, Lee and Andy McPhail, and Kinnesaw Mountain (Judge) Landis add both to the understanding of the game and the charm of the story.

Helyar talked to hundreds of people with inside knowledge of what went on (and what goes on) behind the scenes in baseball, and it shows in the book from the background information and great quotes. Lords of the Realm is one of the best books I've read in several years, baseball or otherwise.

And Finally...
Looking for a way to get your baseball fix this November? Here's a free plug for the 1999 Fantasy Baseball Symposium, which sounds like a fabulous opportunity for serious baseball fans. The Symposium takes place the first weekend of November in Arizona, conveniently located to allow easy access to the Arizona Fall League, where prospects often first break on to the scene.

Speakers at the program include ESPN's Rob Neyer (a personal favorite of mine) and minor-league scouting guru John Sickels from STATS, Inc., as well as others from Baseball Weekly, Baseball America, RotoNews, and Baseball HQ. Clearly there is much to be learned, and many questions to be asked.

Despite all the experts in attendance, perhaps the best part of the program is the opportunity to attend four Arizona Fall League games for a chance to see some of the game's top prospects up close and in person. Don't forget about the guided tour of Arizona's Bank One Ballpark, home of the Diamondbacks.

Interested? For more information on the 1999 Fantasy Baseball Symposium, head over to http://www.baseballhq.com/afl99/home.html or contact afl@baseballhq.com.

about the author

Jason Michael Barker is also available to speak at conferences, seminars, and bar mitzvahs. He'd rather not do another bris.