Haynes.tv

With the whole scandal that Barry Bonds has become embrolied in many people are forgeting one of the greatest players of all time, Roger Maris. Why? Most likely because he isn’t in the Hall of Fame. And to tell you the truth I think its a shame that he isn’t. He is the only player to ever legitemetly break Babe Ruth’s home run record. Furthermore it took over 30 years for Mark Magwire to break his record and only with performance enhancing drugs.

Now Barry Bonds has come along and drawn all the attention once again to records. He broke the single season home run record himself with 73 and now he is about to break the all time home run record held by Hank Aaron. The big debate is if he will be in the Hall of Fame someday and honestly I believe it is taking the attention away from the real players who are overlooked for the Hall of Fame, Roger Maris. It is obvious that Bonds has used steroids yet people are so starved for something great from baseball that they are willing to embrace him. I think it is about time that the greatest single season home run hitter is recognized and elected to the Hall of Fame*, which I will now write with an asterik until Maris is elected.

I believe that the stats of Roger Maris’ career stand for themselves and so does the website http://pw2.netcom.com/~houdini/maris.html which I will leave these for everyone to comtemplate.

61 Single Season Home Runs (1961)
This record stood for 37 years,
longer than the record Maris broke,
the immortal Babe Ruth’s 60-homers of 1927.
Roger remains one of only four players
to ever hit more than 60 homeruns in a season.

Two-time American League Most Valuable Player
1960 and 1961
Only 11 players have won consecutive MVP awards
– all of the others (who are eligible) have already been inducted into the Hall of Fame —
Jimmy Foxx, Hal Newhouser, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle,
Ernie Banks, Joe Morgan & Mike Schmidt.
Other than those seven,
no other Hall of Famer has achieved this distinction,
including (to name just a few) Hank Aaron, Johnny Bench,
Roberto Clemente, Ty Cobb, Joe DiMaggio, Nellie Fox,
Lou Gehrig, Reggie Jackson, Al Kaline, Harmon Killebrew,
Willie Mays, Babe Ruth & Ted Williams

3 World Series Championships and 7 League Pennants
New York Yankees 1960-66
Yanks won 5 pennants and 2 World Series in Maris’ 7 seasons
St. Louis Cardinals 1967-68
Cards won 2 pennants and 1 World Series in Roger’s 2 seasons

Lifetime 5.39 Home Run Percentage
Better than Hall of Famers Joe DiMaggio (5.29), Hack Wilson (5.13),
Johnny Bench (5.08), Yogi Berra (4.74), Larry Doby (4.73) Billy Williams (4.56)
and the Hall’s most recent inductee — Bill Mazeroski (1.78)
Lifetime .983 Fielding Average and a Gold Glove
Better fielding average than most Hall of Famers,
including Hank Aaron (.980), Joe DiMaggio (.978), Roberto Clemente (.976),
Harmon Killebrew (.976), Ted Williams (.974), Billy Williams (.973),
Babe Ruth (.968), Willie Stargell (.961)
and identical to the Hall’s most recent inductee — Bill Mazeroski (.983)
Maris had a better fielding average than
Mickey Mantle (.982), who was considered a truly superb outfielder.
Maris earned a Gold Glove, even though he played in an era
filled with Hall of Fame outfielders.

Lifetime Batting Average Comparable to Many Hall of Famers
Roger’s .260 lifetime batting average is higher than that of
Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew (.256), identical to Bill Mazeroski (.260),
and in the same range as many other Hall of Famers, such as:
Reggie Jackson (.262), Brooks Robinson (.267),
Mike Schmidt (.267), Al Lopez (.261), Willie McCovey (.270), Luis Aparicio (.262),
Johnny Bench (.267), Pee Wee Reese (.269), and Bobby Wallace (.267)
Selected to, and played in, 7 All-Star Games (1959 – 1962)

If these stats aren’t good enough to make it into the Hall of Fame* then I don’t what someone has to do to make it in, maybe steroids would help?

I hope that your 7/7/7 is going well and I just wanted to leave you with a special list related to the number seven:

Nancy Pelosi has decided that she must take it upon herself to solve the problems in Iraq. How is she going to do this? You might think it is something brave and courageous but you would be wrong. She has decided to backstab the White House and create discussion with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

A statement put out by her spokesman, Brendan Daly says that she is going “As recommended by the Iraq study group…” the statement then goes on to say that she “intends to discuss a wide range of security issues…” Is it just me or does the fact that Nancy Pelosi is going to Syria since relations deteriorated seem like a security issue. Not only does this create a security issue but it undermines everything the administration is trying to do in the Middle East.

What type of message does this send to our allies? That the U.S. is going to negotiate with known supports of Hezbollah and Hamas. That is not it either; they are also aiding the Sunni insurgency in Western Iraq. This must be very perplexing to the U.S.’s allies in the Middle East, one day we make claims against Syria and the next we are going to talk to them about security?

It is impossible to negotiate with Syria. They do not want the same thing the U.S. wants in Iraq. Maybe Nancy Pelosi should have read all of the Iraq study group report. If she did she would have come across the passages that say “Syria is also playing a counterproductive role.” And the goal for Iraq is to “govern itself, sustain itself, and defend itself.” Maybe she does recognize the difficult issues involved but I highly doubt that she will be able to resolve them.

My suggestion to Speaker Pelosi is drop the act. She has not done what she has been elected for. Since the elections she has not kept any of her promises and now she is trying to save the world. Maybe if she remembered how Senators Kerry and Dodd already tried to challenge Syria to play a more constructive role in the region she would know that she is actually playing a deconstructive role. She needs to try to start a discussion between her party and the Republican Party before she can create discussion with Syria.