UPON FURTHER REVIEW
ESPN host misses the mark on legendary Astro in latest book
Apr 4, 2023, 12:53 pm
The Rocket would like a word. Composite image by Brandon Strange.
ESPN host Mike Greenberg has a new book out today called Got Your Number – the Greatest Sports Legends and the Numbers They Own. He’s talking about uniform numbers, the best who wore the numbers one through 100 on the back of their jerseys.
It’s a fun topic sure to start many friendly debates, for example, Number 32. Among the candidates: Jim Brown, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, Sandy Koufax, Karl Malone, Steve Carlton, O.J. Simpson, Bill Walton and more. Who ya got? I’ll take Magic over the long haul, Koufax for the snapshot.
Number 34 is a whole lot of trouble, too. Who’s the greatest? Nolan Ryan? Hakeem Olajuwon? Shaq (again)? Charles Barkley? Big Papi? Walter Payton? Let’s hear it for Earl Campbell. It might wind up being Giannis Antetokounmpo, though.
Greenberg said he had the most difficulty picking the greatest player to wear Number 21. He and his stat helper narrowed it down to Roberto Clemente, Deion Sanders and Tim Duncan. Their qualifications:
Roberto Clemente: 15 time All-Star, 3,000 hits, Baseball Hall of Fame.
Tim Duncan: five time NBA champion, “the Big Fundamental,” 19 years all with the San Antonio Spurs.
Deion Sanders: two-time Super Bowl champ, 1994 Defensive Player of the Year, also played big league baseball.
Wrong, wrong, wrong.
Clemente was a great right fielder, but there was a better one in the same era, a guy named Henry Aaron. Duncan was terrific, but the Spurs’ titles were a team effort. Sanders was an amazing defensive back, but just a slightly above average baseball player (.263 career batting average). Also, a bit of a jerk.
Of course it’s unfair – and slightly ridiculous – to compare athletes of different eras because sports are constantly changing and evolving. For example, who was the more dangerous home run hitter: Babe Ruth or Barry Bonds? When the Babe played, it was pre-Jackie Robinson and 1947 so he never faced African-American pitchers. He also didn’t have to deal with late-night flights across three time zones. The westernmost city in baseball was St. Louis.
Of course, Bonds had his advantages, better equipment, better facilities, better nutrition, better coaching during his youth and, well, the obvious.
So in their own ways, Ruth and Bonds are close, undoubtedly the greatest of their time, but hardly comparable.
The best way to measure greatness, and ultimately who’s the greatest, is how a player compared to his contemporaries.
For my money, and I don’t think there’s any question, the greatest athlete to wear Number 21, in any sport, any era, happens to be from Houston.
Roger Clemens.
I know, he wore Number 22 while he pitched for the Astros and Yankees, but he was Number 21 for the bulk of his career with the Red Sox and Blue Jays and that’s when he racked up most of his spectacular numbers.
You want to crunch some numbers? The Rocket won 354 games and lost only 184 for a career winning percentage of .658. He struck out 4,672 batters (most ever in the American League and third most all-time). His career earned run average was 3.14. He led all of baseball in wins four times and earned run average seven times. He is tied for the most strikeouts in a nine-inning game with 20, but he’s the only pitcher to do it twice.
Most important, how did Clemens compare to other performers during his era? He won seven (!) Cy Young Awards given to the best pitcher in his league. That’s the all-time record and it’s two more than anybody else (Randy Johnson).
Let’s dig deeper. Clemens won the Cy Young Award for four different teams. He won his first Cy Young in 1986. He also won the American League’s Most Valuable Player that year. He won back-to-back Cy Youngs … twice. He did it with the Red Sox in 1986-87 and with the Blue Jays in 1997-98, both times wearing Number 21. Twice he won the Triple Crown of pitching, leading the league in wins, earned run average and strikeouts. He won his first Cy Young at age 23, his last at age 41.
That’s the winning number – 21 – and Roger Clemens owns it.
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The phrase most associated with the late former Oakland-Los Angeles-Oakland Raiders’ owner Al Davis was “Just win baby.” One has to think Al would strongly approve of the Houston Astros. Going to the fifth inning Sunday against the Mariners the Astros were facing a 3-0 deficit and staring at the prospect of being swept out of Seattle and having their American League West division lead slashed to just two games. Now after roaring from behind with 11 unanswered runs to take the series finale in the Emerald City, and then sweeping three games from the Diamondbacks in Phoenix, the Astros stand six games up with 60 games to go. So, if the Astros play just .500 ball the rest of the way (which would have them finish with 90 victories), the Mariners have to play .600 ball to catch them. If somehow the Astros are to maintain their season long win pace to the finish line they’d close with 95 wins, and the race is already over unless someone thinks the M’s are poised to uncork a finishing kick of 41-19 or better. It’s quite a pleasing perch from which the Astros survey the standings. Coupled with the freefalling Detroit Tigers having dropped nine of their last ten games, the Astros amazingly start this homestand sporting the best record in the entire American League. On the homestand they follow four games against the team with the second-worst record in the American League (Athletics) with three versus the team with the second-worst record in the National League (Nationals). I know, I know. There is fear of the Astros playing down to the competition, but that is not the way to look at it. A bad Major League team can beat a good team in a series at any time. If it happens it happens, but it wouldn’t mean it happened only because the Astros didn’t take their opponent seriously. This isn’t the NBA.
Trade deadline looming
Of course, It hasn’t been all good news with Isaac Paredes badly injuring a hamstring Sunday. Paredes could be back in three weeks (doubtful), he could miss the rest of the season. GET WELL SOON JEREMY PENA! Lance McCullers’s latest Injured List stint could be considered addition by subtraction for the Astros’ starting rotation. Whether impacted by his blister issue, Lance was lousy in four of his last five starts. So, one week from the trade deadline, if general manager Dana Brown has the ammo to get one deal done, where does he make the upgrade? The left-handed hitter everyone knows the Astros can use regardless of Yordan Alvarez’s status is a natural priority. With the Astros’ weak farm system it would seem difficult for Brown to put forth the winning offer for the top bats that could be in play. That probably rings even truer now, since if he wasn’t already untouchable, Brice Matthews may have cemented untouchable status by darn near winning the first two games of the Diamondbacks series by himself. Matthews is going to struggle mightily to hit for a good average if he can’t make notable improvement in the contact department, but the power is obvious, as is the athleticism in the field. The 23-year-old Matthews and 22-year-old Cam Smith (though presently mired in a three for 36 slump) are the clear (and right now only) two young shining beacons for the lineup’s future.
You can't have enough pitching
While Brandon Walter has been a revelation, a starting pitcher would make sense unless the decision is to hope Spencer Arrighetti and/or Cristian Javier can contribute meaningfully upon return to the big leagues, likely sometime next month. Going after a reliever or two may make more sense in terms of availability and transaction cost. Overall the Astros’ bullpen has been excellent, but Bryan Abreu is the only trustworthy right-handed option for Joe Espada. Back to Walter. Barely two months ago no way Walter himself would have believed he’d be where he is now. Nine starts since being summoned basically out of desperation, Walter has a 3.35 earned run average, and a stunning 13 to one strikeout-to-walk ratio with his 52 strikeouts against a measly four walks allowed in 53 2/3 innings. Walter has pitched fabulously in seven of his nine starts. He only has two wins, but that’s because in five of the six Walter starts the Astros didn’t win the game they failed to score more than two runs. Walter turns 29 years old in September. His only prior big league experience was 23 innings in relief with a 6.26 ERA for the Red Sox two years ago. The Bosox released him last August, the Astros signed him basically as minor league depth. Look at him (and the Astros) now.
For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
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