GIVE IT A REST

Ken Hoffman on why announcers should stop talking about Jose Altuve's height

Ken Hoffman on why announcers should stop talking about Jose Altuve's height
Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images

This article originally appeared on CultureMap.

It's time that announcers stopped going on and on about how remarkable it is that Jose Altuve can compete in Major League Baseball standing only 5-foot-6.

True, Altuve is one of the 15 shortest players to make the big leagues. But let's look at some other players standing 5-foot-6 and under.

  • Wee Willie Keeler: 5-foot-4; lifetime batting average, .342; Hall of Fame.
  • Rabbit Maranville: 5-foot-5; played 23 years in the Majors; Hall of Fame.
  • Hack Wilson: 5-foot-6; Most Valuable Player; holds Major League record for RBI's in one season; Hall of Fame.
  • Phil Rizzuto: 5-foot-6; the "Scooter" played 13 years; 10 AL pennants; seven World Series titles; MVP; Hall of Fame.
  • Joe Sewell: 5-foot-6; batted .312; Hall of Fame.
  • Billy Hamilton: 5-foot-6; record for runs scored in one season; third all-time stolen bases; Hall of Fame.

In about 15 years, we'll be adding Altuve to this long list of short Hall of Famers

And then there's Eddie Gaedel, 3-foot-7, who was sent to bat one time as a publicity stunt by the struggling St. Louis Browns. Gaedel walked, and never played another game, which means his lifetime on-base percentage is a perfect 1.000, highest in history. The oddest thing about Gaedel's story is, after his one plate appearance, American League president Will Harridge voided Gaedel's contract and banned Little People from baseball. I wonder how baseball would handle a similar situation today.

Yes, it is amazing what Altuve is accomplishing in baseball, but his height really isn't a factor. Altuve is simply a dedicated, supremely gifted athlete with incredible baseball skills. If anything, being 5-foot-6 might give Altuve an advantage — smaller strike zone, pitchers overly concerned about not walking him, etc.

Continue on CultureMap for Ken Hoffman's final thoughts on Altuve.

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Following Houston's 6-4 road trip, the Astros returned home to finish the first "half" of the season before the All Star break hosting Florida and Texas. Houston's road trip was filled with clutch performances in New York, dominance in taking 3 of 4 in Toronto, and a dose of close calls and tough realities with a short-handed team against Minnesota.

Now the Astros hope to take care of business against the lowly Marlins and division rival Rangers. The Texas series, in particular gives Houston the opportunity to reassert their hold on the #2 spot ahead of the Rangers who have won their last 5 games in a row (as of the time this was published). Both teams have won 7 of their last 10 games and hope to catch a free-falling Seattle team to overtake the division lead.

Dana Brown told the media last week he expects both Justin Verlander and Kyle Tucker to be reactivated following the All-Star break but Tucker's updates continue to be more promising than Verlander's and MUCH more promising than Lance McCullers. Astros manager informed the media this week that McCullers has been shut down from throwing after his arm did not respond well to his recent bullpen sessions and the team is formulating the plan for what's next for the embattled pitcher. McCullers hasn't pitched since the 2022 postseason and underwent season-ending flexor tendon surgery last June. McCullers is under contract with Houston until 2026.

An eventual return for Kyle Tucker would spur a juggling act from Joe Espada to find a proper balance of time for all his outfielders, none of which have separated themselves offensively. Chas McCormick had a great month of June recording an .804 OPS but that run looks more like an anomaly as his scuffles have continued over the past 2.5 weeks, recording just 4 hits over his last 32 plate appearances.

While Jake Meyers has wowed fans and teammates with his glove this season, his offense has hit a skid, hitting just .184 with a .565 OPS over the past month. After rookie Joey Loperfido's torrid debut, he too has struggled with the bat, hitting just .216 with .599 OPS over the same time period.

An unexpected bright spot has been the recent play of first baseman Jon Singleton. Over the last 4 weeks, "Big Jon" is batting .302 with an .802 OPS. It's worth mentioning that Singleton's season numbers are better than Florida's Josh Bell, who drew interest from Astros fans over the past several seasons as a potential answer at first base. Bell has 135 more ABs this season so its not quite an apples-to-apples comparison but there's no doubt Singleton's contributions were sorely needed following the release of Jose Abreu.

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