Frozen Corn

I love baseball. I love its history, I love its story, I love its game, but black eye after black eye has made me pull some nostalgia out of the hat, something good, something positive, something that frankly makes me feel better about this whole thing they call the Major League Baseball League. With the recent news (or lack there of) that Mark McGwire did, in fact, use performance enhancing drugs there is another couple of seasons we can throw out the window in looking back at some of the greatest ever played in MLB's history.

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Mark McGwire:

1998 Season:

.299 BA. 70 HR. 147 RBIs. 130R. 162BB.

1999 Season:

.278 BA. 65 HR. 147 RBIs. 118R. 133 BB.

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**THREE OTHER SEASONS OF NOTE TO THROW OUT THE WINDOW**

1998:

Sammy Sosa:

.308 BA. 66 HR. 158 RBIs. 134R.

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2001:

Sammy Sosa:

.328 BA. 64 HR. 160 RBIs. 146 R.

Barry Bonds:

.328 BA. 73HR. 137 RBIs. 122R. 177 BB.

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I could probably write a novel on the season's I would like to toss out of the record books but this is not the purpose of this post. I want to feel better about baseball. I want to believe in the numbers I see. I want it to be the sport I saw as a kid, where nothing was wrong, all was right, and it was the sport I wanted to play when I grew up. Major League Baseball may never get there in my eyes again, but the seasons below help me feel better about where baseball came from and why I love it so.

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Below are my 'TOP SEASONS EVER PLAYED' list.


#10:

Ty Cobb- 1911

.420 BA. 8 HR. 127 RBI. 147R. 248H. 47 Doubles. 24 Triples. 83 SB.

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#9:

Ted Williams- 1941

.406 BA. 37 HR. 120 RBI. 33 Doubles. 135R. 1.287 OPS.

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#8:

Joe Dimaggio- 1937

.346 BA. 46 HR. 167 RBI. 151 R. 418 TB. 15 Triples.

I know, I know I could have selected the 1941 season where Dimaggio set, what may be, an unbreakable record of hitting safely in 56 straight games and won his second MVP but I really only wanted to give a player one season on my list, so for that purpose alone I chose his 1937 season where his statistics were much better. In '37 compared to '41, Dimaggio had more home runs (46 to 30), more RBI (167 to 125), scored more runs (151 to 123)

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#7:

Chuck Klein- 1930

.386 BA. 40 HR. 170 RBI. 250H. 59 Doubles. 158R.

Many people may not know who Chuck Klein is but his 1930 season stands as one of the more impressive seasons ever. In this season he recorded the sixth most hits ever in a year, the seventh most doubles, and the eighth highest RBI total ever.

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#6:

Rogers Hornsby- 1922

.401 BA. 42 HR. 152 RBI. 46 Doubles. 14 Triples. 450 TB.

Hornsby's 1922 season was in the middle of one of, what might be, the greatest five-year runs in MLB history. In this season Hornsby won his first of two Triple-Crown awards. The 450 total bases is still the second highest total ever. In this season he led the National League in runs scored and slugging, while becoming the first and only player in all of history to hit over .400 and slug 40 home runs in the same season.

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#5:

Jimmie Fox- 1932

.364 BA. 58 HR. 169 RBI. 151R. 438 TB.

Double-X is what Fox was known by back in his playing days and was the very first player, in this 1932 season, to make a serious run at Babe Ruth's single-season home run record, falling two shy. Foxx did lead the American League in RBI, runs, total bases, slugging, and extra base hits. He lost the batting title, and triple-crown, by just three points. This season was his first, of three, MVP awards.

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#4:

Hack Wilson- 1930

.356 BA. 56 HR. 191 RBI. 146R. 423 TB.

Standing at 5'6" no one was fooled in thinking Hack was going to be an easy out. Wilson was one of, if not, the most feared hitters in the National League from '25 to '30, and then an onset of injuries and alcohol abuse ruined an extremely promising career. For the longest Hack Wilson's Record RBI total was 190 until a researcher found a lost RBI on an old score sheet, and is a record that still stands today. Wilson also led the league, this season, in slugging, total bases, and OPS.

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#3:

Mickey Mantle- 1956

.353 BA. 52 HR. 130 RBI. 132 R.

Mantle won the AL Triple Crown in 1956 as well as the MVP. Not included in these stats was what Mantle did in the World Series. Mantle hit 3 home runs, had 4 RBI, 6 BB, and 6 runs scored which led the Yankees to another World Series title. This 1956 set a record for home runs for a switch-hitter (a record Mantle later broke with 54 HR) As I said Mantle won the triple crown but Mantle also led the league in runs scored, total bases, slugging percentage, and on-base percentage, which is why this 1956 season falls on my list.

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#2:

Lou Gehrig- 1927

.373 BA. 47 HR. 175 RBI. 52 Doubles. 18 Triples. 149R. 447 TBs.

So my final two spots belong to, though not in the same season, two players that were teammates on the 1927 Yankees. Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, can you imagine the intimidation of facing those two hitters? It's an open debate, to this day, on who was the force behind that '27 Yankees team. Neither side can be right or wrong, because both played pivotal parts. 1927 was the year that the Great Bambino hit the then-record 60 home runs, however in this season Gehrig out hit Ruth, out doubled Ruth, out tripled, and Gehrig also had more RBI and total bases. The MVP that year went to Gehrig just ahead of Ruth which helped fueled the "rivalry" between the two.

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#1:

Babe Ruth- 1921

.378 BA. 59 HR. 171 RBI. 177R. 44 Doubles. 16 Triples. 17 SB. 145 BB. 1.359 OPS.

The 60 home run year would be the obvious choice to put if you are going to put Ruth on the list, but as I mentioned at number two with Gehrig, Ruth's year was not even the best of 1927. 1921, though, is a COMPLETELY different story. In 1921 Babe Ruth set MLB records for home runs (would last until 1927), slugging percentage (would stand until Barry Bonds broke it in 2001, which I do not count) , runs scored, extra-base hits, and total bases. The runs scored, extra base hits and total bases MLB records ALL still stand, which is absolutely remarkable. For kicks, Ruth hit .378 on the year and actually stole 17 bases. (Don't miss that last one, Babe Ruth stole 17 bases!)

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HONORABLE MENTION:

Hugh Duffy- 1894

.440 BA. 18 HR. 145 RBI. 237 H. 51 Doubles. 16 Triples. 48 SB.

George Sisler- 1922

.420 BA. 8 HR. 105 RBI. 246 H. 42 Doubles. 18 Triples. 51 SB.

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So there you have it, the news that McGwire did, in fact, use Steroids is the next black eye in a series of black eyes making this the "steroid-level". The question I pose is how do we recover from these black eyes? Is the damage inflicted, to date, too far past the point of recovery or will baseball again get pulled back from the depths of death? When I was young and ever inadvertently received a black eye, my grandmother always would pull out frozen corn to put on it. Frozen corn will not help the MLB in this case but I do have a few other ways I would like to use the frozen corn. You can use your own imagination to how to use it, whether it be beating these idiots over the head for cheating baseball, or taking a term from the former WWE star The Rock. Needless to say McGwire's talking-points and constant babbling would not combat the frozen corn. Baseball will survive, or I at least hope so. I love baseball. I love its history, I love its story, I love its game....