660
A-Rod got his 660th, tying Willie Mays. No one seems all that excited.
I remember when Aaron broke Ruth’s record. That was a big deal, in part because Ruth’s record had stood for so long, in part because Ruth was the greatest player in history. Aaron wasn’t the greatest player, though he was great.
Then Bonds broke Aaron’s record, to much hissing. The catch here is simply that you can argue that Bonds was the greatest hitter in history. Because of steroids, and because he hasn’t been easy to get along with, no one really wants to make the argument. But the argument’s there in the record book: you could look it up.
And now here’s A-Rod, passing the Say-Hey Kid. It ought to be a good time, a time to look back to the Polo Grounds and the Vic Mertz catch and 660. That’s a lot of homers!
I think we really need to stop obsessing with pills. We accept all sorts of other kinds of sports medicine. We accept cheating: no one ever accused Ty Cobb of playing fair, and we’re not ignoring his records. It’s a game.