A Rare Weekend

Do I have this right?

The American home run record was tied for the first time in 33 years.

Alex Rodriguez became the youngest person ever to hit 500 home runs, by nearly a year.

Tom Glavine won his 300th career game.

It might be the rarest of baseball weekends. As discussed in these pages earlier, Rodriguez is a good bet to establish a new career record within the next ten years. The record that he broke this weekend was even older than Hank Aaron's record -- Jimmie Foxx hit his 500th in 1940, 67 years ago.

The ESPN announcers wondered aloud if anyone would ever approach 300 wins again, and I say yes. While it's true that the number of games for pitchers has dropped by about 20% due to the expansion of typical starting rotations from 4 to 5, the offset is that careers are lasting longer than a quarter century ago. That the number of 40-something hurlers is increasing could be a product of a couple of factors. First, the workload reduction may be preserving arms. Second, humans are simply living longer.

Still, the intersection of three such infrequent accomplishments deserves celebration, the likes of which may not be seen in America until the surpassing of Country Joe McDonald.