Possible Baseball History For A-Rod

We’ve been hearing a lot lately that Alex Rodriguez has a chance to become the 1st player in baseball history to hit 400 HRs before his 30th birthday. That would be an incredible feat.

But, there’s another record that A-Rod has a shot at this year - one that has stood for 67 years.

In 1938, Hank Greenberg hit 58 HRs for the Tigers. To date, no right-handed batter in American League history has matched that mark.

To date, A-Rod has 17 HR in 47 games for the Yankees this season. This is a rate of 0.3617 HR per game. If Alex keeps up this pace, and plays 162 games this season (which is something he’s been able to do twice in his career) then he would have the record for most homers in a season by a RH-batter in the AL.

And, I guess I should note that Rodriguez played in 162 games in 2002 and hit 57 HRs - just missing the Greenberg mark by one. So, it’s not like Alex has never knocked on this door before.

Granted, there’s many things that have to happen for this to come true in 2005. So, it’s all uphill at this point. But, at the least, what this does tell us is something about the rate at which Alex is currently pumping the long ball. Folks, we’re seeing something special right now.

May 27, 2005 | Filed Under Math Class