Saw this in my local paper, I was like WTF:
Could Dodgers' Gonzalez Be A Hall Of Famer?
Published: Jun 24, 2007
ST. PETERSBURG - Al Lopez and Wade Boggs are Tampa's Hall of Famers. It's a pretty good bet they'll be joined in Cooperstown one day by Gary Sheffield, and Fred McGriff should receive consideration as well.
But Luis Gonzalez? His name does not spring immediately to mind in any Hall of Fame debate.
Yet, if things go as planned for Gonzalez throughout the rest of his major-league career, the 39-year-old Jefferson High product will have the strongest argument possible for admission to baseball's most exclusive club: 3,000 hits.
"I don't know how many more years I'm going to continue to play," Gonzalez said Friday before hitting his 340th career home run to help his new team, the Dodgers, defeat the Devil Rays at Tropicana Field. "By the time this season's over, I'll have over 2,500 hits. Obviously, the big goal is to try to get to 3,000."
Gonzalez is in the middle of his 18th major-league season, playing for his sixth major-league club. He turns 40 on Sept. 3.
Just as important, the triplets he and his wife, Christine, brought into this world in 1998 turn 9 on Tuesday.
"You want to spend time with them," he said, "but at the same time, you want to continue on your journey to see where the end of my career takes me."
Where exactly will it take him? If where he's been is any indication, quite a bit further.
After signing a one-year, $7.35 million contract with Los Angeles when Arizona failed to pick up his $10 million option for this season, it's clear Gonzo's value hasn't diminished like that of the average almost-40-year-old.
He batted .271 with 15 home runs and 73 RBIs in '06, but the most prominent number was 52, as in the number of doubles he hit. It was the most doubles in history by a player his age, and he became the 20th player in major-league history with 300 homers and 500 doubles.
He won't reach the other shoo-in plateau - 500 home runs. But he's never really been known as a Hall of Fame-caliber home run hitter, anyway, outside of the 57 he hit during the Diamondbacks' World Series championship season of 2001.
But what about becoming the first Tampa native (Boggs grew up there, but was born in Omaha, Neb.) to reach the 3,000-hit level?
It's not as unlikely as it sounds. He came into this season with 2,373 hits in 2,316 career games. That's an average of 1.02 hits per game, an average he's maintained pretty steadily in his late 30s.
If he keeps up that average, and if he averages 150 games played in 2007-2010, he could reach 3,000 sometime early in the 2011 season. He would be 43 then.
And actually, Sheffield - who is 38 and entered Saturday's game 10 spots ahead of Gonzalez on the all-time list (No. 89 with 2,467 hits) - might get there before his fellow Tampa native.
But it's not so much a race against Sheffield for Gonzalez as it is a race against time.
There is, after all, a potentially rewarding career in broadcasting waiting on the other side.
He was a color analyst for ESPN Radio during the 2003-05 division series broadcasts, and he worked on TV as an analyst for Fox during the '06 NLCS.
"It's something that's in the back of my mind," Gonzalez said. "You think about it, but I'm still playing and I want to continue to play."
And that statement tells you all you need to know about where Gonzalez sees his career going. And if it goes where he hopes it goes, it might lead straight to Cooperstown.
Could Dodgers' Gonzalez Be A Hall Of Famer?
Published: Jun 24, 2007
ST. PETERSBURG - Al Lopez and Wade Boggs are Tampa's Hall of Famers. It's a pretty good bet they'll be joined in Cooperstown one day by Gary Sheffield, and Fred McGriff should receive consideration as well.
But Luis Gonzalez? His name does not spring immediately to mind in any Hall of Fame debate.
Yet, if things go as planned for Gonzalez throughout the rest of his major-league career, the 39-year-old Jefferson High product will have the strongest argument possible for admission to baseball's most exclusive club: 3,000 hits.
"I don't know how many more years I'm going to continue to play," Gonzalez said Friday before hitting his 340th career home run to help his new team, the Dodgers, defeat the Devil Rays at Tropicana Field. "By the time this season's over, I'll have over 2,500 hits. Obviously, the big goal is to try to get to 3,000."
Gonzalez is in the middle of his 18th major-league season, playing for his sixth major-league club. He turns 40 on Sept. 3.
Just as important, the triplets he and his wife, Christine, brought into this world in 1998 turn 9 on Tuesday.
"You want to spend time with them," he said, "but at the same time, you want to continue on your journey to see where the end of my career takes me."
Where exactly will it take him? If where he's been is any indication, quite a bit further.
After signing a one-year, $7.35 million contract with Los Angeles when Arizona failed to pick up his $10 million option for this season, it's clear Gonzo's value hasn't diminished like that of the average almost-40-year-old.
He batted .271 with 15 home runs and 73 RBIs in '06, but the most prominent number was 52, as in the number of doubles he hit. It was the most doubles in history by a player his age, and he became the 20th player in major-league history with 300 homers and 500 doubles.
He won't reach the other shoo-in plateau - 500 home runs. But he's never really been known as a Hall of Fame-caliber home run hitter, anyway, outside of the 57 he hit during the Diamondbacks' World Series championship season of 2001.
But what about becoming the first Tampa native (Boggs grew up there, but was born in Omaha, Neb.) to reach the 3,000-hit level?
It's not as unlikely as it sounds. He came into this season with 2,373 hits in 2,316 career games. That's an average of 1.02 hits per game, an average he's maintained pretty steadily in his late 30s.
If he keeps up that average, and if he averages 150 games played in 2007-2010, he could reach 3,000 sometime early in the 2011 season. He would be 43 then.
And actually, Sheffield - who is 38 and entered Saturday's game 10 spots ahead of Gonzalez on the all-time list (No. 89 with 2,467 hits) - might get there before his fellow Tampa native.
But it's not so much a race against Sheffield for Gonzalez as it is a race against time.
There is, after all, a potentially rewarding career in broadcasting waiting on the other side.
He was a color analyst for ESPN Radio during the 2003-05 division series broadcasts, and he worked on TV as an analyst for Fox during the '06 NLCS.
"It's something that's in the back of my mind," Gonzalez said. "You think about it, but I'm still playing and I want to continue to play."
And that statement tells you all you need to know about where Gonzalez sees his career going. And if it goes where he hopes it goes, it might lead straight to Cooperstown.
