Home Runs

Top Ten: 755 Hank Aaron, 749* Barry Bonds, 714 Babe Ruth, 660 Willie Mays, 600* Sammy Sosa, 586 Frank Robinson, 583 Mark McGwire, 582* Ken Griffey, Jr., 573 Harmon Killebrew, 569 Rafael Palmiero.

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The following statistics pertain only to the ten players listed above:
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Average # HR per year (highest individual year in parentheses):
1. 50, McGwire (70); 2. 46, Ruth (60); 3. 42, Sosa (66); 4. 41, Bonds (73) and Griffey (56); 6. 38, Killebrew (49); 7. 37, Aaron (47); 8. 36, Mays (52); 9. 34, Robinson (49); 10. 33, Palmiero (47).

Batting average:
1. Ruth .342, 2. Aaron .305, 3. Mays .302, 4. Bonds .299, 5. Robinson .294, 6. Griffey .290, 7. Palmiero .288, 8. Sosa .273, 9. McGwire .263, 10. Killebrew .256.

Average RBI's per year:
1. Ruth 143, 2. McGwire 122, 3. Griffey 116, 4. Sosa 115, 5. Aaron 113, 6. Bonds 109, 7. Robinson, Killebrew, & Palmiero 105, 10. Mays 103

Lifetime at-bats:
1. Aaron 12,364; 2. Mays 10,881; 3. Palmiero 10,472; 4. Robinson 10,006; 5. Bonds 9,683; 6. Sosa 8,640; 7. Griffey 8,583; 8. Ruth 8,398; 9. Killebrew 8,147; 10. McGwire 6,187.

HR frequency (HR hit every x-times AB):
1. McGwire 10.6; 2. Ruth 11.8; 3. Bonds 12.9; 4. Killebrew 14.2; 5. Sosa 14.4; 6. Griffey 14.7; 7. Aaron 16.4; 8. Mays 16.5; 9. Robinson 17.1; 10. Palmiero 18.4.

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Barry Bonds needs seven HR's to overtake Aaron's record of most HR's. Of the other active players, Ken Griffey, Jr., is likely to reach the 700 mark before the end of his career, and Sammy Sosa needs 100 more to get there.

Alex Rodriguez currently has 491 HR's, with a season high of 57 and an average of 44 a year and has maintained a .306 batting average over his 14 seasons. If he can maintain this rate for another seven seasons, he should break Bonds' upcoming HR record. A-Rod averages 127 RBI's a year, and with a total 7,031 at bats, his HR frequency is once every 14.3 times at bat.

Close Encounter of the Oprah Kind

This week, Oprah had a couple of replays, shows originally aired as a result of shock-jock Don Imus, and the Kat insisted that I send Oprah a link to my "Why Empower Imus?" blog, although I contended that it was old news; nevertheless, at the Kat's insistence, I sent it. Hated to fill up Oprah's box will out-of-date material, but I caved.

In the mid-`70's, my office was across the street from WTVF-TV, Nashville's Channel 5, where Oprah was employed. My boss, a really sharp dresser and cosmopolitan-looking guy, asked me if I'd like to film a commercial, modeling a jogging suit. He told me it was a paying gig. I told him that's OK, I'll still do it. I learned that he had been offered the job, but he told me that being paid for modeling was something akin to using his body to make money. I had no such scruples, and, turning in my leave slip, I headed across the street for the filming on the following day.

Ruth Ann was applying make-up, and I must have been objecting to the method or the amount she was applying. Oprah came walking by and simply stepped in and took over, very quickly finishing me off with powder and brush so I didn't shine so much. I was surprised how she just stepped in and did the job very quickly, when she wasn't even involved with the commercial. It was like we knew each other, though we'd never met, and I had the feeling that I was in the presence of a perfectly efficient human being. I'm smiling, thinking about it. Oprah wasn't world-famous then.

But she was on her way.