Milestones or millstones?

One of my favorite features in the old Street & Smith annuals was the list of statistical targets (The Sporting News now has that burden/honor). The contemporary players were listed along with the all-timers for major categories such as home runs, RBI, wins, strikeouts, etc.

But many of those milestones don’t seem like that much of a big deal anymore. Used to be that only a handful of batters hit 500 home runs. Now you wonder if guys like Jim Thome (612) are really Hall of Fame-worthy. Similarly, no active pitcher seems to be on track for 300 wins.

Alex Rodriguez really screwed himself. Regardless of whether he used, his numbers still appear on the logs with everyone else. So in 2014, given a decent production, he could have attained the following milestones: moving past Willie May’s 660 home runs (six shy); 3,000 hits (61 shy); 2,000 runs batted in (31 shy); 2,000 runs scored (81 shy). Who knows if he’ll ever really get another chance to achieve these reachable goals or, if he does, if anyone will care.

In 2010, Matthew Futterman published a fascinating piece in the Wall Street Journal asking “Is Baseball Running Out of Milestones?” Seems so as players, appearing in more games, aren’t racking up the numbers in certain categories. Walter Johnson tossed 110 shutouts in 21 seasons, the all-time record; 38-year-old Chris Carpenter is the active leader with 15 in 15. Sam “Wahoo” Craword hit 309 triples in 19 mostly-deaball era seasons. Carl Crawford — no relation — is the active leader with a mere 117 in 12. So he would have to average more than 27 three-baggers for the next seven years to catch up, by which time he would be 39. Derek Jeter (19 years), who will retire at the end of this year, leads active players with 525 doubles, while Tris Speaker (22 years) holds the record with 793.

For what it’s worth, this year’s attainable targets:

Jeter can move into sixth place on the all-time hit list if he gets 114 safeties, passing Paul Molitor, Carl Yastrzemski, and Honus Wagner.
Albert Pujols needs eight home runs to join the once-exclusive “500 club” which now includes 25 members. Adam Dunn is next among actives with 440.
Jeter needs to score 124 runs to break the 2,000 mark, but that’s probably not realistic.
It doesn’t look like any pitcher will crack even 3,000 strikeouts, let alone get close to Nolan Ryan’s record of 5,714; only four hurlers have bettered 4,000 Ks.
Joe Nathan has 341 saves, but is that even a relevant statistic anymore? Sure it’s great to pile up the saves, but given the narrow area of the closer’s role these days…