Baseball Chat

[craddock]

With two home runs Monday, Los Angeles Angels outfielder Vladimir Guerrero joined an exclusive group of hitters who have both 400 career home runs and a career batting average of at least .320. Guerrero is the sixth member of the group, and the other five are all in the Hall of Fame. A good way to define a group is by showing who isn’t a member: Larry Walker (383 HR, .313 BA), Chipper Jones (422 HR, .310 BA) and Alex Rodriguez (574 HR — 9th all-time — and a .304 BA). The six members are:

* Babe Ruth … 714 HR … .342 BA
* Jimmie Foxx … 534 HR … .325 BA
* Ted Williams … 521 HR … .344 BA
* Lou Gehrig … 493 HR … .340 BA
* Stan Musial … 475 HR … .331 BA
* Vladimir Guerrero … 400 … .322 BA

The set of six is about a year shy of gaining a seventh member. You Know Who is likely next. Albert Pujols has 355 career home runs, and he carries a .334 career average into tonight’s game against the Reds.