Paging Jayson Stark...

by dajafi on Nov 23, 2008 5:47 PM EST

(The truth is, I don't regularly read Stark anymore, so it's very possible that he's published this and I simply missed it--but it seems like the sort of fact he'd use to fill some virtual column space. Anyway, here it is.)

Ryan Howard, as we know, led the National League in home runs this year with 48. It was remarked a few years back, I think by Baseball Prospectus, that it's actually unusual for the world champion to include the league home run leader (and that by implication, if I'm remembering it right, teams should be wary of breaking the bank for any one power hitter who might help put them over the top). This is actually true; it had been almost three decades since a world champion from the National League included the league's top slugger.

That team: the 1980 Phillies, led of course by MVP Mike Schmidt's 48 home runs. (The only other champ to include the league's top slugger was the 2004 Red Sox, which included Manny Ramirez and his league-best 43 bombs.)

Okay, top-shelf analysis it ain't. But at least it took your mind off the misery that is the Eagles for a short while.

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Took my mind off of the Eagles until i reached the last line where you said it would take my mind off of the Eagles. Thanks Daj!

by FuquaManuel on Nov 23, 2008 7:38 PM EST reply actions

I figured nobody should get more relief reading it than I did writing it ;)

by dajafi on Nov 23, 2008 9:15 PM EST up reply actions

108 yards? Are you (bleeping) kidding me?

http://www.thegoodphight.com
WHY CAN'T US?

by WholeCamels on Nov 23, 2008 9:18 PM EST reply actions

serenity now

world series champions. world series champions. world series champions…

by taco pal on Nov 23, 2008 10:11 PM EST reply actions

Yes, Phillies rule!

But my God the Eagles just straight up suck. Hmm…does Pat Gillick know anything about football…?

by ajay on Nov 23, 2008 10:54 PM EST reply actions

Isn't this the famous

Curse of the Balboni?

No, sorry, my bad, that was a closely related but analytically distinct theoretical approach to world championness. Or world championtude. Or world championiciousness.

"I am the Walrus?..... I am the Walrus." - Donny Kerabatsos

by The Navigator on Nov 24, 2008 12:18 AM EST reply actions

The 2001 Diamondbacks of course had Luis Gonzalez and his 57 homers… but he was just 16 (!) off Barry Bonds record-setting total of 73.

Wacky days, those were.

http://www.thegoodphight.com
WHY CAN'T US?

by WholeCamels on Nov 24, 2008 9:49 AM EST reply actions

LuGo

I think he was actually the closest among NL champs between Schmidt and Howard. In an effort to spend as much time as possible not thinking about the Eagles, I actually made a table of champs, their HR leaders, and where/if they ranked among the top 10 in their league, but decided it wasn’t really worth posting in this (intellectually slight) article.

by dajafi on Nov 24, 2008 12:16 PM EST up reply actions

nope

And then immediately after posting this comment, I pulled up said table and saw that Pujols was second—to Howard, of course—in the NL with the world champion Cardinals in 2006.

But before those two, the last NL-originating champ even to crack the top 10 was Kirk Gibson for the ’88 Dodgers. He was 7th, with 25.

Also, the last guy before Schmidt to do it was Willie Stargell, who led the NL in bombs for the 1971 Pirates.

by dajafi on Nov 24, 2008 12:19 PM EST up reply actions