Great guy, it's a rare blessing to root for a star that doubles as a first class person. Wish nothing but the best for him & his.
holy crap..i heard the rumors, but wake up and damn, he's gone...wtf...again, two scrubs, still have to pay $4MM of his salary... Big Puma will always be one of my favorite Stro...
I'll forever remember the twinkie story. Next to craig, lance was my favorite astro. It's a shame that Lee is still here and lance is gone. I wish Puma the best. he will make those NY pinstripes cool again, and I'll cheer him on like I cheered for Castanza when he got the job offer from the Yanks. :cue in my heart will go on"
eh. I like the Puma and all, but if he is seriously being considered as the greatest player in team history.... I need to find a new team. Dude isn't even close to HOF material. of course, him and Roy Oswalt's jersey will be retired, right next to the legendary Jimmy Wynn and Jose Cruz. I'm probably just trolling, but the Astros are the worst team ever when it comes to over value-ing above average players.
We played a lot of years in Astrodome, the place where Home Runs and doubles turn into long noisy outs. Still you are right, Drayton is overfond of the number retirement ceremonies.
Wow... way off, LL. Depending on how the next couple of years play out, the HOF thing is questionable. He's already near borderline (scroll to the bottom): http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/berkmla01.shtml He'd be a no doubter by this point if he was juicing like so many of his counterparts. Look where Berkman ranks in all-time qualified career OPS: http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/onbase_plus_slugging_career.shtml 20th all-time in a sport with thousands upon thousands upon thousands of players. The second best switch-hitter of all-time, behind only Mickey Mantle. I can never figure out why Berkman is under appreciated by so many Astros fans. Only Bagwell was better, statistically, over nearly 50 years of Astros history, factoring in the park he played in for most of his career. We've had 2 generational hitters whose careers overlapped in Berkman and Bagwell. There is a good chance we won't see a hitter come through this organization like them for the next 25 years. Again, imagine where Puma would rank if he juiced like probably half of the players he's statistically in the same category with and compared to among his generation.
When Berkman was at his best he was Absolutely great. If Pujols didn't exist Lance would be considered the best hitter in Baseball back then.
not trying to sound like a hater, but if you're runner up to Jeff Bagwell(who coincidently has been suspected of the juice), maybe it speaks in broader context of the history of the organization. Lance Berkman is one of my personal favorite players in Astros history, his demeanor and attitude are a big part of that, but let's not confuse greatest in team history with greatest of all time. Solid player. Will miss. He's not great. Reality.
Check out the leaders in baseball history for adjusted OPS for a career: Adjusted OPS career leaders I would say that both Jeff Bagwell and Lance Berkman could easily be considered elite (ie. great). It would be harder to justify not considering them great, than justifying considering them great.
Bagwell has NEVER been suspected of roids or HGH and is a probable Hall of Famer so being compared to him is a true honor. You compare greatness by doing it against your peers and it can easily be said Lance was one of better 1st baseman of his time.
Ever heard of Eddie Murray? 500 HRs AND 3,000 hits. Or Chipper Jones?? Or How about Pete Rose? All-Time Hit King.
Bryant Gumbel accuses Bagwell, Nomar and Pudge of using steroids http://bases.nbcsports.com/2010/01/...ll-nomar-and-pudge-of-using-steroids.html.php
Growing up near Batlimore and being an Indians fan, yes, I've heard of Eddie Murray. One of my favorite players of all-time. I used to treasure his and Cal Ripken's rookie cards as a kid. Beyond that, maybe I wasn't clear enough, but I was referring to career OPS when saying he was 20th best all-time and the 2nd best switch-hitter of all-time (read the sentence prior to those comments). I was solely using that one metric, which while a very good one for measuring the ability of a hitter, is far from all-encompassing.
Yea, adjusted OPS is an even better metric. Being in the Top 50 is probably akin to being ranked Top 5 in NBA history for PER given the relative volume of players and time coverage in the two sports. Now, what I wanna see is double-adjusted OPS, accounting for da juice. :grin:
