The hardest thing to do in sports, the saying goes, is to hit a pitched baseball. Round ball, cylindrical bat, pitcher with an intent to deceive, all that jazz. Yes, there are tougher things to accomplish in sports, but as far as a fundamental act of a sport, there’s nothing more difficult than to hit a baseball. That’s why we’ve celebrated Derek Jeter. He’s hit so many baseballs that only on other Yankee in history has as many. Since that man no longer plays, Jeter will soon be atop the Yankees hit leader board.
Over the past two decades, we’ve seen focus shift from batting average, hits divided by at bats, to On Base Percentage, times on base divided by plate appearances, and other advanced metrics. That’s because hits are only one part of the game. A big part, no doubt. Hits not only put the batter on base, but can advance runners, possibly more than one base. Even then, all hits are not created equal. A double is worth more than a single, and a homer is the best thing you can do. In other words, there’s more to baseball than just hits.
We do celebrate hits, though, and hold in rarified air those who can accumulate them. There isn’t a single eligible member of the 3,000 hits club who still awaits Hall Of Fame induction (though the first will come and go with Rafael Palmeiro). Hits matter, and if hitting a pitched baseball is the hardest thing to do in sports, they matter a lot. But they’re still not everything. As Tom Tango says:
Please, shove all the hits-only talk out the window. Walks also count. Getting hit by a pitch counts. Hits count. It’s about getting on base. Yes, hits matter. But, getting on base matters more.
Sorry, but we’re not going to shove the hits-only talk out the window. How can you disregard an aspect of the game which is considered harder to do than anything in sports? It doesn’t mean that hits are more important (though you could make the argument). It means that, as I said a paragraph above, there are other aspects to consider.
That’s what we get from Beyond the Boxscore, where one user posted a few all-time on base leader boards. While Jeter still sits with some lofty company on the all-time Yanks list, it doesn’t look like he’ll ever crack the top 10 all time.
My favorite part about this post, which I suggest you read, is that each list gets progressively crazier. First is the all-time Yankees on base leader board. Babe Ruth sits comfortably atop with 4,405 times on base. Lou Gehrig follows with 4,274, and Mickey Mantle sits between Gehrig and Jeter, Mantle with 4,161 and Jeter with 3,736. It will take Jeter at least two more years just to catch Mantle. He has a long way to go in catching Gehrig, and I’m not sure he’ll ever catch Ruth.
The Captain sits even further down the all-time Yankees OBP board. It’s readily available on B-R, but it never ceases to blow my mind that Babe Ruth had a .484 career OBP. Like in the previous list he’s followed by Gehrig, .447, and Mantle, .421. Jeter is in seventh at .387. Maybe he’ll become even more selective as he ages and will push that up over .397, which is where Earle Combs sits at sixth all-time for Yankees. Even that would be a tough accomplishment.
Finally, the all-time leader board for times on base. Babe Ruth, first on the Yankees list, is ninth on this list. First: who else but Pete Rose, who was on base 5,929 times. That’s an unfathomable number. Five thousand, nine hundred and twenty-nine times on base. Of course, that’s partly a testament to his longevity — Rose has also recorded more outs than anyone in MLB history. Not only is he the leader there, but he has 1,192 more outs than the player who recorded the second most outs.
This isn’t at all to take away from Jeter’s accomplishment. We’ll celebrate again once he sits alone atop the Yankees hit list, and we’ll celebrate when he gets that 3,000th hit. Hits matter — a lot, even. But they’re not everything. Even so, Jeter is quite adept at getting on base by any means necessary. He might never crack the all-time list, but then again it’s doubtful any active player will. But let’s not forget this when Jeter passes Mantle for the all-time Yankees on-base list.
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