Tom Brennan - Jay Bruce and the Hometown 40 HR Club

Tom Brennan - Jay Bruce and the Hometown 40 HR Club

Baseball is different these days, what with expiring contracts and the like, making it unusual for teams to have guys stick around for nearly as long as they used to.

But there are two existing clubs in NYC: the Mets and the Yankees, each with a very different 40 homer season legacy.

The Mets currently tried to trade Jay Bruce (he of one of the expiring contracts at the trade deadline), but failed. 

He still could be moved via the waiver process in August for:

1) a slim return of prospects and

2) some minor salary savings (he is owed $4.5 million through year end, dropping by $80,000 per game).

I SAY: KEEP HIM!   COME ON!

BOOST THE METS' 40 HR CLUB BY 33% - FROM 3 TO 4!

You see, Wright never hit 40 as a Met...Straw didn't...Kingman didn't.

Carlos Beltran (2006) and Todd Hundley (1996), each of whom had nearly 40 going into September, both stalled and ended up with 41 each.

Mike Piazza had 40 (in just 141 games - and Mike would have had 40+ homers in 3 straight seasons for the Mets if he did not have so many games missed each year due to catching days off and injuries.  How great was he?).

Bruce has 29 dingers now, with 57 games to go.  My calculator says he's on a pace for a team record 45 homers.  Let's keep him: see what he ends up with, that's what I say.

The Yanks have always loved and prized power hitters. 

In fact, collectively, they have had at least 10 hitters with 40 or more in a season, as follows:

BABE RUTH - 11 times with 40 or more; 4 over 50, 60 once.

LOU GEHRIG - 5 times with 40 or more. Triples?  See below.

MICKEY MANTLE - 40 or more 4 times, 2 of those over 50.

A ROD - twice as Yank (54, 48) (8 total seasons over 40).

JASON GIAMBI - twice hit 41 as a Yank.  The Giambino.

CURTIS GRANDERSON - hit 43 and 41 as a Yank.

ROGER MARIS - hit 61 and got an asterisk for his efforts.

JOE DIMAGGIO - hit 46 once in huge Yanks' LF/CF cavern.

REGGIE JACKSON - hit 41 once (and 47 as an A).

TINO MARTINEZ - hit 44 once.

That's 30 individual times with 40 or more, and 29 of those times equaling or exceeding the Mets' record of 41, while the Mets record have just those 3 instances of 40 or more.

"Say Hey", someone might say.  I say, let's not even get into the 40 HR clubs of 2 ex-NY teams, the Giants and Dodgers.

Come on: forget the future for a minute and live in the "Now".

Let's make it 4 with 40 + for the Mets - keep Jay Bruce - let him give it a shot at 40 - or 45.  Don't trade him.

Looking at all time stats, David Wright is the Mets' all time leader in doubles (390) and RBIs (970).  Those numbers would put him just 6th all time on the Yanks list in doubles and 14th in RBIs.  Straw Man's 252 Mets homers would have him #10 on the all time Yanks list.  Anything we can do to make progress in Yanks vs. Mets power #s I am all for.

Last interesting note: how many three baggers as Yankees did Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Earl Combs and Joe DiMaggio have?

If you guessed 553, you are correct!  553 triples!  In Gehrig's first 6 full years in baseball, he alone had close to 100 triples.  Even Jose Reyes, Amed Rosario's older brother, would say "Wow".