Aug 12, 2016; Bronx, NY, USA; New York Yankees designated hitter Alex Rodriguez (13) hits an RBI double against the Tampa Bay Rays in his final game as a Yankee during the first inning at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Andy Marlin-USA TODAY Sports
Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports /
New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez will retire four home runs short of 700. Here are five other players retiring short of milestones.
As New York Yankees designated hitter Alex Rodriguez walks off the stage, one of the unique aspects of his mid-season retirement is how close he came to hitting 700 career home runs.
His first came against Tom Gordon and the Kansas City Royals on June 12, 1995 at Seattle’s Kingdome. His 696th, and last, a solo bomb to left off Baltimore Orioles pitcher Kevin Gausman on July 18. Between then, we thought he was a mortal lock of not only slugging 700 homers but passing Barry Bonds and his mark of 762.
Unless he signs with the Miami Marlins or another team giving him a chance, Rodriguez leaves baseball just shy of an incredible milestone. In his case, there was a substantial bonus for hitting that number.
Players have fallen short of milestones before. Who knows what final numbers Ted Williams or Bob Feller would have put up if not for World War II. Injuries to Sandy Koufax cut his career short before he could strikeout 2500 or win 200 games. Although you can understand why the Yankees were ready to let Rodriguez go before joining the 700 club, a low-average hitter left to being a part-time designated hitter, you have to be somewhat surprised he walked away.
Now that Rodriguez’s career belongs to history, here are five other players who fell short of a major milestone. From a war to an unusual career choice, they left the game right on the edge of etching their names into deeper history.
Best known as a dominating pitcher who was Sandy Koufax’s sidekick for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Don Drysdale came into the 1969 season 40 strikeouts shy of 2,500.
A standout pitcher from Van Nuys, CA, Drysdale signed with the Dodgers in 1954 while they were still in Brooklyn. By 1957, he became a mainstay in the rotation. His best year, 1962, he went 25-8 with a 2.83 ERA while striking out 232 in 314.1 innings, earning the Cy Young Award.
Coming off a legendary 1968 where he threw 58.2 consecutive scoreless innings, including six straight shutouts, it seemed a lock he would reach that milestone. His body said otherwise. An ox of a pitcher, he started over 40 games a year from 1962 through 1966. Add three World Series trips in that stretch and there was nothing left in his right arm. A three-time strikeout champion, by 1966 the overuse dropped his annual total under 200.
Instead of a slow and steady decline at 32, Drysdale mustered 12 starts, an ERA of 4.45 and a 5-4 record. In the end, he fanned 24 in 62.2 innings, falling 14 short of the mark. Injuries forced him to miss six weeks between April and mid-June. By his last start on August 5, he barely could throw six innings or strikeout more than two.
In reality, Rusty Staub would never be a Hall of Fame player. If we honored players for being very good, however, he would be near the top of the list.
A folk hero on both sides of the border—he was an original member of the Montreal Expos—Staub was the catalyst of the New York Mets improbable 1973 National League pennant run. Owning a power bat that swatted doubles and homers, he was a feared hitter for nearly three decades. Staub led the NL in doubles with the Houston Astros with 44 in 1967.
By the mid-1970s, and in his 30s, he settled in as a designated hitter with the Detroit Tigers. Not one to own a magic glove in right field, he often hit 20+ homers and drove in 100 RBI as Detroit’s extra hitter. A near trade-deadline deal sent him back to the Expos and the NL in 1979. They fell short of a division crown and he eventually would sign with the Mets as a pinch hitter before the 1981 season.
Turning into a good pinch hitter and role player for New York, Staub stayed five years. When he retired, he had 499 career doubles. Good enough now for 62nd all-time, but by not remaining in the American League, he never gave himself a chance at 500 and an outside shot at Cooperstown.
If we did a list of the most truly underrated players in baseball history, Mickey Vernon would be near the top.
A 20-year veteran starting in 1939 with the Washington Nationals, and ending as a pinch-hitter for the 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates, Vernon never played in a World Series game and fell five hits shy of 2,500 for his career.
A seven-time All-Star, Vernon remained on the Hall of Fame ballot a full 15 years with his high-watermark coming in his last year, 1980, at 24.9 percent. Between playing 14 seasons with the perpetual underdog Nationals/Senators and losing two full years to World War II, Vernon became a victim of never achieving a major milestone. He was an excellent doubles hitter, rapping 51 for Washington in 1946, but his 490 career two-baggers left him ten shy of 500. From the time he became a regular at first base for Washington in 1941, he would play at least 100 games in every non-war season until 1958.
Twice, in 1946 and 1953, Vernon topped 200 hits. Six more times he broke 150. Finally a part-time player when the Milwaukee Braves traded for him from the Cleveland Indians in 1959, he needed 26 hits to reach 2500. Instead, he only recorded 99 at-bats in two years, leaving himself five hits shy.
Alex Rodriguez is not the only hitter retiring just shy of a major home run milestone. Andres Galarraga retired in 2004 sitting on 399 career dingers.
Now, 400 home runs after the steroid era does not mean as much as it once did. Still, Galarraga is 54th on the all-time list. In itself, that is an accomplishment.
Known more for his prodigious strikeout rates during his first seven seasons with Montreal, “The Big Cat” became an original member of the expansion Colorado Rockies and took full advantage of the mile-high air. Lost in the shadow of Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, Galarraga hit 40 or more homers three straight seasons including an NL-best 47 in 1996. Signing with the Atlanta Braves before the 1998 season, he hit 44 homers his first year there, and .305, before missing the entire 1999 campaign to injury.
He remained a full-time player a couple more years after, but his power stroke disappeared.
Despite 2003 strikeouts, sixth all-time, Galarraga managed 2,333 career hits and a .288 batting average. If not for missing 1999 or the Strike of 1994-95, he would have passed 400 home runs. One and done on the Hall of Fame ballot, chances are crossing 400 would have changed nothing.
Jack Quinn was a freak of nature. Pitching for the New York Yankees in 1909, through two years in the Federal League and for some awful Boston Red Sox teams in the 1920s, Quinn found a second career with the Philadelphia Athletics in the late 20s and retired in 1933 with 247 wins.
Yes, 247 wins in an era of deadball pitching is not that amazing unless you consider he swung from a starter to a reliever most of his career. In 756 career games, Quinn started 443. He led the Federal League in losses with Baltimore in 1915 with 22. He would retroactively lead the NL in saves with Brooklyn in 1930 and 1931. Born in Stefurov in modern-day Slovakia in 1883, he pitched his last game for the Cincinnati Reds in 1933. Yeah, he pitched until he was 50, a milestone all to itself.
Never a threat to be a Hall of Fame pitcher, his career WAR is -1.0, Quinn held a roster spot for 23 seasons. He even missed two years in the Majors after the Federal League folded in 1915. Whatever role was needed he filled. Never good enough to be an ace, although he did win 18 with the ’28 Athletics, he pitched well enough to throw 3920.1 innings. Somehow, he nearly won 250 games.
