Is there life after Hector Santiago trade rumors? There is ...
Is there a place we can all turn after spending every waking second worrying about where Andrew Cashner would finish out the season? There is...
Is there anything more meaningful in our lives than memorizing the teams on Jonathan Lucroy's no-trade list? There is.
Trust me.
I just dug myself out of an eight-foot pile of trade rumors and noticed something. Back on the field, we've got quite a fun list of players who are well on their way to doing stuff that either has never been done, hasn't been done since Harry Truman was president or has only been done by living legends. And here we were all too consumed by Trade Deadline Daily to notice.
Here's just some of the stuff you've been missing:
TROUT FISHING
I'm not going to argue that Mike Trout is underrated. I'm not that demented. But here's what I think I can make an excellent case for: We're taking Mike Trout's greatness for granted. And it's time to stop ho-humming this guy right now. Got it?
Maybe this will get your attention. Who's leading the American League in Wins Above Replacement, as calculated by both baseball-reference.com and Fangraphs? C'mon. Who do you think is leading it -- Aaron Hicks? It's the best player in baseball, of course.
It's Trout season because every season is Trout season nowadays. He led the league in WAR last year. And the year before that. And the year before that. And the year before that. Want to count those up? Go ahead. I'll wait.
If you counted correctly, you'll recognize this would make FIVE seasons in a row. And if you don't recall anyone else doing that, I can now reveal the reason for that. Maybe it's because the last man to do it was a dude named George H. "Bambino" Ruth.
The Babe led the AL in Wins Above Replacement six years in a row, from 1926-31. Not that he knew it at the time, of course, since he was way too busy eating cheeseburgers to grasp the true significance of modern metrics.
But baseball-reference now tells us he's the only position player in history to lead any league in WAR at least five years in a row. (Walter Johnson also did it as a pitcher, from 1912-16.) So think about this, ladies and gentlemen. If Mike Trout keeps on doing what he always does for another couple of months, the entire list of hitters who have achieved this feat will consist of A) him and B) the greatest player who ever lived. Try taking THAT for granted.
ALTUVE JOINS THE SHORT LIST
Life is too short. But apparently, you can't say that about Jose Altuve. He may stand a mere 5 feet, 6 inches tall, officially speaking. But he's doing things that only the big boys are supposed to do.
Let's start with this: He looks like a popular choice at the moment to win the AL MVP award, those Mike Trout WAR numbers above notwithstanding. And perhaps you're asking yourself: "Hey, self. Has anybody that short ever won an MVP trophy before?"
Well, we're stuck with using official heights. So unless you can sneak up behind Dustin Pedroia with a tape measure, he's still 5-foot-7, according to the powers that be. Which means that only one player as short as Altuve has ever been an MVP before. And no, we're not talking about Rafael Belliard.
It's the legendary 5-foot-6 Phil Rizzuto, who was the AL MVP in 1950, in much simpler times. (By which I mean Ted Williams had an OPS 244 points higher than Rizzuto but finished 21st. Because it was 1950.)
Back to Altuve, however. What makes him such a compelling MVP candidate? Oh, lots of stuff. But for starters, here's a "short" selection of other potential Jose Altuve feats:
Could lead his league in stolen bases and slugging (currently 2nd in each). Last guy to do that: Willie Mays, in 1957.
Could lead his league in this nearly impossible daily double -- slugging and singles. The only player to do that since Ty Cobb retired: Stan Musial, in 1946.
Could lead his league in all three of those categories -- slugging, singles and steals. The only man ever to do that: Cobb (in 1907, '09 and '11).
There's lots more, naturally. But you get the idea. Jose Altuve: way more fun than your average trade rumor.
EXTRA CREDIT FOR WAINO
Adam Wainwright doesn't stop at first. And we love that about him. He may cover first. He may toss an occasional pickoff throw to first. But when he hits a baseball in his other life, you can trust us on this: He ain't stopping at first base.
Wainwright has seven hits in 42 at-bats this year. See if you can figure out what they all have in common: Triple, double, homer, double, double, double, homer.
Not a single in the bunch. Wainwright hasn't hit one of those since Sept. 17, 2014. And that leaves him in position to make a pretty crazy brand of history. All he has to do is keep avoiding stopping at first.
How many players in the history of baseball have gotten this many extra-base hits in a season but zero singles? That would be none. The record is five, by Dixie Howell (1954) and Rick Wrona (1994).
This just in, however: We should mention that Braves utility man Brandon Snyder is currently up to six extra-base hits without a single, so he could mess this all up. Then again, Wainwright is scheduled to pitch against the Braves on Sunday. So he just needs to serve up a little base hit to left for his good friend Brandon Snyder, and that'll take care of that threat.
In fact, here at August History Watch World Headquarters, we're counting on it. How cool would it be for a pitcher to hold an all-time extra-base-hit record? Correct answer: Super cool.
CHRIS ARCHER: LOST IN K'S
If you're just looking at the old "loss" column, you might think Chris Archer is having a disastrous year down in Tampa Bay because, well, you've probably been trained to think that about pitchers who are 5-15.
But take a look at another column on the stat sheet -- the old strikeout column -- and you might have to rethink all that. Because who's leading the American League in strikeouts? Yessir. That very same Chris Archer.
I bet you'd guess that's tough to do, huh? -- to lead your league in both strikeouts and losses? Well, you'd be one fine guesser. The American League has been around for 116 seasons now. And only one pitcher has ever led it in both those departments in the same year.
That would be the one, the only, Nolan Ryan, who had an even nuttier season in 1976, when he not only led the AL in losses (18) and strikeouts (327), but also in shutouts (seven). And -- shocker alert -- nobody else has done that in any league. (This kind of sums up Ryan's whole career, but that's enough Nolan Ryan commentary for one day.)
Now normally, it's never a bad thing to find yourself in a club that only Nolan Ryan has ever joined. But we might have to make an exception for this particular club. Even if losses are overrated and strikeouts are underrated, the Lead the League in L's and K's Club is one that's barely worth rating at all.
THERE'S AN 'O' IN TROT
Finally, who's leading the American League in home runs? It's gotta be a big bopper for those Baltimore Orioles, right? Because some Oriole or other leads the league in home runs every year.
This year, it's Mark Trumbo's turn. But last year, it was Chris Davis' turn. And the year before that, it was yet another Oriole (Nelson Cruz). And the year before that, Davis was your designated Orioles home run champ.
So this could make four seasons in a row. And if you're thinking that almost never happens, you're getting the hang of this.
Only one AL team in the live ball era has ever done it. And it would be -- guess who? -- the New York Babe Ruths. The Yankees once produced the AL home run leader NINE years in a row, from 1923-31. But that almost wasn't fair because the Babe spent some of those years hitting more homers than the average TEAM. He led the league outright five years in a row (1926-30), tied Lou Gehrig in 1931, also led in 1923 and '24, and let another Yankee (Bob Meusel) win in 1925.
Over in the NL, it's been done twice in the live ball era, but not in over a half century. The Giants had five straight winners from 1961-65 (three by Willie Mays, one by Orlando Cepeda, plus a Willie McCovey tie for the lead in 1963). And the Pittsburgh Ralph Kiners won seven years in a row, from 1946-52, with Kiner winning four of those outright and tying for the lead three other years.
But if Trumbo can win this title all by himself, it would mean we'd have just two instances in history in which one team produced four straight outright home run champs. One would be these Orioles. The other would be the franchise formerly known as The Babe.
Hey, the Bambino grew up in Baltimore, remember. So this would no doubt be his favorite August History Watch tidbit of them all ... as soon as he finished off one more cheeseburger.