Assailing an All-Time Record
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by Chachi
The 2007 baseball season may go down in history as having one of the most formidable records in the game broken. No, I'm not talking about Barry Bonds' assault on Hank Aaron's all time home run record. I'm talking about Rob Deer's mythical 1991 season. Allow me to quote from the bible that is Baseball-Reference.com:
"In 1991 Deer became the first player to have over 100 more strikeouts than RBI, set a record with 95 more strikeouts than hits, set an RBI record for a player under the Mendoza Line, set a record for lowest average by a player who hit 20 homers and set the record for lowest average by a player with 400 or more at-bats."
Who is the player with the intestinal fortitude and strength to take on such a giant of the game? A lowly catcher for a last place team, that's who. None other than the Cincinnati Reds own David Ross. Now, maybe there are some other players out there that are equally deserving of this recognition, but I doubt it. The reason I bring up Ross is because I live in Columbus and I get force fed Reds games on the local FSN. Every time I look up at a local bar and see the Reds playing I am always in awe of how strangely beautiful Ross' numbers look as he steps to the plate. Here's a closer look at how the two sultans of ineptitude compare.
David Ross (2007)
BA .195, OBP .249, HR 15, RBI 33, H 47, SO 80, BB 18
Rob Deer (1991)
BA .179, OBP .314, HR 25, RBI 64, H 80, SO 175, BB 89
Now as you can see it is going to be mighty difficult for Ross to have the type of (un)successful season Deer did, but it is not totally out of the question. Perhaps, if we all band together and get behind Ross he can finally scale to new and never before imagined heights (or delve into new unimagined lows, however you want to look at it). So come on Cincy fans. Get out there and show your support. It's not like you have much else to root for this year!
