Luis Gonzalez of the Arizona Diamondbacks was batting .414 for the month of June (through Friday). He also has posted an .869 slugging percentage for the month. Gonzalez is just 31 points away from becoming the 20th player since 1978 to record a .900 or better slugging percentage in a month. Only Todd Helton of the Colorado Rockies and Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants have surpassed the 1.000 mark for a month in the last 24 seasons. Helton posted an even 1.000 in May 2000 and Bonds slugged an unbelievable 1.035 in May of this year. The single-season record for slugging percentage is held by Babe Ruth who recorded .847 in 1920.
Relief troops
The New York Yankees are looking to shore up their bullpen. In the three seasons before this one, the Yankees had converted 245 of 252 seventh-inning leads into victories, an astounding 97.2 percent success rate. The average for the rest of the majors over that period was 89.8 percent. But this year New York already has blown three seventh-inning leads out of 36 for a 91.7 percent success rate.
Singular sensation
San Diego’s Tony Gwynn, who announced his retirement on Thursday, is one of only 17 major-leaguers who played 20 or more years with a one club. Of the 17, only Mel Harder and Alan Trammell (besides Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn) are not in the Hall of Fame. The one-team wonders are:
%% PLAYER NO. YEARS TEAM
Brooks Robinson 23 1955-77 Orioles
Carl Yastrzemski 23 1961-83 Red Sox
Cap Anson 22 1876-97 Cubs
Al Kaline 22 1953-74 Tigers
Stan Musial 22 1941-44, Cardinals
1946-63
Mel Ott 22 1926-47 Giants
George Brett 21 1973-93 Royals
Walter Johnson 21 1907-27 Senators
Ted Lyons 21 1923-42, White Sox
1946
Willie Stargell 21 1962-82 Pirates
Luke Appling 20 1930-43, White Sox
1945-50
Red Farber 20 1914-33 White Sox
Tony Gwynn 20 1982-2001 Padres
Mel Harder 20 1928-47 Indians
Cal Ripken 20 1981-01 Orioles
Alan Trammell 20 1977-96 Tigers
Robin Yount 20 1974-93 Brewers
%%
500 vs. 500
Maybe history will repeat itself this weekend in San Francisco as 500-homer club members Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals and Barry Bonds of the Giants square off. If both players homer in the same game, it will be only the third time in major-league history that two members of the 500 club homered in the same game as opponents. According to home run expert David Vincent, in 1970 Willie Mays slugged his 615th career home run for the Giants and the Cubs’ Ernie Banks hit his 504th at Candlestick Park. The next season, Mays hit his 634th and Atlanta’s Henry Aaron hit his 604th.
