Friday, August 22, 2008

#638 Steve Balboni



Why this card is awesome: Because if you know Steve Balboni, you know he was one of the strongest guys ever to play baseball, and yet he has such little muscle definition in this photo. That, my friends, is a pre-Steroids Era photo.

Cool stat: Next to Mark McGwire's 2001, Balboni had the highest OPS+ in a season with at least 200 AB but a batting average under .195. He may not have gotten a lot of hits, but many of them went over the fence. In fact, for players with fewer than 800 career hits, Balboni's got the most home runs of all time.

4 comments:

zman40 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
zman40 said...

After all of these years (with steroids, expansion, shorter fences at Kauffman Stadium)Balboni's 1985 season is still the top mark for homeruns in a season for a Royal.

Andy said...

See? The Royals suck even at taking steroids. :)

MMayes said...

I also believe the Royal team record of 36 is the lowest of any of the team records. Nobody's been able to top it, although if they'd been able to pay Jermaine Dye or Carlos Beltran, they might have been able to top it. Somehow I just don't see Billy Butler threatening that magical 36 mark in the next couple of years and all they've got in the minors is Kila Kilahuue.