A vote for George ...Though we'll be happy to cheer, cheer, for dear old Ichiro Suzuki for breaking George Sisler's season record for basehits, we are not about to put him in Sisler's class as a ballplayer. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] There's no way you can compare their numbers. Ichiro gets a million hits a season--practically all singles. Sisler hit .340 lifetime, led the league in stolen bases four times, hit over .300 14 times, and batted over .400 twice. Sisler hit for average, he hit for power, ran like a deer deer, ruminant mammal of the family Cervidae, found in most parts of the world except Australia. Antlers, solid bony outgrowths of the skull, develop in the males of most species and are shed and renewed annually. , batted in runs, and was a peerless first baseman. In the prime of his life, he batted .353, .341, .407, .371, and .420--a fantastic six-year streak. He appeared to be on his way to becoming baseball's first-time regular .400 hitter, when a pernicious pernicious /per·ni·cious/ (per-nish´us) tending toward a fatal issue. per·ni·cious adj. Tending to cause death or serious injury; deadly. eye condition put him out of commission for an entire season. He was good when he returned, but not the legend he had promised to be in his prime. Branch Rickey Maybe he was and maybe he wasn't, but you cannot compare a singles hitter with a giant in the tradition of Babe Babe Paul Bunyan’s blue ox; straightens roads by pulling them. [Am. Lit.: Fisher, 270] See : Strength Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Rogers Hornsby |
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