Alex Rodriguez homered in the first inning in Tampa Bay tonight, tying Ted Williams and Willie McCovey for 15th on the all-time home run list.
What’s impressive is that Rodriguez is in his seasonal age 32 season. At the end of their age 32 seasons, Williams had 323 and McCovey stood at 352. Alex is likely to be 200 home runs ahead of both of them at the same age by the end of the year.
While A-Rod will likely be 200 HRs ahead, it shold be remembered that Ted Williams spent what could have been some of his most productive years in the Marines in World War II and Korea. I, therefore, don’t think it fair to compare.
It is an interesting comparison though, because everyone always thinks about HR totals… no matter how short a career is. Look at HOFer Ralph Kiner…who played only 10 years total. Nobody ever complains about him retiring at 32 with 369 HR’s when he might’ve had a lot more if played more years.