[Westheim]

This update is brought to you by waking up at four in the morning, brightly alert, and unable to find another position to curl up in. Enjoy, like a raccoon would enjoy a banana.

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Raccoons (26-22) @ Knights (25-24) – May 29-31, 2028

The Coons would end the month of May, and hopefully all the sucking, in Atlanta, where the first order of the day was to activate Alberto Ramos at the expense of severely undercooked .133 batter Sam Cass, while also trying to tackle the Knights, who sat sixth in runs scored, but third in runs allowed, which was an odd mix for a Knights team of recent mintage. The Knights had swept the first series of the season in April.

Projected matchups:
Mark Roberts (4-3, 3.46 ERA) vs. Estevan Delgado (2-4, 3.84 ERA)
Rin Nomura (5-3, 2.82 ERA) vs. Mike Cockcroft (3-4, 5.43 ERA)
George James (2-5, 4.89 ERA) vs. Jim Shannon (5-1, 2.08 ERA)

Left, right, right – also note the Knights sitting in dead last in home runs in the league. This was indeed no longer the Ruben Luna-led team of the last decade. Well, and Luna was a Gold Sock now, too…

Game 1
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – 3B Hereford – 1B Harenberg – RF Gomez – C Tovias – LF Morales – CF Mora – P Roberts
ATL: 3B A. Alvarez – SS Duling – 1B Tadlock – 2B Moroyoqui – LF C. Mendoza – RF G. Ramirez – CF Collado – C Tanzillo – P E. Delgado

Mark Roberts retired the side once on 28 pitches with four strikeouts, which was about the only good thing that happened in the first three innings. It started to rain lightly at first more or less as soon as the game was underway, and in both of his first two at-bats back from the DL, Alberto Ramos fouled out behind home plate. What spark! Then there was a rain delay of over an hour in the top of the fourth inning, which was certainly going to do Roberts so well…

Ramos reached on a Jesus Moroyoqui throwing error his third time around, going to second base leading off the fifth. He advanced to third on Tim Stalker's fly to Ray Collado, after which Hereford coaxed a walk from Delgado… and then was picked off first base. Harenberg, still useless, flew out to Chris Mendoza to strand a guy in scoring position for the third time in the game. Mendoza was also the first Knight to reach base, being nicked by Roberts with an 0-2 pitch in the bottom 5th. I'd say he leaned into it, but of course nobody calls that anymore… Top 6th, Rafael Gomez hit his second leadoff single in the game, then advanced on a groundout. Delgado walked Danny Morales in a full count, which ended his day. He then got to watch as Abel Mora singled up the middle against southpaw Alex Morin. Gomez went for home, drew a weak throw from Collado, and while he scored the first run of the game, the remaining Critters on the bases scurried into scoring position. The Knights came apart immediately and violently. Mark Roberts's fly to center was over Collado's head for a 2-run double, and the Coons' hurler advanced as Ramos grounded out, then scored on a Stalker single before the Knights made consecutive errors on 2-out grounders by Hereford and Harenberg before Gomez popped out, capping a 5-run inning.

Roberts' no-hit bid ended in the seventh on a Ron Tadlock double to left, which also put on the squeeze immediately, since Roberts had already begun the inning with a walk to Mike Duling. Roberts was clearly past his due date now; Moroyoqui singled in a run, and another one scored on Mendoza's sac fly, cutting the edge to 5-2. After a deep fly out by PH Nate Hall, Roberts was hauled in. Surginer got Collado to lift an easy one to Abel Mora to end the inning. But here were the Coons – scoring in retaliation! Ryan Allan had entered with Surginer in a double switch and led off the eighth with a single, then stole second. Ramos drew a walk from Jose Fuentes, who then balked the runners into scoring position. Stalker hit a clean RBI single, but when the Coons hoped for a decider from the middle of the order, they got a whiff from Rich Hereford, and a double play grounder from rampantly useless Kevin Harenberg. Stalker's throwing error put Chris Tanzillo on second base to begin the bottom 8th, but Surginer wiggled out of the unfortunate situation without conceding that runner, which was the last one the Knights got. 6-2 Coons. Stalker 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Gomez 3-4, BB; Roberts 6.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, W (5-3) and 1-3, 2B, 2 RBI;

Game 2
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – 3B Hereford – RF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – C Leal – CF Mora – LF Millan – P Nomura
ATL: RF M. Walker – SS Duling – 1B Tadlock – 2B Moroyoqui – CF N. Hall – 3B A. Alvarez – LF G. Ramirez – C V. Ayala – P Shannon

Omar Millan's 2-out RBI single in the second inning, which chased home Rafael Gomez for the first tally in the game, was his first useful appearance in quite a while. This was something you could build on, and Tim Stalker did with a 2-run homer to left in the following frame, collecting Alberto Ramos and his leadoff single, his first hit since coming off the DL. Rin Nomura continued to hold the Knights to precious little, even starving Nate Hall's leadoff double in the fifth inning with three groundouts that didn't get the Knights anywhere nice. And the offense sure thought he had that one banked, because they stopped hitting altogether by the middle innings. However, nothing could have been further from reality. While Nomura maintained a 3-hitter through six innings, Tadlock – always the scourge – opened the bottom 7th with a single, and Nomura then filled them up with a walk and another single. Ohl time! Granted, too much confidence in Ricky was unwarranted at this point. Like everybody else, he was struggling. Adrian Alvarez went down on strikes alright, but he then allowed runs to score on an RBI single by Mendoza, then a walk to Victor Ayala. Collado struck out, Walker grounded out, keeping the score a flimsy 3-2 through seven. Top 8th, facing righty Ed Blair the Coons had Ramos ground out before Stalker singled past Duling and Hereford reached on a Tadlock fumble. Here we had to bank on Rafael Gomez, because if he couldn't get through, Mr. Useless was sure to **** it all up. Gomez flew out to center, and Harenberg struck out, of course. Somehow, the Coons managed to give that 3-2 lead to Josh Boles despite all the odds. He started the ninth facing Nate Hall, rung him up, same with Alvarez, but then fell to 3-1 against Mendoza, a dangerous coonskinner if you allowed him to. Boles was unrelenting, with Mendoza putting the next pitch in play, a grounder near second base that Ramos ranged to successfully and threw Mendoza out at first to seal the deal. 3-2 Critters. Stalker 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Gomez 2-4; Millan 2-4, RBI; Nomura 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (6-3) and 1-3;

Game 3
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – 3B Hereford – RF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – C Tovias – CF Mora – LF Allan – P James
ATL: RF M. Walker – 3B A. Alvarez – 2B Moroyoqui – LF C. Mendoza – SS Tadlock – CF N. Hall – 1B Duling – C V. Ayala – P Cockcroft

There were subtle cracks in the ice under George James' hind paws, and while he began the game with a few goose eggs on the scoreboard, the Knights' hitting balls quite hard was also not going unnoticed by anybody. They remained unlucky, like in the third inning, where Jesus Moroyoqui's drive to deep left was caught by Ryan Allan in a wild tumble to end the inning. It also ended Allan's appearance as the rookie came out with an undisclosed injury, replaced by Millan.

No score through four, but the Coons squeezed something out of the fifth. Abel Mora got on to start the inning, stole second on a bad throw by Ayala, then went to third on a wild pitch by Cockcroft, who went on to walk Millan, and Millan went on to also steal second base against no throw by Ayala. James was suffocated in this prime RBI opportunity, but Alberto Ramos clubbed a ball up the middle and past the infielders for a 2-run single before becoming the third guy in the inning to steal a base. Two groundouts left him on base, and the Knights pulled one of the two runs right back in the bottom 5th thanks to a leadoff double by Ayala, who maneuvered around on groundouts.

While the liners were still whizzing past either ear of James, the Coons got a break in the seventh when Mark Walker dropped Mora's fly to begin the inning. The error led to a run when Walker couldn't catch up with Millan's drive to right that fell near the warning track for an RBI double, 3-1, but the top of the order choked with the runner in scoring position. The Coons kept listening for signs that James was about to get rolled over at the same time, and Moroyoqui's 410-footer with one out in the eighth was decided to be that sign. It cut the lead to 3-2, but Jeff Kearney got the second out with a K on Mendoza before McLin got Tadlock to ground out to Harenberg. No insurance run would come about, and Josh Boles came up for the ninth again with Hall up first, but the Knights went to Guadalupe Ramirez to pinch-hit. One pitch, one single, and then Boles fudged Duling's bunt to put the winning run on base as well. Ayala flew out to Gomez in shallow right, keeping the runners where they were, while old foe Trent Herlihy pinch-hit in the #9 hole. His grounder to Harenberg advanced those runners, but at least Boles would now face Mark Walker, who had been a black hole for the entire series AND was batting left-handed. And he struck out! 3-2 Furballs! Millan 1-1, BB, 2B, RBI; James 7.1 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, W (3-5) and 1-3;

Sweeeeep.

Raccoons (29-22) @ Titans (28-26) – June 2-4, 2028

The Coons came in just 2.5 games ahead of the Titans, so losing was not an option here! (Like, was it ever?) The Titans had recovered somewhat from their weakling offensive start to the season, now sitting seventh in runs scored in the league, while conceding the second-fewest runs with the best rotation hands down. The Critters had a 4-2 lead in the season series, they'd better somehow maintain!

Projected matchups:
Rico Gutierrez (4-1, 2.33 ERA) vs. Jeremy Waite (4-3, 2.08 ERA)
Kyle Anderson (1-1, 6.55 ERA) vs. Dave Dyer (1-2, 4.81 ERA)
Mark Roberts (5-3, 3.39 ERA) vs. Armando Gonzales (2-2, 4.33 ERA)

Of course, injuries had been a factor for the Titans, too. They were without five key players right now, including SP Dustin Wingo (0-1, 1.65 ERA) and lineup pieces Keith Leonard, Adam Corder, and Willie Vega. The rotation contained some replacements like Dyer, and all three pitchers we'd see were right-handers.

Game 1
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – 3B Hereford – RF Gomez – C Tovias – CF Mora – 1B Harenberg – LF Millan – P Gutierrez
BOS: CF Reichardt – 3B S. Williams – 1B B. Lloyd – LF Kuramoto – 2B R. West – SS Spataro – C A. Arias – RF Good – P Waite

Gutierrez, who couldn't deal with a lefty lineup the last time around, would face a mostly right-handed offering this time, so confidence was flying not very high right now. In any case, the Raccoons drew first blood with a solo homer to right-center off Abel Mora's bat in the second inning, but the Titans looked eager and able to soon overturn that score. They hit into a double play in the second inning, then got a 1-out triple out of Stephen Williams' gapper in the bottom 3rd. Bob Lloyd struck out in a full count against Rico, who then was dumb/lucky enough to have Yasuhiro Kuramoto line a ball right at Stalker for the final out. Portland would have a chance to add to their lead in the fifth inning, which began with an Omar Millan double and eventually saw the bases fill up with an intentional walk to Ramos and an unintentional walk to Hereford, but Gomez couldn't get his 2-1 drive to center past the everlasting pest Adrian Reichardt, and all runners were stranded…

The Titans had their own version of the bases loaded in the bottom 6th. Lloyd and Rhett West singled up the middle, and then Keith Spataro legged out an infield grounder to fill them up with only one out. Few smart options were available at this point, because Ricky Ohl was nowhere near reliable, and to be fair the writing was lighting up quite noticeably on the wall… or rather the scoreboard, with "RALLY!" flashing on the Titans' board. Gutierrez was left in against the right-handed .156 batter Alex Arias in the hope of getting at least one out and then have him retire Matt Good, the sole left-handed batting position player in there, to at least escape with a tie. He did better than that, getting Arias to chomp into a double play at 2-2, Ramos to Stalker to Harenberg. Portland had an answer in the seventh despite starting with outs by Millan and Gutierrez. Ramos drew a 2-out walk, and then the 2-3-4 batters rapped out straight singles against Jeremy Waite, the last two of those each plating a run to extend the lead to 3-0. Nevertheless, Rico got only one more out, a grounder to Stalker by Good on Gutierrez' 100th pitch of the game. PH Jon Perez singled up the middle, and with that Kevin Surginer replaced the starter and got easy fly outs from Reichardt and Williams to end the inning. The Titans made another five outs before getting somebody – Good – on base in the bottom 9th, a 2-out single off Josh Boles. PH John Jacobs hit another one, and suddenly Reichardt was up as the tying run. Boles got to 0-2, then had the ball put in play, but it was a comfy bouncer to Rich Hereford and was converted into the final out of the game. 3-0 Coons. Stalker 2-5; Mora 2-4, HR, RBI; Gutierrez 6.1 IP, 8 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K, W (5-1);

Game 2
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – 3B Hereford – RF Gomez – CF Mora – C Leal – 1B Harenberg – LF Millan – P Anderson
BOS: CF Reichardt – RF Good – 1B B. Lloyd – 3B S. Williams – 2B R. West – SS Spataro – LF Jacobs – C A. Arias – P Dyer

Kyle Anderson had been mildly terrible in his first two games off the DL and it didn't seem like much was gonna change in this contest, although the Titans' 1-0 lead in the bottom 1st was unearned. Tim Stalker had dropped a ball hit by Matt Good, and Williams doubled him in with two outs. The Coons had seen Ramos with a leadoff single in the first, only to get washed up on Stalker's double play *before* Hereford and Gomez got on base, too, then a leadoff double by Leal in the second that ended with three strikeouts against the bottom of the order. Ramos was on base again with a leadoff walk in the third, then swiped second base, his 10th bag of the season. Stalker's soft single moved him to third base, and he scored to tie the game on Hereford's grounder to Rhett West for a fielder's choice.

While the Titans clearly had Anderson by his baseballs, they also kept hitting into unlucky outs, like Rhett West's scorched line drive out to Millan to begin the fourth, one inning after they had hit into an inning-killing double play. Top 5th, Ramos reached base leading off for the third time in the game, now with a single, then scored to break the tie when Tim Stalker jammed a triple in the rightfield corner. The Titans elected to walk Hereford intentionally, but surrendered the Stalker run anyway on Gomez' sac fly that extended the score to 3-1 before the inning fizzled out. The following inning Kevin Harenberg hit a leadoff single up the middle to end an *0-for-22* stretch (gasp!). He would come around to score on a 2-out single by Ramos, 4-1, while the Titans' Rhett West hit into another rally-killing double play in the bottom of the inning, that had started with a leadoff single to left by Bob Lloyd. The Coons dragged Anderson through seven innings, with his final ledger looking much better than the actual mound work, then turned to the pen. Jeff Kearney seemed(!) to recover from his woeful April, getting PH Johnny Stuckey and Matt Good, the latter on a fielder's choice, while we never expected him to retire Reichardt, who ended up walking and being forced out. McLin replaced Kearney after that – again, right on schedule – and served up a booming homer to Bob Lloyd that got the life back into the home crowd – and that had not been part of the Coons' cunning plan for the late innings. When Williams singled, the Coons yanked McLin for Ohl and hope for four outs from him. West grounded out to Ramos for the most urgently needed out. No insurance came about in the top of the ninth, with the bottom beginning with Spataro's fly to Mora. Jacobs went down in a full count, and Alex Arias flew out to an inrushing Gomez to end the game. 4-3 Furballs! Ramos 3-4, BB, RBI; Stalker 2-4, BB, 3B, RBI; Leal 2-4, 2B; Anderson 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, W (2-1);

Again, Anderson's line looks a hell of a lot better than he actually was. There was a whole lot to be worried about in this game, but sometimes you take the W and shut up in 40 words or less.

Just this: the Elks were losing two in a row to the Crusaders as well, which meant that most of the CL North was now bunched up at the .500 mark again and the Coons had a 4 1/2 game lead going into Sunday!

Also, this: after three days, the Druid divined that Ryan Allan (.333, 0 HR, 1 RBI) had a strained hammy and required DL time. Six weeks is the word. We would try to plug the hole with Juan Magallanes.

Game 3
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – 3B Hereford – LF Gomez – CF Mora – C Tovias – 1B Harenberg – RF Booker – P Roberts
BOS: CF Reichardt – 3B S. Williams – 1B B. Lloyd – LF Kuramoto – 2B R. West – SS Spataro – C A. Arias – RF Good – P A. Gonzales

Worryingly, the first three outs the Titans made were all on or at the edge of the warning track, which was so not a good sign with Mark Roberts… who then drove in the first run of the game with a 2-out single, cashing Elias Tovias and the latter's 1-out double, in the second inning. The following frame saw a 2-out rally after Stalker and Hereford came up with nothing initially. Gomez doubled, scored on Mora's single, and then Tovias hit another double that presented Harenberg with two runners in scoring position. He snorted, again, although this time Reichardt was to blame, because Kevin gave a 3-2 pitch a hell of a ride to left-center, and was still denied. Cursingly, I shook my clenched fist at Reichardt as he playfully tossed the ball over to Kuramoto as the Titans vacated the field.

Soon enough, Mark Roberts vacated the 2-0 lead with a 3-hit, 1-walk bottom 4th that saw the Titans, down 2-1, have them loaded up with one out and Matt Good at the plate, and Good unleashed a mighty drive to deep, deep right. Now Jaden Booker was the spoiler, making an unlikely catch at the warning track, but of course there was no keeping Rhett West on third base. Game tied, Roberts struck out Gonzales to end the inning, but it was a brand new ballgame now. It remained that brand new ballgame for three innings of mostly nothing before the Coons reached an impasse in the eighth. Hereford had led off with a single, but had been forced out by Mora's grounder. Tovias then singled, offering another RBI chance to … Harenberg. The problem was that the Titans were still hanging on to Gonzales, because why would they not? Harenberg sucked the leather off the baseballs, and if they brought a southpaw, they were liable to see Danny Morales pinch-hit. Was there any platoon advantage to be gained with Harenberg at all? He batted. He grounded out to short.

Mark Roberts did his royal best, but could not get a win. He could still get a loss though following Lloyd's 1-out single in the bottom 8th that was followed by Surginer replacing the tired Roberts after 108 pitches, some of them quite dangerous. Kuramoto singled in a full count, after which marvelous plays by first Stalker against West, and then Ramos against Spataro served to keep the tie in one piece. Both shagged quick bouncers that were not exactly near them to strand the Titans' pair of runners in scoring position for which they got fist bumps right away by a Kevin Surginer that looked like he KNEW he had no business with the good outcome. It also started to rain in this inning, and the slippery grass soon led into a Stephen Williams error in the ninth that put Morales on when he pinch-hit against southpaw Ben Marx. Nothing came of that, with Ramos and Stalker making outs, and now it was about delaying the Titans even more than the weather already did as it gave everybody a 45-minute cooldown before the bottom 9th, after which Dan McLin retired the side, including Mike Bednarski's moldy carcass, to extend the game to extras, where Rich Hereford knelt the first pitch by Marx for a leadoff double up the leftfield line. C'mon boys! Tear him up! The Titans walked Gomez intentionally, and when the Coons had Abel Mora bunt, Marx took the ball for a force at third base. Tovias then smacked into a double play. Whee! Nothing major happened until the 12th, with McLin and Fleischer holding the fort for Portland. Ramos opened the 12th with a single off Ryan Corkum, then stole second base when Tim Stalker whiffed on a hit-and-run, but at least got subtly into Arias' way doing so. After Stalker flew out, Hereford was walked intentionally, and Gomez smacked into the obvious double play opportunity. The 13th saw Mike Stank, another southpaw, pitching against Mora, who singled, and Tovias, who singled. That brought up Harenberg, and this time the Coons pulled the trigger. Armando Leal batted, ran a full count, then lobbed a single into right-center. Mora was waved around aggressively against Johnny Stuckey's arm and slid in barely safe, with the trailing runners gaining the extra base. Booker grounded out poorly to keep them there, after which Butch Gerster hit for Fleischer and knocked out Stank with an RBI single into rightfield. Pitching change, righty Rafael Urbano coming in to stop the bleeding, and indeed he retired Ramos (pop) and Stalker (groundout) without any more damage incurred by Boston. Portland sent Boles into the bottom 13th, which began with a 4-pitch walk to Williams. Lloyd popped out before Kuramoto laced a double to left. But the Titans seemed to forget that there was not some weak-armed weasel in leftfield, but Rafael Gomez, and they sent Williams for home plate, only to have him thrown out! Boles rung up West to seal a bitter sweep for the Titans. 4-2 Critters!! Hereford 2-5, BB, 2B; Gomez 2-5, BB, 2B; Mora 2-6, RBI; Tovias 4-6, 2 2B; Leal (PH) 1-1, RBI; Gerster (PH) 1-1, RBI; Roberts 7.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K and 1-3, RBI; McLin 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K; Fleischer 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, W (1-0);

Another moral victory: Adrian Reichardt went 0-for-6!

In other news

May 30 – The Condors worry they could have lost RF/LF Mike Matias (.233, 5 HR, 27 RBI) for the season with a torn back muscle.
May 31 – SFW LF/CF Jeff Wadley (.274, 5 HR, 41 RBI) has a 20-game hitting streak following the decisive blow, a ninth-inning walkoff homer off WAS SP Johnny Nelson (4-2, 2.17 ERA) in a 1-0 Warriors win.
May 31 – LVA SP Joel Trotter (2-1, 4.05 ERA) is out for the season with shoulder inflammation.
May 31 – WAS C David Lessman (.351, 7 HR, 40 RBI) fails concussion protocols after a knock to the head and is placed on the DL. The Capitals hope to get him back within 15 days.
June 2 – ATL OF Mark Walker (.261, 4 HR, 19 RBI) lands five base hits (all singles) and a bases-loaded walk in a 16-7 trouncing of the Aces at the bats of the Knights.
June 3 – The Stars end SFW LF/CF Jeff Wadley's (.280, 5 HR, 45 RBI) hitting streak in a 7-2 Warriors win.

Complaints and stuff

(toasts with Slappy) Sweep week! Sweep week! (Chad wiggles the antlers of the stuffed toy Elk) Chad, put that thing away, they come in to start our homestand!

Yes, it was a slow motion sweep, but 6-0 is 6-0 and it's hard to talk that all the way down. – Cristiano, stop raining on the parade. – Cristiano, nobody wants to hear that by Pythagorean record we are only half a game ahead of the Titans. – Cristiano, I warn you! – Cristiano, I will have your wheelchair's push rims coated with olive oil again if you don't shut up!

We scored 23 runs this week but allowed only 11, which is what good teams do. They don't overkill on the wins and save runs for the tight games. Or something like that. I am sure you can spin 23 runs in six games into a positive *somehow*. We are still pushing 4.3 runs per game…

Kevin Harenberg is legendarily dismal though. He is on a 2-for-32 / 6-for-64 spell. It is baffling. He's got an appointment at the witch doctor first thing Monday morning. No, the Druid doesn’t do witchcraft, he does nature rituals. Totally different stuff. But I have been looking into the archives, trying to find a player that sucked as bad for 200 at-bats in a season and could not find much. Kevin DeWald had a .545 OPS across three seasons of 238 at-bats. 80s shortstop Victor Castillo came close with a .540 OPS across two seasons of roughly 300 at-bats. At least Castillo was still worth positive WAR. Harenberg ain't (-0.3).

Thank goodness WAR is a useless stat!

After a 20-30 start to the season, the Scorpions canned their manager and GM on Wednesday, which was sure a timely decision to part with the key front office personnel to what could have been a first-rank dynasty if the Scorpions of earlier in the decade hadn't made it an art form to choke in the FLCS against inferior opposition.

Elsewhere in the Federal League, Topeka's Tadasu Abe (7-2, 2.33 ERA) knocked out another Pitcher of the Month ribbon with a 4-0, 1.79 ERA month of May. Abe, 36, is the last piece of the Coons' 1-2-3 punch from about a decade ago that is still active following Jonny Toner's retirement and fading into darkness. Hector Santos had already fallen out of baseball five years ago at age 33.

Fun Fact: On June 3, 1999 the Falcons' Hubert Green hit for the cycle against the Raccoons, who got routed, 10-2.

Hubert Green was a career Falcon, twice an All Star, and also won a Gold Glove. He did in doubles, leading the CL twice (1998, 2004) in that category, as well as once in runs scored. He hit 30+ doubles for ten straight seasons and 520 for his career, along with a .256/.360/.401 slash, 156 HR, and 995 RBI. He also stole 190 bases, but got not much love on the Hall of Fame ballot, dropping off his second year on it.