Lazaro Lowndes has long been considered an almost sure future Hall of Famer but yesterday, in collecting the 3,000th hit of his illustrious career, he pretty much cemented his first ballot HOF induction.
He joins Felix Lopez as the only other WPK player to reach this mark. His 500 doubles are the most in a career for any WPK player as are his 210 career triples. He is third all-time in stolen bases with 548 although he also easily ranks #1 in career times caught stealing with 361. (His nearest competitor in this category is Felix Lopez, who has been caught stealing 239 times while having the most career stolen bases with 655.)
At age 35 Lowndes has a good chance to surpass Lopez as the hit king before his career is over and while he certainly isn't as great a player as he was during his MVP caliber peak, having moved from center field to left field he remains a plus fielder and one of the most gifted base stealers and base runners in the game, rarely strikes out, and should continue to pick up his share of hits.