The driving force
Rangers' Gonzalez at least as impressive as homer hitters
Posted: Tuesday June 30, 1998 11:19 AM
FARGO, North Dakota (CNN/SI) -- While everyone else worries about 61 home
runs and who can break Roger Maris' record, Texas Rangers slugger
Juan
Gonzalez has his sights set on another milestone -- Hack Wilson's 190
RBIs in a season.
The man his teammates call “Igor” has gone about his job this season
quietly -- as quietly as he can -- with some eye-popping success.
At his current pace, Gonzalez will hit the All-Star break (the game is next
Tuesday) with 103 RBIs. Through 81 games (the real halfway point), Gonzalez
has 96 RBIs, putting him on pace for 192 this season.
It’s an amazing start, one of the most amazing in recent memory. But
Gonzalez, who drove in 144 runs two years ago and 131 last season, is not
getting nearly the attention that Mark McGwire,
Sammy Sosa, Ken Griffey
Jr. and the others who are chasing Maris are getting.
Now, the home run is a beautiful thing. But hitting homers doesn’t
necessarily coincide with winning. When McGwire homers, for instance, the
St. Louis
Cardinals are just 16-15.
The Rangers -- granted, they have a better record as a team -- are 30-16
when Gonzalez has an RBI.
When you look at what it takes for a team to win, driving in runs is at
least as important as hitting home runs. Lots of guys have 20-25 homers and
still don’t drive in 100 runs.
But then you have Gonzalez, who has 24 homers and close to 100 RBIs, all
before the break. It’s unbelievable.
The guy is doing it all. He’s hitting for power, he’s driving in runs, and
he’s hitting for average (he was hitting .297 through Monday’s games).
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Juan Gonzalez quietly pursues the record for RBIs in a season (AP) | |
Is he a triple crown threat? We probably can’t say that. But he sure is
delivering for his team when the Rangers need it.
In a day when the pitching is diluted and there’s a huge emphasis on
offense, we could see both Maris’ home run record and Wilson’s RBI record
fall.
Which is more impressive?
Well, obviously, both are pretty hard to do. The question is: Where would
you want to put the emphasis, if it were your team?
If I could have a guy who could drive me in 130-140 RBIs, and could
guarantee me that for four or five years, I’m going to take that guy every
time.
The 6-4-3 with Ozzie Smith: The big shakeup in Los Angeles
continues.
Tommy Lasorda is back as general manager of the Dodgers, which is a good
thing. Tommy is a Dodger. When you have been an institution with an
organization like Lasorda has been with the Dodgers, you deserve to have a
say.
Tommy has a good idea of talent, and he’s not afraid to make a move he
thinks will make the team better. But it’s all about who you surround
yourself with. Whether all these moves are good or not -- the trading of Mike Piazza and
Hideo Nomo,
the firing of Fred Claire and manager Bill Russell -- it’s too early to
tell.
One thing is for sure. If the Dodgers don’t start playing better soon, the
shakeup will continue.
Ozzie Smith is the baseball analyst for CNN/SI, the 24-hour sports news
network from CNN and Sports Illustrated. His column appears weekly
exclusively on CNNSI.com.
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