Hello Baseball Fans,
An update has been a long time coming here baseball fans. The calendar has already flipped to the fifth month and the MLB season is approaching the one-fifth mark, so we here at VFTD thought it would be appropriate to recognize the number 5. Afterall, five is a lot of things. It is May. It is today.
Five is bigger than four, yet smaller than six. Neatly, you can double five and get a perfect ten. Or square it and get a quarter of a hundred. On the ball diamond, five is the third baseman, which doesn’t exactly add up. Perhaps it would have worked out better for 5 if there were five bases with 5 basemen. Alas, home plate has 5 sides. No wonder then, that the pentagon is the true first and last base. And if the plate is used twice, that would make 5 bases rather than four. There are nine players and that makes 5 the middle character of them all, whether in the field or in the lineup. And the fifth batter typically protects the fourth hitter from receiving too many poor pitches deemed unworthy of a mighty swing or hack. Hey, what are big brothers for?!
Not surprisingly, twenty-three players have worn 5 for at least ten MLB seasons. Why is that not a surprise? Well, 23’s digits add up to 5 of course. And two of those 23 ballers wore 5 for the aforementioned perfect amount of seasons as in two fives put together. Yes, Geoff Jenkins of the Milwaukee Brewers and Minnesota Twin, Roy Smalley, each managed 5 for ten years. And a most popular Milwaukee player donned the number 5 for only his very first MLB season. Yes, Hank Aaron wore number 5 in ’54 before opting for two smaller 4’s on the remainder of his famous Braves and future Brewers jerseys. And not to worry, Hammerin’ Hank holds the title for highest career WAR total by any player to ever wear 5 for at least one season at 142.8 (and seventh best all-time).
To prove that the world is just shy of perfect, sixteen players, which is one more than 1-5, have worn 5 for 5 seasons. Of those on the list, only one name was immediately recollected here. Kevin Kouzmanoff. Naturally, his parents named him with a 5-lettered first name. Even more fittingly, he played for 5 teams (Indians, Padres, A’s, Rockies, Rangers) at two positions in his seven year career. And one of his positions doesn’t have a number, i.e. designated hitter. And we don’t even have to tell you his regular fielding position. You already know it. Yes, the hot corner, the third baseman a.k.a. 5th fielder in your score-books! At the bat, Kouzamanoff struck out exactly 5 hundred times in his career and was hit by a pitch exactly 5-zero times to boot.
Surely, plenty of Hall of Famers have worn number 5. Jeff Bagwell will be the newest member when he gets inducted later this summer. Perhaps Bagwell will join the group of seven players who wore 5 and have the number present on their HOF plaques. This group consists of Johnny Bench (catching and slugging dynamo), Lou Boudreau (of 1940s shortstop-manager and defensive shifting fame), George Brett (number 5 in the field), Joe DiMaggio (retired at #5 on HR list behind Ruth, Foxx, Ott, and Gehrig), Hank Greenberg (5 time all-star and career OPS of 1.017), Travis Jackson (shortstop and number 5 in field for 1920s and 30s New York Giants), and Brooks Robinson, who not only holds the record for seasons by number 5 at a whopping 21 (two more than Brett and four more than Bench), but is widely considered one of, if not the best number 5 fielders of all time at the hot corner. It’s only right!
Finally, here are some thoughts of a current number 5 who will surely join the HOF ranks some day. As a youngster, he too, was often a number 5 at position 5 playing third for the St. Louis Cardinals. Currently, he’s an Angel and just one home run shy of being 5 away from joining the 600 HR Club. He has 1,840 RBI and amazingly for a power hitter, especially in this era, he has 143 MORE BBs than K’s at 1221 to 1078. And with another 143 hits and those additional six home runs, he will become the sixth member of the 5-Hundred Homer/3,000 Hit Club. You know his name, Albert Pujols.
That’s all for now, have a Day out there Number 5!
Later Baseball Fans.