ESPN graphic: "The Could Have Beens"

Most recently, the guy who comes to mind is Joba Chamberlain, what with the "Joba rules" and how dominant he was out of the gate for title-contenders and then just has bounced around due to injuries and some off-the-field issues. Pedro Guerrero was also a stud who had great years and wore out his welcome. How about Rashad Mendenhall, who retired healthy at 26.

 

No. 1 on the list of could-have-beens:

 

Forgive me if someone already used that gag. I didn't want to flip through eight pages to see.

 

Also, Chiefs running back Joe Delaney, who was a Pro Bowler in KC and died drowning to save a child's life. He'd only played two seasons and in his rookie year averaged 4.8 ypc.

 

Projecting Babe Ruth's home run totals if he wasn't injured lead me to think of Ted Williams and his time in the service. He missed three full years when he was hitting about 36 HRs/year. He missed parts of two years when he was hitting about 30 HRs/year. He could have been around 675 when he retired after hitting 29 home runs with a .451 OBP in 1960.

 

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How about Willie Mays? Loses two seasons to the military as well as playing the bulk of his career in home parks not conducive to the long ball, Candlestick and the Polo Grounds.

Ruth also had a substance problem. He enjoyed a drink now and then, and there was Prohibition.

 

I recall Neyer piece a long time ago (when he was first at ESPN.com) in which he looked at Mays home/road splits and found it wasn't very significant. 335 home and 325 away. I don't know if there is some adjustment for typical h/r splits to be made, but the raw numbers don't bear out the bad home field theory.

 

Reminds me of Hideki Irabu the "fat pussy Toad."



Not to be confused with "The Fat Tub of Goo," Terry Forster.

 

Goliath would have been the greatest of all time if not for some kid with a rock.

 

How about Jesus Christ, only lived till 33. No telling what kind of influence he could have had on carpentry, fishing, modern brewing methods and cross-water transportation.

 

Coulda lived to 90 and never figured out how to hit a curveball.