Markakis and the Bambino… and another win

Lots of things annoy me about Chip, some of which annoy many of you (‘Ynoa still needs two more outs to qualify for the win’) and some of which are unique to me (‘Let’s see if Josh can induce a ground ball double play here.’) But among my new annoyances this year is the number of times (I think we’re at about 15) he has discussed Nick Markakis passing Babe Ruth on the doubles list. Let me be clear: (a) Nick Markakis has a hit a lot of doubles in a long distinguished career; (b) Babe Ruth was an extraordinarily good baseball player; but (c) Hitting more doubles than Babe Ruth does not make you a good comparable for Babe Ruth. 58 batters (now including Markakis) have hit more doubles than Babe Ruth. Many of them are in the Hall of Fame, but 20 are not. Of those 20, some are special cases like Pete Rose and Barry Bonds, or not yet eligible like Alex Rodriguez, Adrian Beltre, David Ortiz, and Carlos Beltran, but three are active: Albert Pujols, Miguel Cabrera and Robinson Cano. They are all very, very good, and they have something in common: they are all better than Nick Markakis. As was Babe Ruth.

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