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 Is 400 a magic number?
Posted: Thursday April 22, 1999 01:29 PM
"How many home runs did Dave Kingman hit?" asks Dave (Hendu) Henderson. Over 400, I reply. "That many?" Yup. Hendu, whose face eternally looks as if he'd just caught a whiff of a really vicious cloud of intestinal gas, nods his head. "Well, anyone with that many homers has gotta be in the Hall of Fame. No question." We are in Anaheim's Edison Stadium, standing near the visitors clubhouse door. A couple of Seattle Mariners are nearby, stunned by Hendu's "Kingman for President" proclamation. Kong actually finished with 442 dingers -- the most any non-Hall of Famer has hit. He's also a career .236 batter, owner of 1,816 strikeouts, no fielding skills and -- perhaps worst of all -- the warmth and love of a wart-infested street rat. "Personality doesn't matter," says Henderson, a onetime Mariners outfielder turned TV color commentator. "If he has the numbers, he should be in." Kingman's name comes up because the topic is, of all things, Hall of Famers and potential Hall of Famers. Just recently, Tampa Bay's Jose Canseco hit his 400th career home run. Just recently, the Mets' John Franco recorded his 400th save. It was an oddly intense subject before last Friday's Angels-Mariners game -- what it takes to reach Cooperstown; whether Canseco and/or Franco deserve the honor. "John's gotta be in," said Mariners outfielder Butch Huskey, a former Mets teammate. "I mean, 400 saves. That's a whole lot of games to finish." Franco's that good? "He could make a game interesting," said Huskey, laughing. "Sometimes it'd be an adventure. But when he was on, there was no way to hit him. Hall of Fame -- no question about it." I talked to 20 or so players, most of whom spoke of Franco freely, then -- upon mentioning Sir Jose -- didn't want their names used. "Canseco has hit a lot of home runs," said one Mariner. "But what else? He has no defense. He's a DH. He's been in trouble a lot. You have to have the whole package to reach the Hall. Canseco's not even close." Added an Angel: "What has Canseco done, anyway?" It was a weird, Shooty Babbitt -esque moment -- people not just questioning baseball's first 40/40 man, but downright ripping his good name to shreds. Canseco, some forget, was a dominant presence in the late '80s, a -- gasp! -- much better all-around player than Mark McGwire. Sure, he drove a bit fast. Sure, he said some idiotic things. Sure, he beat up a couple o' people. But ... "He's never been responsible," said another Mariner. "It's like, A lot of talent, not much respect for it." Not Franco. The little guy from Queens was never gifted. A low draft pick. Struggled to make the Reds. Mediocre heat. Anonymous in the world of Gooses and Quizes, Ugueths and Dibbles. Now, he's three good seasons away from overtaking Lee Smith (473 saves) as baseball's alltime leader. "You've gotta put John in," said Huskey. "You just have to." Sports Illustrated staff writer Jeff Pearlman offers his unique view on baseball every week.
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