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March 21, 2005

Roberto Alomar Calls It Quits

Within Spitting Distance of the Hall of Fame

by Jay Jaffe

Roberto Alomar hung up his spikes on Saturday, ending a fantastic career. While the end was rather ignominious--making two errors in one inning of a spring training game on Friday while wearing the colors of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in pursuit of a contract less than twice the minimum salary--and the decline which preceded it downright precipitous, Alomar's resume deserves a quick review before he heads off into the sunset, lest anybody forget what a fine player he was.

For the better part of his 17 seasons, Alomar was nothing less than the gold standard for second basemen, a championship-caliber all-around threat who could:

• Hit for average: a switch-hitter with a career .300 figure, 2,724 hits and the active lead in singles (1,930) when he retired

• Display good plate discipline: a career .371 OBP, and one walk for every 10.1 plate appearances

• Show some pop: a career .448 SLG and 210 home runs, with a high of 24 dingers

• Wreak havoc on the basepaths: 474 steals with a season high of 55, all done at an 80.6% clip. In his three years in Cleveland, he swiped 106 bags while being caught only 16 times, an 86.9% success rate.

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