Bay Area Home Run Leaders

It's the baseball offseason.  I'm a retired student between semesters (still hoping to pull a Favre at some point).  Consequently, I have some free time.  Hence this post.

Here are the top 50 career home run totals for players as a San Francisco Giant, Oakland Athletic, or both.  So the homers Mays hit as a New York Giant don't count, nor do all the home runs Dale Murphy hit at Candlestick.  I was definitely surprised at some of the players who made the list, and how high or low certain players ranked (Jim Ray Hart hit more homers as a Giant than Kevin Mitchell did?  Really?).  Feel free to share this list.  These stats are through the 2011 season.

1. Barry Bonds            586
2. Willie McCovey      469
3. Willie Mays             459
4. Mark McGwire       363
5. Reggie Jackson       268                              
6. Jose Canseco           254
7. Matt Williams          247
8. Eric Chavez             230
9. Orlando Cepeda      226
10. Jason Giambi          198
11. Sal Bando               192
12. Bobby Bonds          186
13. Dave Kingman       177
14. Will The Thrill        176
15. Jeff Kent                 175
16. Rickey Henderson   167
17. Jack Clark               163                            
18. Miguel Tejada         160
19. Jim Ray Hart           157
20. Dwayne Murphy     153
21. Kevin Mitchell        145
22. Rich Aurilia             143
23. Darrell Evans          142
24. Terry Steinbach       132
25. J. T. Snow              124
26. Matt Stairs               122
27. Gene Tenace          121
28. Robby Thompson  119
29. Joe Rudi                 116
30. Tony Armas           111
31. Tom Haller            107
32. Dave Henderson   104
33. Chili Davis            101
34. Jeffrey Leonard      99
35. Jack Cust                94
36. Carney Lansford    94
37. Felipe Alou            93
38. Bob Brenly            90
39. Wayne Gross         88
40. Geronimo Berroa   87
41. Mark Ellis              86
42. Mike Davis            84
43. Ray Durham          83
44. Nick Swisher         80
45. Jim Davenport       77
46. Scott Brosius         76
47. Ben Grieve            76
48. Chris Speier           70
49. Jermaine Dye         64
50. Gary Matthews      64

Notables who played for both teams (in order of Bay Area HR total):

Willie McCovey           SF: 469, Oak: 0
Orlando Cepeda         SF: 226, Oak: 0
Dave Kingman            SF: 77, Oak: 100, Tot: 177
Miguel Tejada        SF: 4 (yes, 4), Oak: 156, Tot: 160
Kevin Mitchell             SF: 143, Oak: 2, Tot: 145
Dave Henderson        Oak: 104, SF: 0,
Felipe Alou                SF: 85, Oak: 8, Tot: 93
Ray Durham               SF: 77, Oak: 6, Tot: 83
Gary Thomasson        SF: 38, Oak: 5, Tot: 43
Stan Javier                 SF: 17, Oak: 23, Tot: 40
Mike Aldrete              SF: 14, Oak: 18, Tot: 32
Joe Morgan                SF: 22, Oak: 6, Tot: 28
Ernie Riles                  SF: 18, Oak: 5, Tot: 23
Jesus Alou                  SF: 18, Oak: 3, Tot: 21
Dusty Baker                SF: 3, Oak: 18, Tot: 21
Matty Alou                  SF: 12, Oak: 1, Tot: 13

Just a few observations:

• Giving Kingman to Oakland, there are 26 Athletics and 24 Giants, but each team has 5 in the top 10.
• Eric Chavez never, ever would have crossed my mind as a possible top 10.
• I'm pleasantly surprised to see The Thrill one spot ahead of Jeff Kent.
• Rickey Henderson ahead of so many guys we think of as "sluggers" is just one more reminder of how awesome he was.
• Dwayne Murphy at #20 made me smile more than any other surprise on the list.
• Mitchell and Aurilia both had 143 homers as Giants, but Kevin hit 2 for Oakland in 1998, his last season in the big leagues.  Not counted are the 7 homers Mitchell hit for the Sonoma County Crushers in 2000.
• Do you think even Orlando Cepeda remembers he had 3 AB's (0-for-3) with Oakland in 1972?

Did I make any mistakes?  Let me know!  Raw data from the glorious baseball-reference.com.

Attention Brian Sabean

Re: Angel Pagan, Eli Whiteside, Carlos Beltran, Hiroyuki Nakajima, etc: 

The Dark Side Of Christmas Songs: A Non-Sports Post

I apologize for the lack of posting on this blog, and for the non-sports topic of this post, but someone has to say something about the attack on morality and high standards that returns every December like cousin Eddie and his RV.  Alarmingly, there are Christmas songs, widely embraced as part of a traditional celebration, but are, in fact, permeating our minds, and the minds of our children, with unsavory and dangerous ideas.

Please, take the time to read through this post, share it with your friends, family, and social networks, and then take appropriate actions regarding your own holiday music collection.

Winter Wonderland: In the meadow we can build a snowman, and pretend that he is Parson Brown. He'll say "Are you married?" we'll say "No, man. But you can do the job when you're in town."  There's so much wrong with this.  I mean, I get having a crush on the Parson.  He's probably a charismatic guy in a position of authority.  I can forgive that.  But now you're building a snowman, and pretending it's him?  How much detail are you putting in to the sculpting of this snowman?  Because there is a level of anatomic correctness that definitely crosses a line.  And then when he asks if you're single, you admit you are, but propose that he play the role of husband "when he's in town?"  That's sick.  What kind of snowman fantasy are you living in?

Even Rufio knows this
song is messed up.

Baby It's Cold Outside: Check out the back and forth conversation between a man and woman in this song.  Well maybe just a half a drink more (Put some music on while I pour), The neighbors might think (Baby, it's bad out there), Say, what's in this drink (No cabs to be had out there), and later I ought to say no, no, no, sir (Mind if I move closer), At least I'm gonna say that I tried (What's the sense in hurting my pride?), and in the next section I simply must go (Baby, it's cold outside), The answer is no (Ooh darling, it's cold outside).  Hey, jack, she said "the answer is 'no'."  And "what's in this drink?"  Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's called a rufie (no, Steve, not "rufio." That's something entirely different).  How does this song not end with Detective Benson and the whole SVU showing up?

Frosty The Snowman: He led them down the streets of town, Right to the traffic cop, And he only paused a moment when, He heard him holler "Stop!"  Yeah, that's a little something that's known as "resisting arrest."  Don't we already have enough problems with people not respecting law enforcement officers without our holiday songs encouraging rebellion?

We Wish You A Merry Christmas: Oh, bring us a figgy pudding; Oh, bring us a figgy pudding; Oh, bring us a figgy pudding and a cup of good cheer.  We won't go until we get some; We won't go until we get some; We won't go until we get some, so bring some out here.  This is the opposite of what I want to happen at my house on Christmas.  First off, "figgy pudding?"  That just sounds nasty.  More troubling, though, is the attitude of these Christmas guests.  First they make demands, and then they refuse to leave until those demands are met.  The last thing I need at the end of the big day is a group of people Occupying my Living Room.  What has happened to us as a society if part of our holiday preparations now include stocking up on riot gear and pepper spray?

Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer:  This song has never been welcome around any grandmothers I have known, but it's not just that she gets run over, it's what precedes that tragedy.  She'd been drinking too much eggnog, And we begged her not to go. But she forgot her medication, and she staggered out the door into the snow.  This family is the very definition of "dysfunctional."  First off, nobody is paying attention to the dangerous combination of the alcohol content of eggnog and the grandmother's medication?  A lot of those bottles have warning labels on them, and for a good reason.  Second, on Christmas Grandma skips her medication entirely?  So she's drunk, off her medications (for who knows what physical or psychological ailments), and she's barely ambulatory ("... staggered out the door"), but the family is satisfied that they've done their part by begging her "not to go."  I'm surprised there aren't more verses to this song, with things like "Uncle Bob wrapped his car around a telephone pole after we asked him for his keys and he said 'no'" or "someone should have mentioned to little Jimmy that it's a bad idea to take your new electronic toys into the bathtub."


So there you go.  Five "celebratory" Christmas songs that are actually destroying the foundation of good and decent people and families.  Continue to listen to these songs in your home at your own risk, and if your kids turn out to be drunken, demanding, disrespectful snowman fetishists, don't come crying to me.