Three Baseball Milestones

In the last week, Alex Rodriguez became the youngest player to hit 500 home runs, Tom Glavine won his 300th game, and Barry Bonds broke Hank Aaron's hallowed home run record.

Because A-Rod and Barry are both jerks, I won't say much more about those guys, except to point out that Barry's record-breaking home run ball was caught by a fella from Queens who was wearing a Jose Reyes jersey. Sweet.

But this 300 wins thing is happening less and less it seems. There's even some speculation that Tommy Gun, the 23rd to join the list of pitchers who accomplished the feat, might be the last to do so.

And I tell you what: when I think about what it takes to win 300 games, my mind gets just a tad blown. You have to win 15 games a year across a span 20 years, or 20 games across 15 years, or any number of other equally impressive math equations.

You've gotta stay healthy, you've gotta play for a team (or teams) that give you run support, and you have to be not only good but one of the best for two-plus decades. And when I think about it like that I don't see how anyone has ever done it. I mean, Cy Young won 511 games, but he was playing primarily against wood nymphs, I think.

Way to go, Tommy Gun. I know that at heart you're an Atlanta Braves man, but I'm happy you've been a Met during the waning years of your career. If you could help them win a World Series this year, you could really retire on a high note.