Almost a decade after a horrific July 4 ankle injury that almost forced him out of baseball, Brewers catch Jason Kendall did something that only seven other full-time catchers have done.
You guessed it…he got his 2000th base knock last night against St. Louis.
And even though I failed to mention him in March’s National League Central Milestone Preview, the veteran is now closing in on Hall of Famers Johnny Bench (2048 career hits) and Gary Carter (2092) on the career list.
“When I snapped my ankle 10 years ago, a lot of people said that I would never come back and be the same player,” Kendall said. “This is very special.”
Down in Atlanta, Todd Helton wasn’t as fortunate…or was he?
The future Hall of Famer (yup, I said it) lined one at shortstop Yunel Escobar who, after failing to make the play, was saddled with the error instead of the hit.
“All I can do is hit it,” the Rockies hit king said. “I’ve never seen that ball called an error before. I guess I should have hit it higher or somewhere else.”
In hopes of getting the ruling overturned, the Rockies requested a meeting with the game’s official scorer. Any review of the decision could take up to 24 hours.
So…I guess we’ll all wait and see.
Of course, if Helton and his .429 batting average against tonight’s Braves starter Jair Jurrjens have anything to say about it…chances are a legitimate Number 2000 might happen sometime in his first couple of plate appearances.
***UPDATE***
In the third inning of Tuesday night’s contest versus the Braves, Helton singled off Jurrjens and left no doubt as to whether or not he had eclipsed 2000 hits.
With the single, Helton became the 255th player to reach 2000, and the fourth active player to reach that milestone with one club. Two of the others were at Turner Field in Braves uniforms…Garret Anderson (who had 2368 hits for the Angels) and Chipper Jones (who entered Tuesday with 2310 for the Braves).
The active leader for one team is Derek Jeter, who entered Tuesday with 2,577 hits for the Yankees.
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