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Cubs Teammates Compete To Be Next To 300 |
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Written by Jim Rednour
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Monday, 31 May 2010 |
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The first and only teammates to hit No. 300 back-to-back were Chicago White Sox sluggers Jermaine Dye and Paul Konerko (who currently leads the American League with 13-and-counting home runs in 2010 and has 339 career long balls). On April 13, 2009 the duo became the first MLB teammates to hit their 300th career home runs BACK-TO-BACK. This landmark achievement was something that no other power-hitting duo has ever done in the long history of major leagues.
Not Yankees’ teammates Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris (who pushed each
other to excel during the great home run chase of 1961).
Not
Braves’ teammates Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews (who hit the most home
runs as a duo - 869).
Not Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig (who drove in
an avalanche of runs (2627 during their 13 years together).
Dye
led off the second inning of the game at Tigers’ Stadium by cranking a
2-1 pitch from Zach Miner over the wall in left-center field. Then,
before his teammates even sat down in the dugout, Konerko smashed
Miner’s full-count offering over the left field barrier to give Chicago a
2-0 lead enroute to a 10-4 win over their perennial rivals the Detroit
Tigers.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it's the first –
and only – time teammates hit century milestone home runs of at least
300 in the same game.
Cubs Teammates Compete To Be Next To 300
300th
HRs Back-To-Back – Part 2? Chicago’s Cubs teammates Derrek Lee and
Alfonso Soriano could potentially become only the second teammates in
MLB history to surpass the 300 HR landmark back-to-back (or at least in
the same inning, since they rarely follow each other in the batting
order). As of the writing of this article (May 27), both D. Lee and
“Fonzie” were sitting at 299. Longtime California Angel Tim Salmon
retired just one long ball shy of the 300 mark… something neither Lee
nor Soriano plan to do. With prevailing winds sending so many baseballs
out of the Friendly Confines and onto Waveland or Sheffield Avenues,
Wrigley Field faithful could witness a historical redux sometime in
early June 2010. |
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