FanHouse LouGehrig

I don't know if you know this or not, but since he's commissioner of Major League Baseball, Bud Selig seems to think this gives him special privileges that nobody else in America is entitled to. Why, as commissioner of baseball he's not bound by the ex post facto laws of our society, which means he's allowed to suspend Alex Rodriguez for breaking rules that weren't yet in place.

If you enjoy old-timey baseball players, there's a pretty swell story in today's New York Times. Jack Curry catches up with the only two living players from the 1939 All-Star Game, played at Yankee Stadium. Lonny Frey and Bob Feller are both generous with stories about the old days. Each one falls into a stereotypical description of the former athlete.

Frey comes off as a lucky to be there sort of guy, both in his stories about the old days and, at 98, today. Feller, on the other hand, is a back in my day everything was better type who certainly feels no shame about sharing his thoughts on any topic.

Curry recalls that the honorary A.L. captain was Lou Gehrig. Two months after retirement and a week after the luckiest man alive speech, Gehrig didn't have long to live. He asked both players for their memories.

Frey said he remembered Gehrig's powerful words and felt sympathy for a fellow player. Feller said Gehrig's speech grew more powerful as the years passed. Regarding Gehrig saying he was the "luckiest man," Feller bluntly said: "He's wrong. I am. I'm still alive."

Take that, Iron Horse! He's not wrong. In the general scheme of things he's much luckier than Gehrig, I'm just a bit surprised that's actually the way he thinks about it.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups

Arizona Diamondbacks (20-8) vs. New York Mets (14-12) - 9:40PM Est.

There's no doubt about it, if Sloth from The Goonies weren't a fictional character and lived in the real world, his favorite baseball player would be Diamondbacks pitcher/slugger Micah Owings. Owings has only been in the bigs for a little over a year now, but he's already garnering comparisons to the legendary Babe Ruth.

Obviously, the comparisons are extremely immature, but it's easy to see why they're being made. After all, not only is Owings 4-0 on the season with a 3.48 ERA, but he may be the best hitter on the Diamondbacks as well. In 79 career big league at bats, Owings is hitting .354/.373/.671 with five homers and 18 runs driven in. In the entire history of baseball, of players who have had 75 career at bats, there are only four who have a higher career OPS than Owings' current 1.044: Barry Bonds, Lou Gehrig, Ted Williams, and of course, Babe Ruth.

It's been a pretty long-standing record now -- Joe DiMaggio hit for 56 straight games back in 1941 -- 66 years ago. Since DiMaggio's streak, only one player has even hit in 40 straight games -- Pete Rose who went for 44 straight in 1978. And no, this isn't just a slow sports day where I'm breaking out the bar discussions. This issue was raised by Giants outfielder Randy Winn, whose spectacular 20-game hitting streak gives him the right to speak about the challenge of hitting in 56 straight:

"Sure," he said. "Nobody thought Lou Gehrig's consecutive-games streak would be broken. A lot of people didn't think Babe Ruth's home-run marks would be broken and a lot of people didn't think Hank Aaron's mark would be broken. There are probably people who never thought Pete Rose would break the hits record, or that anyone would ever get 4,000 hits again. It seems that eventually all of those have fallen, so why not DiMaggio's?"

Dude, you got a third of the way to DiMaggio, and you're telling me it's going to fall? These days we're lucky if a player just makes his way into the lineup 56 straight games. To get at least a hit in each one? Lots of things in the game would have to change. I'm going to have to go ahead and say no, this isn't going down.

It's entirely too early to make a final analysis, but it's fun to think about. Where does A-Rod rank on the list of all-time greats? More interestingly, where will he rank when he finishes his already illustrious playing career?

The Baseball Analysts took on exactly this question after Rodriguez's incredible weekend -- which is still in progress, by the way -- and the conclusions were favorable, to say the least.

Roger Maris, Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, and Lou Gehrig. ARod's name would fit in there just fine. In fact, he happens to sit in 11th place now (with 48 in his MVP season in 2005). How about Joe DiMaggio, you ask? Tied for 14th with 46 in 1937, his second year in the majors. Take a second look at that list and you'll notice that Rodriguez is already number one among all right-handed batters. After DiMaggio, you have to go all the way down to 28th to find the next RHB (Alfonso Soriano, 2002, and the Yankee Clipper, 1948, with 39).

In the meantime, Rodriguez passed Stan Musial and Willie Stargell for 25th on the all-time home run list with 476. He is a shoo-in to become the youngest player to hit 500 (beating out Jimmie Foxx) and could rank among the top 20 before the year is out.

For those of you who get worked up about Barry Bonds passing Hank Aaron, relax. Alex Rodriguez is going to pass them both by the time he hangs 'em up.

That's an incredibly ringing endorsement, and that's just A-Rod's home run numbers. His other numbers, not to mention his ability to transfer positions and still play at a high defensive level, is a whole 'nother story. In any case, we're watching one of the all-time greats (Albert Pujols and Barry Bonds are others) -- and perhaps the best ever -- every day. Enjoy it.