FanHouse Willie Stargell

Considering that most of the attention given to Gary Sheffield right now surrounds the comments he made about Latino players in GQ Magazine, most of us haven't paid much attention to how he's performing on the field. Long story short, he's hitting the hell out of the ball right now.

Wondering why Sheff's Latino teammates are so supportive of him and what he said? Well, it's easy to support a guy who's hitting .375 with 7 home runs and 17 RBI's over the last ten games.

Sheffield hit another home run in Thursday night's Tigers victory of the Rangers, and he passed Willie Stargell on the all-time RBI list in doing so. Before the game started, Sheffield remembered meeting Stargell as a star struck Little Leaguer when he was 11-years old.

"He came and talked to us about big league baseball," Sheffield said. "Seeing somebody like Willie Stargell sticks with you for life."

"Just his presence," Sheffield said. "Everybody had heard of him. We didn't know he was coming. We all met in the cafeteria. He sat right there and talked to us about the game, about life and about growing into a young man. I took all that to heart.

"He talked about being intelligent, too. That stood about more than anything -- using your brain. That's something my grandfather planted in my mind, too. That's why that stuck out the most: 'You want to be a thinking man when you play this game.' So I see and read things before they happen. That is the art of hitting."

The meeting took place in 1980, while Sheffield was in Williamsport, Pennsylvania for the Little League World Series. I have no idea if Stargell shared any thoughts with Sheffield about Latino baseball players, but here's hoping Sheff doesn't share them with Elijah Dukes.

Previously at The Fanhouse:
You Will Not Control The Sheff's Mind
Gary Sheffield Responds To GQ Comments
Gary Sheffield Suspended, Blames Conspiracy Theory
Elijah Dukes Needs To Call Uncle Sheffield
Gary Sheffield's Logic Is Too Much For Our Feeble Brains

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.

So far the start of the 2007 campaign has been a nightmare for Tigers third baseman Brandon Inge. Hitters always want to get that first hit of the season out of the way early because the longer they go without one, the more they start pressing, and it can lead to a pretty bad season.

The Tigers are six games into their season, and Inge is still looking for that first hit. He's 0-for-20.

As a result, Jim Leyland decided to give his third baseman a day off on Tuesday to get his head together.

"He's obviously struggled, so let's just get him away from it for a day," Leyland said of Inge. "Sometimes you're fighting to get that first hit, [and] people will keep reminding you, you don't have a hit, and sooner or later you start playing mind games. Just getting him away from it for a game [could help], and Neifi's 4-for-8 off this guy. We're checking out Neifi as well."

There is some good news for Inge because according to the Elias Sports Bureau his horrible start has increased his odds to make the Hall of Fame.

Brandon Inge, 0-for-20 in the Tigers' first six games, is on pace for a career year. How do we know? Because, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, two of the previous three players to go 0-fer after six games were Hall of Famers - Willie Stargell, 0-for-21 in 1970, and Ozzie Smith, 0-for-26 in 1979.

In those seasons Stargell ended up hitting .264 with 31 home runs and 85 RBi, while The Wizard of Oz finished up with a .211 batting average in his second big league season.

(Special thanks to The Baseball Almanac for helping with Stargell and Smith's numbers)

Ok, so maybe Inge--who only hit .253 last season--shouldn't be very optimistic after all.