Svrluga: Should Washington celebrate Ryan Zimmerman’s franchise HR record? It’s complicated

From Barry Svrluga at the Washington Post on July 20, 2017, with mention of SABR member John Thorn:

On Monday, Ryan Zimmerman hit a solo home run in the first inning in Cincinnati that was the 235th of his career. Depending on your vantage point, it was historic or trivial, momentous or meaningless. That blast gave Zimmerman one more home run than Vladimir Guerrero hit over his entire career with the Montreal Expos.

Wait. Montreal? Canada again? Man, baseball’s been back in these parts for a dozen years. Can’t we sever ourselves from their history — for once and forever?

Let’s ignore that debate for a moment. We know Frank Howard hit 382 homers over the course of his career, and 237 of them came with the Washington Senators. So, then, can we celebrate with Zim when he cranks three more and becomes the District’s dinger leader?

“I don’t pay much attention to that,” Howard said by phone.

But we’re baseball fans in Washington. What are we supposed to pay attention to?

“I like when history is messy,” John Thorn, Major League Baseball’s official historian, said. “It’s fun.”

Read the full article here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/sports/wp/2017/07/20/should-washington-celebrate-ryan-zimmermans-franchise-hr-record-its-complicated/?utm_term=.bb8573ee007f



Originally published: July 20, 2017. Last Updated: July 20, 2017.