Vladdie's Season HR Streak

Just saw that Vladamir Guerrero hit just his 5th homer of the season this afternoon. Of course, he's been out two extended periods with injuries (just came back from the 2nd 2 games ago). Still, with only 1/3 of the season left, his string of 11 straight years of 25 or more homers is in dire danger of coming to an end. I've always liked Vladdie--quietly does his all-star-caliber job, often with less than stellar teams, and has a good time. What a talent! And with 11 100 RBI years, 2 40-40 (HR and SB) seasons, and a .322 career average and .570 career slugging, Cooperstown awaits!

HR Leaders so Far This Year, by Month

Here are the monthly totals so far for the HR leaders through July 31:
(April-may-June-July)
Albert Pujols: 8-8-14-4=34
Mark Reynolds: 5-8-8-8=29
Adrian Gonzalez: 9-11-4-4=28
Justin Morneau: 5-9-5-7=26
Adam Dunn: 6-10-4-6=26
Ryan Howard: 4-10-6-6=26
Raul Ibanez: 7-10-5-4=26
Carlos Pena: 9-8-6-3=26
Mark Texiera: 3-13-4-6=26

50-Double Seasons by Decade

Here is the breakdown of the number of 50-double seasons in each decade of the history of the majors:
1880s: 1
1890s: 2
1900s: 0
1910s: 2
1920s: 12
1930s: 20
1940s: 5
1950s: 2
1960s: 1
1970s: 2
1980s: 2
1990s: 10
2000s: 27 so far

Thus there have been more 50 double seasons this decade than in the previous 6 decades combined.

A similar pattern is found in the rarer 50-homer season stats. Here is the decade breakdown for that:
1920s: 4
1930s: 4
1940s: 3
1950s: 2
1960s: 3
1970s: 1
1980s: 0
1990s: 12
2000s: 12 so far

Brian Roberts, doubles hitter extraordinaire

Baltimore second baseman Brian Roberts stands a pretty good chance of becoming only the fourth player in major league history, and the first since Stan Musial, to hit 50 or more doubles in three or more different seasons. He hit 50 in 2004 and 51 last year, and leads the majors so far this year with 36 103 games into the season, a pace that should result in about 55 or 56. Besides Musial (who did it in 1944, '46 and '53), the others to do it were Paul Waner (in 1928, '32 and '36) and all-time doubles leader Tris Speaker, who did it an amazing 5 times (1912, '20, '21, '23 and '26), the last 4 times at ages 32 through 38.

Lots of guys (Helton, Garciaparra, Biggio, Edgar Martinez, and Pujols) have done it twice in recent years, but none have done it that elusive third time.