The Bronx Bombers

Teixeira, left and Granderson, right have
combined for 42 home runs this
season.

It has been fifty years since the 1961 Major League Baseball season was played when two New York Yankees took the baseball world by storm. Now two other Yankee teammates are starting to remind those fans how exciting it was to watch. New York's Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle began a historic chase of then-Babe Ruth's single-season home run record he set in 1927.

That season Maris would pass Ruth's mythical 60 home runs with his 61st coming the final day of the regular season in Game 162. Mantle fell off the pace when a hip injury derailed his season, but still managed to slug out 54 long balls.

Maris would win his second consecutive American League Most Valuable Player award that year, but would never hit more than 33 home runs in a season following his record-breaking campaign. The four-time All-Star would never be inducted into the Hall of Fame, but was honored by the Yankees with the retirement of his number 9 jersey on Old Timer's Day in 1984.

As for Mantle, many believed he underachieved with the natural ability he was given. A switch-hitter that could run like the wind and hit a ball a mile long suffered from injury and drinking demons most of his career, leaving many to wonder what he might have accomplished if he took his health seriously. Nonetheless, Mantle was a first ballot Hall of Famer after launching 536 home runs during his eighteen-year career.

Yankees first basemen Mark Teixeira and outfielder Curtis Granderson are the first pair of Yankee teammates since Maris and Mantle to record 20 home runs through the teams first 66 games. With his two home runs in New York's 12-4 victory over the Texas Rangers Wednesday, Teixeira tied Grandserson and Toronto's Jose Bautista for the major league lead with 21.

It was the eleventh time in his career that Teixeira had homered from both sides of the plate.

As of the 14th of June, Teixeira and Granderson had both combined for 40 home runs, the same total as Maris (22) and Mantle (18) in '61, but have since fallen off the pace. Through their first 66 games Maris had hit 27 home runs while Mantle was five behind with 22.

Despite his hot start and hitting as many as 30 home runs in a single-season back in 2009 with the Detroit Tigers, Granderson refuses to call himself a power hitter. "If I hit a 100 in a season, then I'll say I am," Granderson stated Wednesday.

For Teixeira, he has been the definition of a pure power hitter throughout his career. The two-time All-Star has eclipsed 30 home runs in seven of his first full eight big league seasons, hitting a career-high 43 in 2005 with the Rangers. Upon an injury, Teixeira will be sure to reach that total for the eighth time, needing only 9 the rest of the way with the All-Star break a little less than a month away.

Teixeira was the '09 American League home run champion in his first year in the Bronx tallying 39, a title he shared with then-Tampa Bay Rays' first basemen Carlos Pena. He is only the 61st player in major league history to record over 265 home runs through the age of 31 with his 296 career home runs. When he hits his 25th home run of the season, he will become the second player to reach 300 home runs for a career in 2011, Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz was the first launching his 300th earlier this year.

Maris, left and Mantle, right are the last
pair of teammates to each homer 20 times
in their team's first 66 games.

New York currently leads the the majors in home runs with 103 after their five home run outburst on ESPN's Wednesday Night Baseball. The surprising Arizona Diamondbacks are second with 80. It's a good thing the Yankees have found the long ball because the team is only 6-9 when they don't have a ball reach the seats.

While Teixeira and Granderson will never top that '61 season and the excitement it brought back to the Stadium that Summer, they are yet another pair of Yankee switch and left-handed hitting teammates that help us remember the M&M Boys so fondly, so sit back and enjoy the show.

Chipping Away

Jones has been one of the best
hitters this generation. 

In the 1990 amateur draft the Atlanta Braves would make a decision that eventually would alter the fate of the franchise.

With the first overall pick they chose a young infielder out of Deland, Florida named Chipper Jones and the rest, as they say is history.

Jones has already cemented himself as one of the the greatest players in Braves history and one of the best switch-hitters of all-time.

Tuesday night he added yet another impressive statistic to his Hall of Fame resume. Jones hit a two-run first-inning home run off San Diego right-hander Aaron Harang to tie the legendary Mickey Mantle for second on the all-time RBI list for switch-hitters with 1,509.

As a boy in Florida, Jones grew up idolizing Mantle and now here he is at age 39 producing the same type of numbers 'The Mick' put up. Jones finds himself now in elite company trailing only the great Eddie Murray for the all-time RBI lead as a switch-hitter.

The six-time All-Star still has a ways to go with Murray's mark set at 1,917. With Jones at the tail end of his career, we can look back and appreciate what he's done during his 18 years in the big leagues.

In 1995, Jones burst onto the scene for manager Bobby Cox hitting .265 with 23 home runs and 86 RBIs, finishing second in the National League Rookie of the Year voting.

Jones would go on to help the Braves win their only World Series under Cox that season, outlasting the Cleveland Indians in six games. Since that time, Jones has made a fixture for himself at the hot corner in Atlanta. The switch-hitter would go on to win the NL Most Valuable Player Award in 1999, blasting a still career-high 45 home runs and 110 RBIs.

Despite winning the award Jones would have five other top ten finishes in the voting over his career. Jones would have eight straight 100 RBI seasons from 1996-03.

Then, Jones would be riddled by injuries, but found away to fight through the pain and have one of the most productive careers as a switch-hitter Major League Baseball as ever seen.

In August of 2010, Jones tore his ACL and was lost for the season, unable to compete in Bobby Cox's final playoff run as a manager. Many believed that would be the last time we saw Jones on a baseball diamond, but he did his best to prove the doubters wrong once again. Jones rehabbed hard all offseason to be ready for the opening of the 2011 season and was.

Jones is enjoying his start to the '11 season, batting .289 with 21 RBIs. With his three RBI performance Wednesday night in San Diego, Jones has moved into sole possession of second-place on the all-time RBI list for a switch-hitter with 1,512.

Murray and Jones are also the only players to record 2,500 hits and 1,500 RBIs as switch-hitters.

With his 439 career home runs and many believing this will be his final year in the big leagues, catching Mantle and Murray for the lead is impossible. Murray is second the all-time list for a switch-hitter with 504 career home runs as Mantle leads the charge with 536 of his own. With Jones being the last member on the Atlanta roster from that '95 world championship team it will truly be an end of an era.

The Braves third baseman has been a class act and the face of the Atlanta organization for almost two decades, it will be a strange feeling when Jones calls it a career.

Rest assured when he does there will be spot in Cooperstown waiting for him and one day Jones's No. 10 will be worn like he worn Mantle's No. 7.

A Legend Has Passed

The baseball world lost a legend
Sunday.

The Los Angeles Dodgers may have beaten the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Sunday in Glendale, Arizona, but have lost a bigger battle.

Former Dodger legend and Hall of Fame center fielder Duke Snider has passed away at the age of 84.

Snider was apart of the 1955 World Series champion team from Brooklyn that defeated the dominate New York Yankees in seven games. That was the first World Series title in Dodger history and only in Brooklyn, moving out West only three years later.

Snider would help the Dodgers win their second World Series title just two years into their move to Chavez Ravine. The Duke played in an era where there were three center fielders that dominated one city, raising the question who was the best.

Willie Mays maned center field for the then-New York Giants, Mickey Mantle roamed in the House That Ruth Built and of course Snider at Ebbets Field, all whom would eventually be inducted into Cooperstown.

The eight-time All-Star was a .295 career hitter knocking out 407 home runs, including a five-year stretch from 1953-57, where he hit 40-plus each of those seasons. Despite all that, Snider was never awarded the NL Most Valuable Player Award, but finished in the top ten six times, finishing as high as second in '55.

Snider was a true professional and an ambassador of the game not only during his 18-year playing career, but in the years after.

After being inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame in 1980, the Dodgers also retired his legendary No. 4, that still hangs above the right field pavilion at Dodger Stadium. Snider was one of the few living members of the historic '55 Dodgers, of course until today. Snider is gone, but his legend with live on, along with those '55 bums from Brooklyn.

Farewell "Silverfox".