I have been a fan of baseball all of my thirty years on this beautiful planet. I have witnessed in my lifetime many great records broken (consecutive games streak, Single season home run record a few times, and the all-time HR record, Etc.) and it brings me great joy to share with fellow fans a record that I think should be recognized as just a great record as the HR, Hits, and consecutive games streak. I have come up with a simple equation that equals Five Thousand total times on base in a career which is something not many players have done surprisingly. I present to you The On Base 5000 Club. The way to join this club is simple. To be in this club you must get on base 250 times a year by walk or hit for 20 years at least. A player usually needs 650 plate appearances per year for this to be accomplished.
A player should maintain a season of at least 160 hits and 90 walks per year in order to become part of the club.
These are the Founding Fathers of the On Base 5000 Club
1. Pete Rose was on base 5822 times in his career
4256 hits
1566 walks
2. Barry Bonds was on base 5493 times
2935 hits
2558 walks
3. Ty Cobb 5438 times
4189 hits
1249 walks
4. Carl Yastrzemski 5264 times
3419 hits
1845 walks
5. Rickey Henderson 5245 times
3055 hits
2190 walks
6. Stan Musial 5229 times
3630 hits
1599 walks
7. Hank Aaron on base 5173 times
3771 hits
1402 walks
I have not included hit by pitch. I have decided that only hits and walks together amount to an actual earned Base. Although some might argue I found that no player really would qualify if I added that statistic as well for the club.
Hopefully, this will be recognized one day by the Fans, Players, and MLB. When you look at the big picture it truly is a remarkable accomplishment to be able to get on base 5,000 individual times in your career.
While doing my research I found only one player who may join this club in the future with another (Derek Jeter getting to 4,000 hits) making it he plays long enough.
With no surprise to many that player is Albert Pujols.
In a little under 10 years, he has 1886 hits and 901 walks. If he can keep up his production the next 10 years he should easily take second place on this list. This just goes to show you how great a player Albert Pujols truly is.
As you can tell all the players listed above are sure fire hall of farmers except for Rose who was kicked out of baseball for Gambling and Bonds who is not eligible yet but when he is facing the steroid cloud that hung over his career towards the end.
This Original Record was created by Casey McMahon
Any republishing of my original post must first contact me.
