After their performances last year, would you ever have believed that Rickey Henderson and Jeremy Burnitz would be leading the Dodgers in hitting this week? Henderson, released by Boston and playing early this season for a just-barely-professional team in Newark, has started his season with two homers while going four for twelve. Rickey is 45 years old and has been playing since 1979!

Everyone assumed the Henderson would retire two years ago when he reached several milestones like 3000 hits and all-time run scoring record, but Henderson plays for the joy of it. He just loves baseball and when asked about it answered back by asking why he should quit when there was still someplace he could play.

Rickey has been playing so long, most people today would not understand the force of nature Henderson was as a player. Henderson scored more than a hundred runs in thirteen seasons including 146 in 1985. He has a .402 lifetime OBP and discounting his first year, never (even in his later years) had an OBP less than .369! A leadoff hitter with a .362 OBP is hard to find today. He also has hit almost 300 homers and has over 500 doubles. He wasn't just a base stealer (though he was the best ever), he was a force.

So it's still fun to see the old man get up to the plate, especially when he lead-off and hit the 81st lead-off homer of his career. No matter how long Henderson plays and how well he does while he hangs around, he is one of the best players to ever play the game.

And then there is Jeremy Burnitz who after a good start to his career in Milwaukee, had one of the ugliest batting seasons I've seen when he batted .215 in almost 500 at bats. This year he is batting a respectable .279 and has 20 homers.

And the Dodgers weren't done resurrecting ballplayers as their pitching corp now includes Wilson Alvarez who was out of baseball for three years and is now pitching with some success for the Dodgers. It's all fun stuff but they won't make the playoffs despite their comeback kids.


In other stories:
The Orioles completed a sweep of the Angels. Sadly, Mora was hit in the face with a pitch during the game today. The Fan sends his best and hopes that the situation doesn't derail what has been a breakout season for the Oriole player. The Angels were dealt a severe blow in their fingertip grasp of a playoff home.

The Yankees completed their sweep of the Indians and in a weird stat, the Indians have scored exactly four runs for seven straight games. That's never been done before. They also lost six of those seven games. Derek Jeter has batted over .500 for his last fifty at bats.

The Houston Astros have now won nine of their last ten to put a little distance between them and the Cubs and Cardinals. Bagwell is starting to hit really well and they keep winning in their division. The Astros are now 32-18 in their division.

The Braves have also won nine of ten and look unstoppable. The Phillies are now nine and a half games back of the Braves, but still lead the Wildcard race.