400 career homers *with the White Sox.*

Konerko in the above picture is clearly following in the footsteps of Carlos Quentin: http://btnbt.com/1995

Konerko’s career is the opposite of Andruw Jones.

Jones – Looked like a Hall of Famer for 10+ years then fell apart and confused us.

Konerko – looked like a “good” player for 10+ years while accumulating counting stats and then has a strong career finish and confuses everybody.

I don’t believe 500 HRs is an automatic Hall pass for players anymore. Konerko will also have to battle what I’ll call the “Dwight Evans Curse.” Like Evans, Konerko has become a better player in his later years after already having established a previous, lower level of performance. Yet despite his great mid-30s run, the perception of who he is as a ballplayer is already set for many. Last, he played a large part of his career during what high-offense steroid era. The fact that he is exhibiting a Barry Bonds-like improvement at at age when he should regressing will… Read more »

There has been one man that has been touting the prowess of Konerko for a long time now and that is none other than Timmy Pea. I watch him play often and I’ve called it from the start that he is a great hitter. He’s done it in the steroid era and he’s done it after testing. I seriously doubt he is using PED’s, that is a joke if you know what kind of guy he is. I have no doubt that the financial security of his family may have something to do with a renewed concentration at the plate… Read more »

@MikeD thank u for your research by the way. Your data points to something being odd with Paulie. It could be natural but MLB doesnt deserve the benefit of the doubt.

@TP u really haven’t read a word from me. This isnt about a few weeks… this is about his 31-33 yrs and then 34-36. A poster above did a very nice analysis that dovetails what I’ve been saying. Dawson is irrelevant what he did has no bearing on Paulie. If you disagree that’s fine but don’t twist my argument.

Konerko is not alone in experiencing a late-career surge. One player who had some of his best seasons late in his career was Darrell Evans. Three of his best seasons came at ages 36, 38, and 40, after he had rather flat production for his age 30-35 seasons.

A player with a somewhat similar career to Konerko’s is Mickey Vernon, who had ups and downs but put two of his three best seasons together at ages 35 and 36. Darrell Evans is another whose late career production almost defies understanding. Stats guys can produce a curve that shows the average career projection, but players defy its powers of prediction every year. Another thing: some guys just work hard to learn and adjust. Konerko may have done that. His increased OPS+ numbers for 2010 and 2011 seem to me to be more of a function of higher batting average,… Read more »

I’ll add my voice to the ones calling for a little restraint in calling Konerko a cheat. Yes, it is true that MLB ignored the problem for far too long and the last years MVP had a positive test result. But Braun claimed from the get go that the results were wrong and while it’s true that he did get off on what could be called a technicality, it’s also true that the evidence collection procedure is riddled with problems. I suspect that soon all major sports testing procedures will soon also require a DNA test on positive tests to… Read more »

As a die hard White Sox fan Paulie is one of my all time favorites. I don’t believe his resurgence is due to PEDs. First in the years prior to his age 34 year Paul had several nagging injuries that kept him from performing at his peak. The sight of him in pain after a swing was very common. Thus the improvement at 34 is just getting back to where he should have been. Second and most importantly is a different approach to hitting. Before Paul would be trying to hit everything as hard as possible and end up with… Read more »

I don’t see Konerko as a serious HOF candidate yet, even if he continues his great age-36 season this year (I don’t mean that he’s gonna hit .395, but more that he could be as good as, say, his 2010 year). He’s an all-hitting player who adds very little of value from his defense, position, or baserunning. He’s been a very good hitter, but never one of the very best hitters in any one year. In that regard, he reminds me of Fred McGriff (his Most Similar Batter – 934), as several people have already pointed out, with the same… Read more »

A few final random thoughts on Luscious Luke. Appling received only 0.8% of the vote for the HOF in 1953. Based on today’s rules, he would have been one-and-done and never would have been elected by the BBWAA members. Appling was elected eleven years later with 94% of the vote. So he went from 0.8% of the vote to 94% of the vote. I would guess that’s one of the most dramatic turnabouts ever in HOF voting. Appling hit a HR at age 75 in an old-timer’s game. Clearly he was still juicing, since he wasn’t a HR hitter at… Read more »

Why doesnt anyone acuse Babe Ruth of taking steroids, or having some sort of advantage over Honus Wagner that explains his power outburst? The largest increase in scoring of the last century occurred from the 1910s to the 1920s, no the 19802 to 1990s. Infact, that division is even defined the dead ball and live ball eras. Everyone accepts that the huge spike in offseason in mostly attributed to the ball, not steroids. Then, in 1993 the EXACT SAME THING HAPPENED, a new ball was introduced and offense rose. Now all of a sudden there is a different reason, mainly… Read more »