Ryan Braun makes history by joining 40/30 club

RyanBraun
The Brewers lost 7-6 to the Astros last night and now sit five games behind the Cardinals for the second Wild Card spot with five games left to play. While the Brewers’ playoff hopes are hanging by a thread, Ryan Braun is busy making history.

Braun doubled in the sixth inning last night before stealing third base. He now has 30 stolen bases on the year to go along with a career-high 41 home runs. This is just the 11th time in MLB history that a player has amassed at least 40 homers and 30 stolen bases in one season.

Here are the others:

2006: Alfonso Soriano – 46 home runs and 41 stolen bases
1999: Jeff Bagwell – 42 home runs and 32 stolen bases
1998: Alex Rodriguez – 42 home runs and 46 stolen bases
1997: Barry Bonds – 40 home runs and 37 stolen bases
1997: Larry Walker – 49 home runs and 33 stolen bases
1997: Jeff Bagwell – 43 home runs and 31 stolen bases
1996: Barry Bonds – 42 home runs and 40 stolen bases
1996: Ellis Burks – 40 home runs and 32 stolen bases
1988: Jose Canseco – 42 home runs and 40 stolen bases
1963: Hank Aaron – 44 home runs and 31 stolen bases

Braun won the National League MVP award last season by hitting .332/.397/.597 with 33 home runs, 111 RBI, 33 stolen bases and a .994 OPS. He has a strong case for the award again this year on pure numbers alone, delivering a .319/.391/.602 batting line to go along with a .993 OPS. His 41 homers and 112 RBI currently lead the National League. Of course, the chances of a repeat are likely pretty slim. The Brewers are almost certainly going to miss the postseason and we’ll probably see quite a few voters dock him for his overturned PED test. Not saying it’s fair, as he should be assessed on his 2012 contributions alone and not the controversy that followed him into spring training, but that’s the reality of the situation.


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(hardballtalk.com)
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