Alvarez launches 3 HRs in Hopatcong win

Hopatcong's Pedro Alvarez had collected 3 HRs before he stepped to the plate in the 9th inning with a chance to tie a league record with his 4th dong.

Pudge calls it quits

When Ivan Rodriguez announced his retirement last week, he bid farewell to the DMBL for good. He had 137 plate appearances in MLB last year, leaving him 67 short of DMBL eligibility for 2012.

He certainly will be on the ballot for the DMBL Hall of Fame by 2017, and as a longtime catcher, likely will get heavy consideration on his first try. If it's not Pudge leading catchers in a career batting category, it's Mike Piazza.

Pudge spent much of his career with his original franchise, the now defunct-Columbia Crusaders. He was the face of the franchise since being selected in the 6th round (50th overall) in the 1993 draft and spent 12 seasons with the Crusaders/Rattlesnakes. He was a two-time all-star (1996 and 2001) and appeared in a DMBL-record 18 seasons.

After Columbia left the DMBL, Pudge was a bit of a vagabond catcher -- left unprotected but usually being drafted -- playing for five different teams in his final six seasons. Much of his final three years was spent as a part-time player, logging 190 games with three different squads.

Most impressively, between breaking into the DMBL in 1993 and 2008, Pudge played no fewer than 130 games a year with the exception of one season (2002, 102 games, and of course, the strike-year of 1995). He leads catchers in career hits, at-bats, doubles and games played (tantalizingly close to 500 doubles, and 2,000 "official" games), and trails Piazza in most other categories.

Entering the 2012 season, he ranked 6th all-time in games played with 1,991 -- only Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Chipper Jones, Manny Ramirez and Vlad Guerrero have "officially" played more. He also finishes 4th in doubles with 490 (surpassed only by Edgar Martinez, Chipper and Manny).

(Games played wasn't an official stat in the early days of the DMBL and many old-timers have incomplete records for the category. Rodriguez certainly played more than 2,000 games but the 1994 and 1996 seasons are incomplete, and he likely played as many as 300 games in those two years considering his number of at-bats.)

Other career stats for Pudge:

Batting average: .282
On-base: .313
Slugging: .439
OPS: .752
AB: 8,318 (7th)
H: 2,370 (7th -- ahead of Roberto Alomar, 2,207, behind A-Rod, 2,436)
HR: 263 (30th -- ahead of Javy Lopez, 260, behind Bobby Abreu, 264)
RBI:  1,100 (18th -- ahead of Rafael Palmeiro, 1,099, behind Larry Walker, 1,103)
Runs: 821 (29th)
Strikeouts: 1,359 (19th; only 378 career walks)

Home run No. 300 for Berkman

Lance Berkman became the 21st player in DMBL history to reach 300 career home runs, and doing so against the franchise he broke in with more than a decade ago. Just after teammate Adam Jones was picked off first base by rookie Michael Pineda in the second inning, The Big Puma launched a homer deep down the right-field line.

Next up on the home run list is Rafael Palmeiro at 20th, with 330 home runs, so Berkman has an outside chance at catching him if he can reach 38 round-trippers in 2012.

Berkman had been a stalwart in the Arkansas offense ever since being a 1st round pick (13th overall) in the 2001 draft. He hit no fewer than 24 home runs (4x) in 9 of 10 seasons with the Golden Falcons, including a career-high 39 in 2007, and never hit lower than .800 OPS (if you round up his .799 OPS in 2008).

Released by Arkansas at age 34, Fat Elvis was selected in the 13th round of the 2011 draft by Sardine City but eventually released and ended up scuffling most of last season with Carolina (now Rowdy), where he's manning right field this year.

"Hear that?  Yeah, that was No. 300."

Behind Berkman on the all-time home run list is a real horse race, with four active players closely jockeying all season. Currently, David Ortiz of Hoboken is ahead at 283 homers (8 on the year), followed by a tie between Philly's Ryan Howard (6) and Bridgewater's Carlos Beltran (5) with 281, and Vancouver's Todd Helton at 279 (3).

Berkman makes a move

Longtime Golden Falcon Lance Berkman went deep in an 11-2 pummeling by Arkansas on Thursday. The third-inning homer off Bridgewater's Josh Beckett was his 22nd of the year and broke up a logjam on the DMBL's all-time home run list.

Entering the game, Berkman was tied with fellow first basemen Edgar Martinez and Fred McGriff for 22nd place in DMBL history with 271 homers. Berkman is chasing Bridgewater's Todd Helton, who has only eight home runs this year and is just two ahead of "The Big Puma," with 274.

At No. 20 in all-time home runs is yet another first baseman, Rafael Palmeiro, with 330 dingers.