Baseball's Greatest Rarity

In Major League Baseball's treasured "modern" history (1900 and after), numbers are everything.

A player has hit for the cycle 293 times.
There have been 272 no-hitters throw in major league history. (Sorry Justin Verlander, you were just short of 273.)
A pitcher has thrown an "immaculate inning" (3 strikeouts in 9 pitches) only 45 times. (Some bizarre people on this list.)
Pitchers have combined for only 19 perfect games. (Phil Humber most recently.)
After Josh Hamilton obliterated the Orioles, only 16 players had 4 home runs in a single game.
Only 15 fielders have turned unassisted triple plays (twice it ended a game, once it happened in the World Series).
A miniscule 13 sluggers have hit two grand slams in a single game. (Fernando Tatis did it in an inning.)

These are incredibly rare historical feats. Their scarcity is reflected in the numbers. Let me drop an even rarer number on you. Something currently more rare than unassisted triple plays and four homer games.


How about this number....

8

Yes eight.

That is how many players on current MLB rosters have played at least 10 years and all with the same team.

EIGHT!

I've paid tribute to lifers before. But what brought me back to the topic was the fact that from 2011 to 2012, the number of players who are considered "lifers" dropped from 15 to a dangerously low 8. Strange circumstances basically cut the number in half. Here's how it happened:

The Twins didn't offer Michael Cuddyer enough money to stay in hitter unfriendly Target Field so, using his career year last year, Cuddy signed a big time contract with the Rockies and landed in hitter friendly Coors Field. We'll chalk this up to greed and the Twins wasting too much money on Joe Mauer.

The Cubs finally dished off the 10 year cancer known as Carlos Zambrano to the circus that is the Miami Marlins. This was probably the best-case scenario for all parties involved. We'll chalk this one up to Carlos being a talented pitcher but a crazy, and often terrible, teammate.

The Tigers callously dropped Brandon Inge after he had a rough first month and Miguel Cabrera moved to 3rd base due to the acquisition of Prince Fielder. He then went on to go insane for the Athletics about a week and then go on the DL. We'll chalk this up to the fact that players claiming "it's just a business" might be right because the Tigers cutting Inge is a bit suspect if you ask me.

Jorge Posada and Jason Varitek both retired in an almost too bizarre symmetrical manner for rival teams.

Mark Buehrle enjoyed more than a decade of success with the White Sox but similarly to Cuddyer, found a team with deep pockets willing to pony up a ton of cash in the Miami Marlins.

And of course, in spectacular fashion, Albert Pujols left the St. Louis Cardinals for $40 million more dollars with the Los Angeles Angels.

Add on that Mariano Rivera is out the rest of the year with a torn ACL and Brian Roberts hasn't recorded a single AB yet for the Baltimore Orioles and there are 6 lifers currently taking part in major league action this year.

That leaves us with these elite lifers:

Chipper Jones - 18 years with the Atlanta Braves
Derek Jeter - 17 years with the New York Yankees
Todd Helton - 15 years with the Colorado Rockies
Jimmy Rollins - 12 years with the Philadelphia Phillies
Michael Young - 12 years with the Texas Rangers
Ichiro Suzuki - 11 years with the Seattle Mariners

Only Chipper Jones is guarenteed to become a certified "lifer" after announcing this would be his last year. Jeter's current contract could be his last, though the way he's hitting the ball he may ask for another big one the Yankees might not be willing to hand out. The other four? Who knows. Many of the greatest players ever didn't realize their time was up until they had played for three more teams after being signed to a one year deal, getting traded at the deadline, and signing another one year deal with that "team they always wanted to play for but couldn't because they were too expensive."

That's why, looking at baseball in a historical perspective, you appreciate Stan Musial, Lou Gehrig, and Cal Ripken, Jr. They played for the same team their entire careers. They went down as legends in their respective cities. They have become a part of the history of the city.

I know how sports' works these days. It's a money making business. But there's just something so special about the lifer. And the number is running dangerously close to extinction in MLB.

Let's just hope the lifer doesn't go the way of the doodoo bird.