Thanks for the Memories-Bret Boone

In 2000, Bret Boone replaced the traded Quilvio Veras as the team’s second baseman. In Boone’s only season with the Friars, he provided almost exactly league average production-both offensively and defensively. If it were not for what happened next, Boone would not have been all that memorable.

The next season, Boone played for the Seattle Mariners. There, he was anything but average. He hit 37 homeruns, and had an OPS+ of 153. Perhaps Boone’s most remarkable feat in 2001 was his ability to match Barry Bonds in the race to see whose cranium could grow at the fastest rate.

During that 2001 season, Boone became the first player I suspected of using illegal performance enhancers. While my suspicions have never been confirmed (he was not named in the Mitchell Report), I still chuckle when I think about his remarkable mid-30s surge in both power and cap size. Thanks for the memories Bret!