Statistical analysts claim that baseball players tend to peak between the ages of 26 and 32. If that finding is accurate, then Astros fans have reason to be optimistic about the next few seasons. Aside from a pair of future Hall of Famers and a veteran catcher renown for his defense, the Astros have a prospective line-up entering its prime. Ages are as of opening day 2002:

Pos  Player       Age
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C    Ausmus        32
1B   Bagwell       33
2B   Biggio        36
3B   Ensberg       26
SS   Everett       25
LF   Ward          26
CF   Hidalgo       26
RF   Berkman       26

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Bill James became famous exposing readers to a world of new statistics in his Baseball Abstracts of the ’70s and ’80s. Although his name remains synonymous with sabermetrics — “the study and mathematical analysis of baseball statistics and records,” according to the Dickson Baseball Dictionary — James’ latest work, the New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, has much to offer the statistically disinclined.

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In the midst of a World Series that would become a seven-game classic, baseball’s steward, Commissioner Bud Selig, raised the white flag of surrender incuring the sport’s economic disparity: “As the problems have exacerbated, it has become clearer to me that everything should be on the table, including contraction. Can it be worked out for 2002? Time will tell. But I wouldn’t rule it out.”

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Here’s a pair of hypothetical line-ups:

Line-Up A              Line-Up B
Roy Campanella, C      Ron Hassey, C
Orlando Cepeda, 1B     Willie Aikens, 1B
Joe Morgan, 2B         Steve Lombardozzi, 2B
Mike Schmidt, 3B       Luis Salazar, 3B
Rogers Hornsby, SS     Spike Owen, SS
Ted Williams, OF       Dan Iorg, OF
Willie Mays, OF        Jeff Leonard, OF
Ty Cobb, OF            Larry Herndon, OF

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Houston fans know this sinking feeling. The one where the team that should win doesn’t. The 2001 Astros have six games to avoid this fate.

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A little over a week ago, all eyes in the baseball world were on pennant races and the pursuit of records. Heroes were men who hit home runs and threw strikeouts. It seems like an eternity ago. It seems woefully insignificant. And the perception of who is a hero has changed.

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