200th post

I've reached a nice milestone here at Nine Pockets:

200 blog posts!

Because I add content here once a week, every Sunday, 200 posts means I've been at this for almost four years now. I'm very happy that I've been able to come up with enough content to fill that many Sundays, and I hope you've enjoyed doing the reading as much as I've enjoyed doing the writing.

 
Because this is a trading card blog, let's tie in some cards. Here is a sports-related milestone involving the number 200, along with cardboard representation.

 

200 Points in an NHL Season

 

1. Wayne Gretzky   215   1985-86

2. Wayne Gretzky   212   1981-82

3. Wayne Gretzky   208   1984-85

4. Wayne Gretzky   205   1983-84

  
 

 

That's it.

Yet another indication of how Wayne Gretzky was simply on a different planet in the 1980s.

 

Now it's true that Mario Lemieux had 199 points for the 1988-89 season, which is as close as you can get without hitting the mark, so let's add the next few players on the list.

 

 5.  Mario Lemieux    199   1988-89

 6.  Wayne Gretzky   196   1982-83

 7.  Wayne Gretzky   183   1986-87

 8.  Mario Lemieux    168   1987-88

 8.  Wayne Gretzky   168   1988-89

10. Wayne Gretzky   164   1980-81

Again. Gretzky. Different planet. Lemieux was right up there as well, of course. In fact, let's keep going down the list.

 

11. Wayne Gretzky   163   1990-91

12. Mario Lemieux    161   1995-96

13. Mario Lemieux    160   1992-93

14. Steve Yzerman  155   1988-89

15. Phil Esposito      152   1970-71 

 

That's right. Steve Yzerman is the first person on the list not named Wayne Gretzky or Mario Lemieux. At 14th place. That's just absurd.

 

Let's touch on baseball, too. I was thinking 200-hit seasons would be a good one; however, there are too many players and seasons to list. So instead I'll list the 10 players with the most 200-hit seasons in their careers.

Most 200-Hit Seasons, Career

Ichiro Suzuki (10)

Pete Rose (10)

Ty Cobb (9)

Derek Jeter (8)

Lou Gehrig (8)

Paul Warner (8)

Willie Keeler (8)

Wade Boggs (7)

Charlie Gehringer (7)

Rogers Hornsby (7)

 

I don't have trading cards of quite a few of those players, but here's Rose, Ichiro, and Jeter courtesy of the internet.

 

 

 

 

I'd probably take any one of those guys on my all-time starting nine. (Although maybe someone else at shortstop, like Honus Wagner or Ozzie Smith.)

 

Regardless, that's a lot of Hall of Fame talent. And you're all hall of fame readers and commenters, as far as I'm concerned.

 

Thank you all for spending some time here and commenting over these past four years. We've got quite a community, and I'm grateful to be a small part of it. Happy collecting ahead!