The Most Exciting Player In Baseball

Jose Reyes played his 1,000th game on Tuesday night. His accomplishments thus far put him in exclusive company -- like, for instance, Ty Cobb and Stan Musial.

Here's some information the Elias Sports Bureau provided before the game:

Jose Reyes is playing his 1,000th major-league game tonight, with 97 triples and 359 stolen bases to his credit. The only other player with that many triples and stolen bases in his first 1,000 career games is Ty Cobb, who had 106 triples and 391 steals when he played his 1,000th game, in 1912. (Since 1898, when the modern stolen-base rule was enacted.)

Even considering only triples, Reyes' total of 97 is the most by any major league player through 1,000 games since Stan Musial had 98 when he reached that milestone in 1949. If Reyes hits two triples tonight, he would have the most triples through 1,000 games by any player since Paul Waner had 110 when he played Game No. 1,000, in 1932.

Reyes has 113 hits and 14 triples in 75 games this year. In the modern era (1900 to date), only three others had that many hits and triples in their first 75 games of a season: Rod Carew, 1977 Twins (123 H, 14 3B); Paul Waner, 1927 Pirates (118, 14); Cobb, 1911 Tigers (134, 15).

In 1912, when the Pirates' Owen "Chief" Wilson set the major league record for triples in one season (36), he had already hit 20 triples by his 75th game. (In fact, Wilson hit his 20th triple in his 70th game.) Wilson hit 24 of his 36 triples that year at Forbes Field, which had outfield dimensions of well more than 400 feet in left-center and center field.

Sadly, Reyes hit only one triple last night (while going 4-4 with a walk, a stolen base and 3 runs scored.) I doubt it's even debatable that he's the most fun player to watch in the game today. Well, with the possible exception of this guy.