Jose Altuve’s Short Story

(AP Photo)

By Bernadette Pasley | @LadyBatting

There were many interesting storylines in the 2012 regular season. Miguel Cabrera’s Triple Crown, seven no-hitters, and the amazing runs of the Baltimore Orioles and the Oakland A’s all grabbed the headlines this year. But there was also another story, one that went on in Houston, Texas, that I enjoyed following. I am not sure why. Perhaps it was because it demonstrated determination to succeed in the face of obstacles. Or, maybe it was because it was just a cute and, at times, funny story. That story was Jose Altuve.

At 5’5”, Jose Altuve was the shortest player in Major League Baseball in 2012. An All Star and the Houston Astros’ most valuable player, he batted .290 with seven home runs, 37 RBI and 33 stolen bases. But his height was more a topic of conversation than his stats were. The media and fans alike enjoyed watching the pint-sized second baseman from Venezuela put together a fine first full season in the Majors. One fan even devised a unit of measurement called Official Standard Listed Altuves (OSLA). If you go to his blog How Many Altuves? you can type in any height or distance in feet, and the number of Altuves (height or distance times 5’5”) will be calculated for you.

When you look at Altuve’s stats, it is easy to assume that his seven home runs were cheap shots. But you’d be wrong if you made that assumption. According to the ESPN Home Run Tracker, his shortest home run in 2012 was 364 feet. The player with the shortest home run this year was Norichika Aoki of Milwaukee, who hit an inside-the-park home run, officially measured at 247 feet. Don’t want to count an inside-the-parker? Okay, then. BJ Upton had the shortest home run at 323 feet, still 41 feet shorter than Altuve’s shortest blast.

Altuve didn’t hit any of his not-so-short home runs on June 27th. In fact, he wasn’t even in the lineup that day. The Houston Astros played the San Diego Padres, and that game holds the distinction of being the shortest game on record for 2012 at 1 hour and 58 minutes. The shortest player didn’t play in the shortest game. That doesn’t sound right.

He did play in 147 games, however, and the man who put the shortest player in the lineup for those games was Brad Mills. Mills won the prize for having the shortest managerial tenure in 2012. He was fired on August 18th. Mills fell far short of his goal to have a winning team. But at 6’0, he, himself, is not short. The shortest managers in baseball in 2012 were the Orioles’ Buck Showalter and the Mets’ Terry Collins, who are both 5’9” tall. Collins managed MLB’s tallest player this year, 6’11” pitcher Jon Rauch. On May 1st, Altuve stepped up to the plate against Rauch. The matchup produced the biggest height differential between a pitcher and a batter at 18 inches, 28 inches if you include the pitcher’s mound. Altuve lined out to first in the at-bat.

Altuve seems like a good sport and an easy-going guy. I can’t imagine him arguing with an umpire. If he did, however, his best chance at getting into an ump’s face would be against Mark Wegner or Jerry Meals, both of whom are 5’8” tall. With anyone else he is wasting his time.

But he is not wasting his time when it comes to baseball in general. Jose Altuve was a good little player in 2012. Going forward, if the Astros can surround him with players who can complement him, they will go a long way towrds turning their franchise around and getting back the respect they lost long ago. I'm looking forward to seeing if that will happen.