[Marcellus]

Here is a section on Carpenter in an article on the Athletic.

I figured I would post it as penance and part of my meal of crow.

A JOB FOR A CARPENTER

It’s always been a stupendous idea to have the home-run champ and a great leadoff hitter on the same team. Just usually, they’re not the same person.

But then Matt Carpenter came along.

The Cardinals’ sweet-swinging No. 1 man surged into a tie with Nolan Arenado for the NL lead in homers over the weekend with 29. And that got us to wondering:

Has any leadoff man in modern history ever won a home-run title?

Guess what? That answer, shockingly, is: Nope!

Rickey Henderson never did it. Alfonso Soriano never did it. Charlie Blackmon never did it. Pete Rose and Ichiro never did it. In fact, almost no one has even come close.

The most games started in the leadoff hole by any home run champ since 1900? That would be a whopping 22 games, by Dwight Evans in 1981, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. And Carpenter is going to lead off in well over 100 games if he stays healthy (and at the top of the order).

Meanwhile, if you’re looking for close calls, that won’t take long, either. Once you get past the dead-ball era almost a century ago, exactly one player has even finished second in his league in home runs while leading off in at least half his team’s games. That would be Brady Anderson in 1996, the year he stunned America (and himself) by hitting 50.

But Mark McGwire whomped 52 homers that year. And now we’re especially glad he did, because it means that, unbeknownst to most of civilization, Carpenter has put himself in perfect position to do something no one has ever done. And he’s primed to pull this off.

He leads the National League in homers since May 1, since June 1 and since July 1. So what about this feels fluky?

The correct answer is: None of this. So eat your heart out, Rickey!