What a year in baseball it was. Now that game seven has come and gone and the Anaheim Angels somehow became the World Series champions, it is time to reflect on all that was during Major League Baseball's 2002 season. Here are the facts and of course the commentary. A very special thanks to random internet guy for sending me a forward of baseball facts for the year 2002. First and foremost, this was the year of Barry Bonds. He became the oldest player ever to win the National League batting title (his first), hitting .370 at age 38. Honus Wagner was the former record holder when he hit .370 at 37. Bonds was also the first San Francisco Giant ever to take the title. Remember that he started out a 150 pound leadoff hitting twig on the underachieving Pittsburgh Pirates. Local nobody Ted Williams was the oldest major league batting champ when he hit .388 at the age of 39 in 1957 and .328 at 40 in 1958. Barry may be juiced, but that doesn't help his hand-eye coordination. He broke his own walks record with an astonishing 198 walks in 143 games. He walked so often, he almost did not qualify with enough at-bats. Barry Bonds should now be referred to as the Proclaimer (you know what song they sang).

Want another record? Barry's 68 intentional walks bested Willie McCovey's record by 23. That is like Bonds hitting 106 homeruns to break Big Mac's record. Oh, and don't go thanking Jeff Kent for great support. Bonds was intentionally walked 8 times with the bases empty.

As if all that wasn't enough, Bonds set the on-base percentage, getting on base nearly six out of ten times at bat (.582). Even if Bonds went 0-for-403 this year, instead of 149-for-403, his walks and the nine times he was hit by a pitch would have given him a higher on-base percentage than supposed great Alfonso Soriano (.339 to .332). Teddy Ballgame had the old record at .553 in 1941. Another tough break for the Frozen One.

My personal favorite statistic this year was that Bonds was nearly the first slugger to have more home runs than strikeouts (46 to 47) since George Brett pine tarred his way to 24 home runs and just 22 strikeouts in the Royals' 1980 World Series run.

The second best player in the National League wasn't too shabby. Quick quiz: who was the NL leader in homeruns? Bet you don't know! Let me give you a hint: He is one homerun shy of 500 and became the first player to average 50 homeruns over an eight year span. The only man to average even 45 homeruns was Babe Ruth's 47 from 1926-1933. This mystery man was just one bomb short of 50, to become the first player ever to hit 50 homeruns five times. He doesn't speak English very well. He's a former Texas Ranger. You have to be getting berry, berry close. Yup, Sammy Sosa. Could you imagine his numbers if the Cubbies had one other competent hitter?

So what about the American League? Look no further than Texas. Mr. $252 million himself, Alex Rodriguez. He led the league in homers for a second straight year, shattering his own record for shortstops. A-Rod also became the first shortstop in major league history to lead the league for two years straight. Rodriguez also helped his Texas Rangers make one positive this season in hitting a homerun in a record 27 straight games.

I am sure that we all remember the Oakland A's American League record 20 consecutive victories in their September stretch run, just six games shy of the 1916 New York Giants record. Unfortunately, the wins only counted in the regular season, and they dropped from the playoffs quicker than a first-year in Chem 11.

If you want pitching, just look west to the Arizona Diamondbacks' two-headed monster: Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling. They became the first teammates ever both to have 300 strikeouts in the same season. They also became the first teammates in 31 years to win at least 20 games in consecutive seasons. Dave McNally, Mike Cuellar and Jim Palmer did it on those great 1970 and 1971 Baltimore Orioles championship teams.

Want consistency, pay attention to the Atlanta Braves. They won their 11th straight division title. That is more than double the previous record of five in a row. Braves ace Greg Maddux became the second pitcher - after Cy Young - to ever win 15 games in 15 consecutive years. His ERA was also a full run lower than the league's average for a record 11th year. New closer John Smoltz joined Dennis Eckersley as the only pitchers to have a season in which they won 20 games and another in which they saved 50 games.

Jesse Orosco set some records himself. In late September, the 45-year-old served up Bonds' 611th homer. This is just 5189 days and 75 pounds - in Bonds' case - after the last homerun Orosco served up to the all-time great. In case you were wondering, the previous longest span between home runs was 13.5 years by Chris Chambliss off Goose Gossage.

No one hit more grand slams in 2002 than the three hit by 5-foot-6-inch David Eckstein. Little Eck also became just the 22nd player to hit grand slams in back-to-back games. Babe Ruth is the only one to do so twice.

The Milwaukee Brewers lost 171 games between the end of the third season of"The Sopranos" and the start of the fourth.

Barry Bonds had hit 132 homeruns when he turned 27. A-Rod hit his 273rd, 274th and 275th when he turned 27.

Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki was second in hits with 208, after hitting 242 his rookie year. He is the first player since Harvey Kuenn in the 1953-54 season to get 200 hits in each of his first two major league seasons.

Four teams lost 100 games in the season for the first time in major league history. Kansas City lost 100 and Milwaukee, Detroit and Tampa Bay each lost 106.

Painfully for all of us, the American League East has ended up in the exact same order five years in a row: Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Orioles, Devil Rays.

Since Anaheim last played in the post-season, 25 of the other 29 Major League teams have been to the playoffs. The Expos, Royals, Brewers and Devil Rays are the only ones that have not. The Expos have the longest streak of 21 years (and smallest attendance), though they would have made it in the strike-shortened 1994 season.

Ironically, John Rocker finished the season and possibly his career with an earned run average of 6.66 this year.

Red Sox wiz Rickey Henderson reminded us that the ability to play baseball is no indication of intelligence. When Ricky was told that 50 percent of major league players allegedly are using steroids, he said, as only he can, "Well, I'm not, so that's 49 percent right there!" Henderson wasn't joking. Honest.

When Tigers rookie Andy Van Hekken threw a complete game-shutout in his big league debut, it was the first time an American League pitcher had done that in 27 years. Van Hekken was the first Tiger pitcher to do it since Schoolboy Rowe in 1933. I can't he even fathom what other names his parents decided against before settling on Schoolboy.

When Vladimir Guerrero hit his 200th home run on Aug. 9, he tied Ken Griffey, Jr. as the eighth youngest major leaguer to hit 200 home runs-literally tied. Both Guerrero and Griffey did it on the day when they were 26 years and 181 days old.

Shawn Green became the 14th player to hit four home runs in a game. But Green also had a double in that game, giving him five extra base hits, a feat previously accomplished only by Lou Boudreau in 1946, Joe Adcock in 1954, Willie Stargell in 1970 and Steve Garvey in 1977. Green's 19 total bases in one game broke Adcock's record of 18.

On June 2, Phillies pitcher Robert Person hit a grand slam home run and a three-run home run in the same game. Neither Bonds, Sosa, Griffey, Sheffield, Piazza or Jason Giambi have ever done that. In fact, Derek Jeter has never hit a grand slam, ever.

Your Boston Red Sox placed three pitchers in the top five for Earned Run Average and still did not make the playoffs. They also had American League batting champion Manny Ramirez. They are the first team to achieve this dubious fate since the 1989 California Angels. It has never happened since the inception of the wild card. Oh, and they have failed to win the World Series for the 83rd consecutive season.

And the Anaheim Angels somehow managed to win the World Series in 7 games. I wonder who called that.