Top 10 First-Half Stories of 2009

A countdown of what's made news so far

We started the spring with Alex Rodriguez's admission, continued it with Manny Ramirez's dirty test and added to it with the Sammy Sosa revelation. That's three of the top power hitters in baseball history, and it's quite possible that none of the three are likely to make the Hall of Fame because of it. Baseball can't get over this problem until there's full disclosure, and unfortunately, it doesn't appear they're ready.

St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols is in his prime at age 29, and he's putting on a show, having a season that could go down for the ages. As of June 28, he's hitting .328 with a big-league best 28 homers and 78 RBI in 76 games. Somehow he's never led the National League in homers or RBI in a season, a streak that looks like it's ready to change. If anybody in the majors could get the Triple Crown in 42 years, my money is on Pujols.

The new Yankee Stadium is supposed to have the same dimensions as the old one, but the stats don't bear that out. It's almost as if they built a jet stream to right field, as home runs are flying out in the Bronx at an alarming rate - 119 in the first 35 home games. Mark Teixeira could hit 50, and Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle would have probably hit 80.

The young pitcher's death at age 22 on April 9 sent the Angels reeling. The right-hander had great potential, had just pitched well in a game earlier that night and was killed by a driver that was allegedly drunk. The Angels, a heavy favorite in the AL West, recovered well enough to take over first place by June 28, but Adenhart's loss will be remembered for years to come.

Minnesota's star catcher started the season on the DL, and teams couldn't get him out in May. Sports Illustrated then jinxed him with a late-June cover. At that point, he was the first everyday player hitting over .400 in 12 years in late June. He's slipped to .394 as of June 28, and a run at .400 seems highly unlikely. But for his combination of power and contact - and in the physically demanding position as a catcher - is remarkable.

At the advanced age of 45, Randy Johnson became the sixth left-hander in the 300-win club on June 4, and the first since Tom Seaver to win his 299th and 300th in consecutive starts. He's still throwing well in his 22nd season, a far cry from the 6-foot-10 wild child who literally scared hitters when he was younger.

The head of baseball's players' union will retire before the 2010 season, leaving a mixed legacy. Player salaries increased 10-fold in Fehr's 25 years leading the union, giving the game a better balance of its great revenues between owners and players. However, his fight against drug-testing was the wrong move at the wrong time, and the game's reputation (along with those players he made rich) are paying for it.

Now with the Houston Astros, Ivan Rodriguez became the all-time leader in games caught with his 2,227th game in a June interleague game against the team he broke in with way back in 1991, the Texas Rangers. There might be no better defensive catcher in baseball history, and he's also a .300 lifetime hitter.

You don't see a 300th home run every day, let alone in the same game. Paul Konerko and Jermaine Dye did it in the same half-inning for the Chicago White Sox, going back-to-back in an April 13 game in Detroit.

They've defined the closer position for the past decade, and both Trevor Hoffman and Mariano Rivera are still going strong. Hoffman has 571 saves as of June 28, and 17 with his new team, the Brewers, after 16 seasons in San Diego. The Yankees' Rivera picked up No. 500 against the Mets on June 28. They're the only two with 500 or more, and one of them will be the all-time leader when they retire. It's going to be interesting to see which one.

Your turn: What do you think is the biggest story and the biggest surprise of the first half?