It's been nearly 30 years since George Carlin told us about the seven words you can never say on television. There are bad thoughts and bad intentions. Then we attach a somewhat random series of letters to these thoughts, and we get words. Words ultimately take on the meaning of those thoughts, but by themselves, they have no meaning. They are just a bunch of letters.
Statistics are pretty much the same thing.
Eight years ago, his feat would have placed him among the top three dozen power hitters in both leagues. In 2000, he was one of over 100 players who hit at least 20 HRs in the majors. If we look at his recent career data, the number 20 might tell us that his HR trend is on an upswing. You see, the number 20 is just like one of George Carlin's bad words. And so, if we were to project that Jeffrey Hammonds will hit 25 HRs in 2001, we really have no clue whether that represents something good or bad.