Tuesday was a big day for walks. Cincinnati's Aaron Boone drew his first of the season after going 71 at-bats without one. Detroit's Deivi Cruz went 60 at-bats before drawing his first walk, so maybe he'll challenge last year's total of 13. And Rickey Henderson drew walk No. 2,062, tying Babe Ruth for the all-time record (fittingly, it came off a guy named Brock, Philadelphia's Chris Brock). Wednesday night, Henderson drew a free pass off Jose Mesa to pass Ruth.

Walks can be great things for a hitter. They wear out pitching staffs, they crowd the bases, they create deep counts, which can allow a hitter the chance to see everything a pitcher throws in the course of one at-bat. They are a major reason why Ted Williams had a career on-base percentage of .483, and had three seasons of .500 or better. They're a big reason why Henderson will skate into the Hall of Fame. They're another reason why Ruth is considered the greatest player of all time -- he had 13 100-walk seasons, including 11 in a row.

Not everyone likes to, or can, walk. Yankes second baseman Alfonso Soriano swung at the first pitch in each of his four at-bats Tuesday night; he has 90 at-bats without a walk so far (the record for the most at-bats into a season before drawing a walk is 268 by Rob Picciolo in 1980; he finished with two walks in 271 at-bats).

This sets up an interesting race. What will happen first, Soriano takes a walk, or Greg Maddux issues a walk? Soriano isn't alone, of course. Mariano Duncan once went 220 at-bats into a season without walking, and in one stretch, struck out 87 times between walks. Former Rangers infielder Jeff Kunkel went his first 132 major league at-bats in 1984 without a walk: when he finally did, he stopped the game and asked for the ball. Indians outfielder Juan Gonzalez has only a few more career walks (381) than Barry Bonds has intentional walks (322). Tony Armas finished his career with nearly as many homers (251) as walks (260). Some players follow what former Reds infielder Ron Oester said years ago after a long walkless stretch, "If I'd wanted to walk, I would have been a postman."

Henderson is the career walks leader because he has a great eye, a deep crouch and a dialogue with umpires. Years ago, when the first pitch of a game to Henderson was called a strike, he said to the umpire, "Rickey didn't like that call, I'll give you that one, don't call any more strikes like that on Rickey." It was his job to get on base because he's a leadoff man: according to the Elias Sports Bureau, 45 percent of Henderson's walks have come with no outs, which is significant. By contrast, Elias reports that 40 percent of Frank Thomas' walks have come with two outs.

Not every leadoff guy looks at it that way. The Dodgers' Marquis Grissom hasn't walked in 44 at-bats this year and L.A.'s leadoff men have only three walks total. Tony Womack, Arizona's leadoff hitter, had fewer walks last season (30) than Mark McGwire had in May (32).

The A's won their division last season partly because they drew 750 walks, the 12th-highest total in major-league history, then watched a bunch of those runners walk home ahead of home runs. A's general manager Billy Beane is the game's biggest proponent of the walk -- rarely will he be interested in a player who doesn't. The 2000 Mariners' road to the ALCS was paved by 775 walks, 5th-most ever, most in 51 years. Many walks often means many wins -- the combined winning percentage of the 20 highest, single-season team walk totals is .576.

Which brings us to the Royals. Last season, they drew the fewest walks in the American League with 511. Their pitchers walked the most hitters in the league, 693. They became the first team since the 1972 Angels to walk the fewest times but walk the most opposing hitters (that was Nolan Ryan's first year in California when no Angels hitter drew as many as 50 walks).

"We're not asking our guys to walk more," says Royals general manager Allard Baird. "We don't want to take away their aggressiveness and their manipulative skills. We want to get into more hitter's counts. We have a good hitting team. We preach to our guys 'imagine if our offense was hitting 2-0, 3-1 all the time.' As for our pitchers, we have to throw strike one. When you walk a guy, then get behind the next guy, you think 'I've got to throw a strike.' "

Being selective is often a function of maturity, and the Royals have a young club. But to walk 182 more hitters than they drew walks -- call it a minus-182 -- is a horrendous gap. By comparison, the three-time defending World Champion Yankees have averaged a plus-126 in walk differential the last three years. In 1998, the Yankees walked 653 times and issued 466, a plus-187. It's no coincidence that that team won 114 games. It's also no coincidence that the Yankees are 6-0 against the Royals this year. "We can learn a lot from the Yankees, they're always hitting in hitter's counts," says Baird. "Doing that is as good as a walk."

Walks can be overrated, however. You can overdo it. Rich Becker walked 67 times in 285 at-bats last year, but he goes to the plate looking to walk, not to hit, which is why he's back in the minor leagues. Gene Tenace had a very good career, but when he went to the Padres in 1977, they were a terrible offensive club and needed him to be less selective than he'd been on those great Oakland teams. They needed him to to swing the bat more often, as he led the league in walks, but drove in just 61 runs and the Padres lost 93 games.

Sometimes, especially for a middle-of-the-order guy, it's better to be like Don Mattingly or Kirby Puckett or Andre Dawson. They used to swing at the pitch that was four inches off the plate, or up at their eyes, because they could hit it hard somewhere and maybe knock in two runs. Walks are great, walks are important, but they're not for everyone. As Shawon Dunston (zero walks this year) has said, "You know me, I'm going to be hacking at anything."

Tim Kurkjian is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine and a regular contributor to Baseball Tonight. E-mail tim.kurkjian@espnmag.com.