One thing that the Yankees will not experience as a result of of Alex Rodriguez’s suspension for the full 2014 season: a dramatic drop in A-Rod’s games played at third base as compared to 2013.  Alex only played in 27 games at third last season.  Indeed, the guy who played the most games at third for the Yanks this past season was Jayson Nix, who himself appeared at third in only 41 games for the Yankees (Nix recently agreed on a minor league deal with Tampa for 2014).

It is extremely rare for a major league team to go a full season with no one player playing at least 42 games for them at third base. Before the 2013 Yankees, only five other teams have done that since 1901.  After the jump, a look at those teams.

2005 Dodgers.  Adrian Beltre had been the Dodgers’ primary starting third baseman every season from 1998 through 2004.  Only Ron Cey has played more games at third for the Dodgers’ franchise than Beltre.  After the ’04 season, Beltre signed with the Mariners as a free agent, and the Dodgers have been casting around off and on for a solid third baseman ever since, though they did get a solid year or two from Casey Blake and got a surprisingly valuable comeback season from the veteran Juan Uribe this past year.  In 2005, in the immediate aftermath of Beltre’s exit, the Dodgers had six different guys start between 15 and 33 games at third. The player with the most innings played at third was a long-time minor-leaguer, Mike Edwards, who played only 14 more games in the majors after that 2005 season.

1950 Browns.  The Browns’ regular third baseman after World War II had been Bob Dillinger, a .300+ batting average hitter who led the majors in both stolen bases and triples over the 1946-1949 period, and played in the All-Star game in 1949. But Baseball-Reference’s numbers suggest Dillinger was giving away nearly as much value with below-average defense as he was generating on offense, and the Browns may have agreed, as after his All-Star season in 1949 the Browns traded him to the Athletics.  Without Dillinger in 1950, the Browns circulated through a different starting third baseman almost every month. Thereafter, the Browns franchise didn’t find a starting third baseman to rely on for long until they had relocated to Baltimore and Brooks Robinson became as close to a permanent fixture at third as anyone ever has.

1918 Red Sox.  Larry Gardner had been a stalwart at third for the Red Sox from 1911 through 1917.  To this day, Gardner trails only Wade Boggs in Wins Above Replacement accumulated by a Red Sox third baseman.  Gardner also gave Boston the majors’ first-ever World Series-ending walk-off RBI (a sac fly off Christy Mathweson to clinch the 1912 Series).  By 1918, however, Boston had decided Gardner was past his prime and Harry Frazee traded him to Connie Mack’s Athletics for a younger star, the first baseman Stuffy McInnis, who was in a salary dispute with Mack.  The plan in Boston was apparently to use McInnis at third, but the Sox’ regular first baseman Dick Hoblitzell went into the Army (the First World War was on), which meant shifting McInnis to his natural spot at first.  That left Boston scrambling for a reliable third baseman and they continued to do so for years thereafter.

1912 Tigers.  Detroit’s regular third baseman both before and after 1912 was George Moriarty, who had some good seasons for the Tigers in the deadball era, and who later went on to manage the team and to umpire in the majors for many years.  In 1912 the Tigers shifted Moriarty to first base, apparently to fill a hole over there and maybe also to kick-start Moriarty himself, who b-ref’s numbers suggest had a sub-par season in 1911.  In any event, the experiment seemed to have left a gaping hole at third for the Tigers, and Moriarty was right back at third regularly in 1913.

1902 Orioles.  The AL’s Baltimore franchise had player-manager John McGraw, as well as Roger Bresnahan and Joe Kelley, at third base in 1902, but McGraw jumped to the NL’s Giants part way through the season, and brought Bresnahan and Kelley, among others, with him.  That season was the last with a major league team in Baltimore until 1954, as the Orioles’ spot in the AL was taken, beginning in 1903, by the New York franchise that the AL fervently sought to cement its major league status.