What distinguishes these eight players from baseball’s other greats? That’s for you to tell me when you find the career accomplishment that distinguishes these players from among all others?
| Rk | Name |
|---|---|
| 1 | Hank Aaron |
| 2 | Alex Rodriguez |
| 3 | Lou Gehrig |
| 4 | Willie Mays |
| 5 | Stan Musial |
| 6 | Jimmie Foxx |
| 7 | Ted Williams |
| 8 | Earle Combs |
Hint: the active player (assuming he can find work) who is closest to joining this group is Ichiro Suzuki.
Congratulations to David P, John Autin and bstar! They teamed up to identify that only these eight players had eight of more consecutive seasons scoring 100+ runs, and also had eight or more games in their careers scoring four or more runs. Those seasons and games are after the jump.
Here are the 100 run seasons for these players, each one including at least eight seasons consecutively (seasons lost to military service not counted).
| Rk ▴ | Name | Yrs | From | To | Age | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hank Aaron | 15 | 1955 | 1970 | 21-36 | Ind. Seasons |
| 2 | Alex Rodriguez | 13 | 1996 | 2008 | 20-32 | Ind. Seasons |
| 3 | Lou Gehrig | 13 | 1926 | 1938 | 23-35 | Ind. Seasons |
| 4 | Willie Mays | 12 | 1954 | 1965 | 23-34 | Ind. Seasons |
| 5 | Stan Musial | 11 | 1943 | 1954 | 22-33 | Ind. Seasons |
| 6 | Jimmie Foxx | 11 | 1929 | 1940 | 21-32 | Ind. Seasons |
| 7 | Ted Williams | 9 | 1939 | 1951 | 20-32 | Ind. Seasons |
| 8 | Earle Combs | 8 | 1925 | 1932 | 26-33 | Ind. Seasons |
And, their games scoring four or more runs.
| Rk ▴ | Player | #Matching | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lou Gehrig | 18 | Ind. Games |
| 2 | Alex Rodriguez | 15 | Ind. Games |
| 3 | Jimmie Foxx | 15 | Ind. Games |
| 4 | Ted Williams | 12 | Ind. Games |
| 5 | Earle Combs | 12 | Ind. Games |
| 6 | Willie Mays | 9 | Ind. Games |
| 7 | Hank Aaron | 9 | Ind. Games |
| 8 | Stan Musial | 8 | Ind. Games |
Charlie Gehringer just missed this group with eleven 4-run games and 7 consecutive 100 run seasons. Ichiro has a chance to join this group with one more 4-run game. Would be a nice way to cap a career, and it wouldn’t be the first time a 40 year-old has done so.
| Rk | Player | Age | Date | Tm | Opp | Rslt | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | ROE | BOP | Pos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dave Winfield | 42.237 | 1994-05-28 | MIN | DET | W 10-9 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 | DH |
| 2 | Ozzie Smith | 41.251 | 1996-09-02 | STL | HOU | W 8-7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | SS |
| 3 | Bob Thurman | 40.133 | 1957-09-24 (2) | CIN | CHC | W 11-9 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | LF |
| 4 | Reggie Jackson | 40.123 | 1986-09-18 | CAL | KCR | W 18-3 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | DH |
| 5 | Rickey Henderson | 40.103 | 1999-04-07 | NYM | FLA | W 6-0 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | LF |
| 6 | Paul Waner | 40.085 | 1943-07-10 | BRO | PIT | W 23-6 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | RF |
In the game at the top the list, Dave Winfield scored the walk-off run for the Twins in the 10th inning, and also scored the game-tying run in the 9th with none out, with Detroit escaping that frame with the bases loaded (Mike Henneman of the Tigers had come on for the save and ended up pitching all of the 9th and 10th innings to pick up the blown save and the loss).
