Search Feature Enhancements

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Search features for accessing the archive of HHS posts have been expanded. Click the Search link at the top of the HHS main page to try them out. More details are after the jump.

The Search facility includes:

a free format text search of all posts and comments
NEW: searching of posts based on classification category

An initial set of classification categories is shown on the Search page. Feel free to suggest other categories, or sub-categories within those shown.

At present, I’ve classified posts since 2016 and will continue with older posts going forward. Please note that some older posts used a tool to format data into tables. Since the site rebuild after the crash in late 2016, this tool is no longer supported and those tables are not displayed in the articles. As a longer term objective, I will endeavor to update those articles where I can identify and locate the original source data that was displayed in the tables.

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e pluribus munu

6 years ago

Wonderful! The Research and Analysis section alone is a big addition — it makes HHS research accessible for browsing, so that we can use and revisit the data brought together in these entries. I’ve been having fun looking through some of the other categories too. I think this is a lot more useful than a simple keyword search function (which is still available). HHS active participants have been thinning, especially since the 2016 site crash, but I hope the work Doug has put in here can lay the basis for better discussions and an easier path for people who first… Read more »

Hub Kid

6 years ago

This is really neat work – thank you, Doug. Naturally, I went straight to the CoG category, but it’s good to see the others too.

e pluribus munu

6 years ago

I’d like to illustrate the pleasures of Doug’s topical search index. A few entries down on the “Research & Analysis” list is an article Doug posted called, Best ‘Bad’ Pitching Seasons, which didn’t receive the attention it deserved. Doug was identifying a list of good pitching seasons where the quality of the team deeply undermined the pitcher’s stats. His parameters were narrow, and the discussion actually all focused on two seasons excluded from Doug’s list: Nolan Ryan in 1987, which Richard brought up, and Turk Farrell in 1962, which nsb and I thought of. Then discussion stopped before we ever… Read more »

Richard Chester

6 years ago

Reply to e pluribus munu

I do remember there was a bit of controversy concerning the MVP vote in 1950, centered about Rizzuto and Garver. Many argued that because Garver pitched for a 7th place team he should not have been too seriously considered. Rizzuto was at the peak of his popularity that year and played for a pennant-winning team which also happened to be the Yankees. Offensively and defensively he was outstanding. IIRC he set a then record consecutive streak for errorless games for a SS that year. I might add that his popularity led to his being selected as the first mystery guest… Read more »

e pluribus munu

6 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

Richard, your memory is longer than mine by several years (I remember your recollection of hearing the outcome of the ’47 Series), but I wonder whether you might not be conflating ’50 and ’51. Garver seems to have received little notice in Rizzuto’s year (only advanced stats show how good he was), but with his 20 wins, Garver was in the thick of it in ’51, when Yogi prevailed as MVP.

More important, I’m wondering whether you watched Scooter on “What’s My Line?”

Richard Chester

6 years ago

Reply to e pluribus munu

epm: You are right, the controversy was between Berra and Garver in 1951. No, I did not see the Scooter on that particular show, but of course there was no advance notice

e pluribus munu

6 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

Well, thanks to the modern miracle of YouTube, Rizzuto’s appearance on the debut of “What’s My Line” is available for us all to wonder at (skip to about 24:00). (It really is a hoot: Rizzuto was singlehandedly unmasked by a 1930s Governor of New Jersey — not the sort of panelist you’d expect later in the show’s history.)

Richard Chester

6 years ago

Reply to e pluribus munu

Not having anything better to do at the moment I decided to have some fun and get a list of baseball related people who appeared as mystery guests on that show. Here it is. Phil Rizzuto Ted Williams Joe DiMaggio Roy Campanella Dizzy Dean Jackie Robinson Sal Maglie Chuck Dressen Willie Mays Branch Rickey Ralph Houk Casey Stengel Russ Hodges (radio and TV announcer) Duke Snider Leo Durocher Robin Roberts Ford Frick Bonnie Baker (female professional baseball player) Durocher appeared on 5/31/53. His wife, actress Laraine Day, was one of the panelists who had to guess the mystery person. The… Read more »

Voomo Zanzibar

6 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

Ah, epm beat me to the Rizzuto link.
Well, here it is, cued up:
https://youtu.be/Nw5IwQ2mLX4?t=24m13s

As for Garver, he did have a couple of 100+ ops+ seasons, eight years apart.
The 7 years in between?

.177 / .245 / .215 / .459 / 27

Voomo Zanzibar

6 years ago

Reply to Voomo Zanzibar

And at about 27:20, the host asks Scooter what he does during the offseason.
He answers that he works in a clothing store in Newark.

Richard Chester

6 years ago

Reply to Voomo Zanzibar

Yogi Berra also worked there.

e pluribus munu

6 years ago

Reply to Voomo Zanzibar

True enough, Voomo. But remember, Garver was a pitcher. That 27 OPS+ from 1952-58 still earned 0.8 oWAR. What makes Garver stand out is the 4.0 oWAR that he contributed in his five good hitting seasons, 3.2 in his initial four seasons, which is the period I was describing. Garver’s lifetime 52 OPS+ may seem weak, but he actually ranks #29 among pitchers with 900+ PA (eliminating crossover players by screening for 90% of games as pitcher or pinch hitter/runner). True pitchers are really bad hitters at the MLB level. No pitcher able to sustain a career as long as… Read more »

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Doug

6 years ago

Reply to e pluribus munu

Another related season would be Dick Donovan’s 1961 season with the expansion Washington Senators. Donovan led the league in ERA, ERA+ and WHIP (the only “good” black ink for a pitcher on an expansion team in its maiden season), one of 99 pitchers with that trifecta, but the only one to do so for a team with a sub-.400 record. Bennie Daniels (12-11) was the only pitcher on that Senators’ team with a winning record; ironically he holds the franchise record for lowest career W-L% (min. 50 decisions).

Voomo Zanzibar

6 years ago

Reply to Doug

Ah, best seasons by WAR, just eyeballing the recent expansion teams:

7.0 … Turk Farrell (Colt .45s)
5.2 … Ken McBride (Angels)
4.2 … Dick Donovan
4.2 … Wally Bunker (K.C.)
4.1 … Rolando Arroyo (St. Pete)
4.0 … Bryan Harvey (Miami) (in relief)

3.9 … Don McMahon (Colt .45s)
3.1 … Armando Reynoso (Denver)
3.1 … Andy Benes (Phoenix)
3.0 … Moe Drabowsky (K.C.) (in relief)
3.0 … Roger Craig (Mets)
3.0 … Al Jackson (Mets)
2.3 … Joe Neikro (Sandy Eggo) (and he didn’t start the season with them)
0.5 … Jim Bouton (Pilots)

e pluribus munu

6 years ago

Reply to Voomo Zanzibar

Yeah. Farrell’s season was what originally attracted my attention. As for Donovan, after that great/awful season in Washington, he was traded to Cleveland, where went 20-10 with a mediocre ERA (his ERA+ dropped from 163 to 107). I remember his being asked which was better, the ERA crown or 20 wins. He said there was no contest: Wins.

Author

Doug

6 years ago

Reply to e pluribus munu

Interesting read about Turk Farrell. He was a polio victim as a child, resulting in stunted growth of his left leg and foot (his plant leg on his delivery). Received regular hospital treatments until age 18, and walked with a limp the rest of his life.