Iron infields: teams whose 4 infielders played the most games

1964 Topps #11

Which teams have fielded the same 4 infielders for the most games in a season? Click through to find out.

These 5 teams had each infielder play at least 154 games:

Rk	Year	Tm	Lg	#Matching
1	2009	Philadelphia Phillies	NL	4	Pedro Feliz / Ryan Howard / Jimmy Rollins / Chase Utley
2	1999	New York Mets	NL	4	Edgardo Alfonzo / John Olerud / Rey Ordonez / Robin Ventura
3	1964	St. Louis Cardinals	NL	4	Ken Boyer / Dick Groat / Julian Javier / Bill White
4	1963	St. Louis Cardinals	NL	4	Ken Boyer / Dick Groat / Julian Javier / Bill White
5	1904	Boston Americans	AL	4	Jimmy Collins / Hobe Ferris / Candy LaChance / Freddy Parent

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 2/27/2012.

Among them, it’s the 1963 Cardinals that actually rank first. From their team fielding totals, you can see that Bill White started all 162 games at 1B, Julian Javier started 158 at 2B (and appeared in 161 at 2B), Ken Boyer started 159 games at 3B, and Dick Groat started 157 at SS. That’s a minimum of 157 starts for each of the 4 infielders.

In 1964, the same group did almost as well: White (159 starts), Javier (149 starts), Boyer (all 162), Groat (160 starts).

For the 2009 Phillies, Ryan Howard started 155 games at 1B, Chase Utley started 154 at 2B, Pedro Feliz started 150 games at 3B, and Jimmy Rollins started 152 games at SS.

The 1999 Mets got 159 starts from John Olerud at 1B, 158 starts from Edgardo Alfonzo at 2B, 157 starts from Robin Ventura at 3B, and 151 starts from Rey Ordonez at SS.

And then there are the 1904 Boston Americans. The franchise was a few years away from renaming itself the Red Sox. The team played 157 games that year, going 95-59-3. First baseman Candy LaChance appeared in all 157 games at 1B (there is no data on game starts, but nobody else is credited as having played a single inning for the team at 1B.) Hobe Ferris played 156 games at 2B. Jimmy Collins played 156 games at 3B. Freddy Parent played 155 games at SS. On a percentage basis, this team seems to take the cake.

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KalineCountry

12 years ago

The 1934 Detroit Tigers infield called “The Battalion of Death” with Greenberg, Gehringer, Billy Rogell, and Marv Owen missed the mentioned group of teams with 154 games per infielder by 1 game not played…That would be Hammerin’ Hank with 153.
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/roster.php?y=1934&t=DET
Baseball Almanac
That Tigers infield still holds the major league record of 462 rbi in a season.

Author

Andy

12 years ago

Reply to KalineCountry

Was Greenberg really known as Hammerin’ Hank? I can’t imagine I’m the only one who things of Hank Aaron…

Voomo Zanzibar

12 years ago

Reply to Andy

Shoulda been “Hammerin’ @ Home Hank”

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.cgi?id=greenha01&year=1938&t=b#hmvis

KalineCountry

12 years ago

Reply to Andy

Yes he was… and also Hankus Pankus, and that is true with me also about first thinking of Hank Aaron as Hammerin Hank.

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to Andy

According to the recent biography, Aaron didn’t like to be called Hank, although he grew to accept it. His teammates generally called him Bad Henry.

Richard Chester

12 years ago

Reply to KalineCountry

The 1950 Red Sox starting infield consisting of Dropo, Doerr, Stephens and Pesky was close, driving in 457 runs. Utility player and batting champ Billy Goodman played 40+ games in the infield so he surely had a few RBIs while playing there.

Lawrence Azrin

12 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

That’s even more impressive if you also consider that Dropo and Pesky missed some games (136 and 127 games played respectively), and that Pesky batted second most of the season.

They scored 1027 runs, and imagine how many more they would’ve scored if Ted Williams hadn’t missed 65 games (broke his elbow in the AS game catching a fly ball against the wall).

Brandon

12 years ago

I was recently looking at the ’82 pirates and at first thought they might make it. Jason Thompson, Johnny Ray, Dale Berra, and Bill Madlock all played 154+ games but didn’t appear in the field in all those contests.

Author

Andy

12 years ago

Reply to Brandon

In fact it was that post on your blog that made me think of looking this up!

ambiguator

12 years ago

Interesting aside(s):
* only the 99 Phils and the 64 Cards made it to the world series, and only the Cards won.
* 4 / 5 of these years featured the Yankees in the World Series
* In 1904 there was no World Series, as the New York Giants refused to play the “junior” league champions, Boston

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to ambiguator

I think 3 pennant winners, one NLCS loser and one 2nd-place team is a hell of a performance.

Voomo Zanzibar

12 years ago

“Candy LaChance was perhaps the league’s best-fielding first baseman. . . Possessed of a sour disposition . . . LaChance once challenged (Rube) Waddell to a wrestling match, which lasted an hour. Waddell finally pinned the exhausted LaChance . . .”

– from the book 27 Men Out: Baseball’s Perfect Games

Lawrence Azrin

12 years ago

I understand this post is listing the four infielders on one team who played the most games, but I think it’s more useful to see which team had their four infielders play the highest _percentage_ of total games played. Infielders on teams since 1961 have an obvious advantage. Using the minimum of 154 games missed the 1934 Tigers (#1 above), but might also miss the 1918 and 1919 seasons, when teams played about 130 and 140 games respectively. It’s also possible for an infield to play every game that year in a 154-game schedule, but not play 154 games, if… Read more »

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to Lawrence Azrin

Also, a lot of players in the old days played more games than their teams’ total of wins and losses, due to ties. Gehrig had 7 years with more than 154 games, including 2 years of 157.

Unfortunately, it’s not possible to do anything with the Play Index based on a percentage of team’s games.

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

No doubt some folks remember the Sports Illustrated cover raising the question, “Greatest Infield Ever?”, about the ’99 Mets. Seems a bit silly in retrospect, but they did post bWAR values of 6.7 (Ventura), 5.7 (Alfonzo), 5.3 and 2.7 (Ordonez), a total of 21.4. Two famous infields have had all 4 members score 4+ bWAR: the 1913 Athletics’ “$100,000 Infield” and the 1939 Reds’ “Jungle Cats” infield. The A’s totaled a whopping 30.2 WAR, as Collins (10.4) & Baker (9.4) were the 2 most valuable position players in the majors, while Stuffy McInnis and Jack Baker rated #3 and #5… Read more »

Lawrence Azrin

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

John A., Bill James had a long article on the greatest infields ever in his NBJHA, he used his Win Shares method, but the 1913 A’s were still near the very top. #12 – I understand that in the pre-lighting 154-game season era, players often played more than 154 games; in 1904 Jimmy Barrett of the Tigers actually played 162 games. I also find it amusing that Lou Gehrig played every game in 1935, but totalled only 149 and didn’t lead the AL (Hal Trosky, 154 games played). I personally find the 1934 Tigers infield the most impressive, missing only… Read more »

Dr. Doom

12 years ago

Reply to Lawrence Azrin

The 1913 A’s were at the top, as I recall. However, James messed up his addition and credited them with ten fewer Win Shares than they deserved.

Dr. Doom

12 years ago

Reply to Dr. Doom

And speaking of Bill James, I have the “Hey Bill” section of his website open in another tab as I was commenting here. Best quote ever.

Reader: If you could only use one stat to evaluate hitters what would you use

Bill: If I only had one stat to evaluate hitters I would invent a second one.

birtelcom

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

That Mets infield was particularly hyped at the time for its defensive prowess, and b-ref’s defensive calculations seem to confirm the hype. B-ref’s defensive runs above average stat shows Ordonez in 1999 with the 4th highest season total at shortstop in history and Ventura tied for with Brooks Robinson’s 1967 for the highest season total by a third baseman in history (first place is held by Brooks Robinson’s 1968). John Olerud at first base for the Mets in 1999 had a very high defensive runs above average number for a first baseman, good for second best in the majors among… Read more »

bstar

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

I figured the Big Red Machine infield, mid-70s addition, deserved a look. But Concepcion didn’t play full-time ’til 74, Pete Rose played left field until 1975, and Perez began his decline in 1976. That just leaves the Rose/Concepcion/Morgan/Perez 1975 infield (Rose played 137 games at 3B that year). They totaled 22.9 bWAR, with Morgan producing over 50% of that with 12.0 WAR himself.

Tmckelv

12 years ago

1964 Topps is a nice set. The card design is simple and underrated.

It is the oldest complete set I own. I finished it in early 2010. It (along with 1965) is a good 1960’s set to try to complete because it has all of the great 1960’s star players in their prime, but no really expensive rookies or short-print series cards like virtually all of the other sets of the 1960’s. The High-numbers are a little expensive, but nothing compared to 1961, 1962, 1963, 1966, or 1967.

Hub Kid

12 years ago

Reply to Tmckelv

Tmckelv, thanks for the great card advice. I’ll try and remember 1964 and 1965 Topps for when i am back in the card collecting market.

Tmckelv

12 years ago

A couple of the famous multi-season infields:

Astros – Caminity, Ramirez, Biggio, Bagwell
Dodgers – Cey, Russell, Lopes, Garvey

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to Tmckelv

That regular Dodger infield was intact for 7 straight seasons, 1974 to 1980. Streak ended when Lopes started just under half the Dodger games in 1981, then was traded to Oakland before the 1982 season.

If the threshold is lowered slightly to 148 games started, then that Dodger infield makes the grade in consecutive seasons, 1978 and 1979. Lowered to 145 starts, then Garvey, Russell, Cey and Steve Sax also make the grade in 1982.

John Williams

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

Steve Yeager was the starting catcher the Dodgers 1974 to 1980 to go along with the Cey, Russell, Lopes, Garvey infield. I know for catchers it is harder given the wear and tear of the position, but Yeager was over a 100 games four seasons and mid 90’s for the other three.

Cody

12 years ago

I’m kind of surprised the famed 1970s Dodgers infield wasn’t on this list. Of course they may have faced injuries at several points in their careers or brief substitutions, but still.

Doug

12 years ago

The Orioles had the same regular infield (Powell, Johnson, Belanger, Robinson) for 5 straight seasons, from 1968 to 1972. All had at least 140 starts in 1968 and 1969.

Doug

12 years ago

The two league champions in 1944 each had all 4 infielders appearing in 140+ games. Among McQuinn, Gutteridge, Stephens and Christman for the Browns, and Sanders, Verban, Marion and Kurowski for the Cards, only the rookie Verban (with 139 starts) missing starting in 140+ games.

Paul E

12 years ago

In addition to the four infielders, Charlie Manual played Werth and Victorino 154+ games. Ibanez was hitting the cover off the ball in April, May, and June when he went on the DL with a pulled groin. He missed a good bit of time, probably more than the 15 day stint. He finished with 139 games played and, if Charlie had his way, he would have played 154+ as well…. Rollins, Howard, Utley, Ibanez, Polanco – all broken down in the ass over the last two years at one time or another by Charlie’s penchant for writing the same line-up… Read more »

Voomo Zanzibar

12 years ago

Reply to Paul E

Manual looks like he re-uses lineup cards, complete with coffee stains.

Voomo Zanzibar

12 years ago

Manuel looks like he re-uses lineup cards.
And I’d bet he has Sports Illustrateds on his coffee table still there from the 70’s

vivaeljason

12 years ago

I could have sworn that in 1904, baseball teams only played 140. Or at most 154. Don’t know for sure.

Author

Andy

12 years ago

Reply to vivaeljason

There was a lot more variation back then. The schedules changed a lot from year to year, especially right around WWI.

Richard Chester

12 years ago

Reply to vivaeljason

From 1901-1903 the schedule was 136 games and then increased to 154 in 1904. The actual number of games played by each team varied due to tie games and postponements which were not made up. The seasons in 1918 and 1919 were shortened due to WWI and the flu epidemic.

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

Schedule was 140 in 1901-03, 20 games against each opponent. I don’t know if any team actually played 140 games.

In 1918, under political pressure, they cut it to 129 by ending the season early; the WS was played Sept. 5-11. In 1919, they started late and played 140 games; Opening Day for most teams was April 23.

Richard Chester

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

Thanks for the correction, my total of 136 came from misleading stats in B-R. During that 3-year span there were 22 occasions of teams playing at least 140 games. There were just 5 occasions of teams whose W-L total was 140.

Lawrence Azrin

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

Actually, the 154-game schedule first started in 1892. Then it went back down to 136 from 1893-97, back up to 154 in 1898-99, down to 140 in 1900-03, staying permanently at 154 till 1961 (1962 in the NL), except for the aforementioned 1918 (season cut short due to WWI) and 1919 (scheduled for 140) seasons. The AA played 140 games from 1886-91, as did the Players League in its only year of 1890. The Federal League played 154 games both of its years. Confusing, huh? 1961 is the only season the AL and NL had a different number of scheduled… Read more »

BryanM

12 years ago

Is Charlie Manuel today’s Billy Martin? He used to run pitchers out there until their arms fell off.

BryanM

12 years ago

Is Charlie Manuel today’s Billy Martin? Billy used to run pitchers out there until their arms fell off.

Chris

12 years ago

I’m surprised not to see any infields with Cal Ripken on the list.

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to Chris

The O’s were never set for long at 3B or 2B during Ripken’s career.

Gary Bateman

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

Although the Ripken brothers hold the franchise record for longest double play combination with six years (1987-92). Billy, however, was only a 150 game player in one of those years.

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

The most players on one team with 150+ games (any position) is 6, done 15 times, most recently the 2009 Phillies.

Paul E

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

So, if Ibanez doesn’t yank his groin, Charlie breaks the all-time record. Now, Amaro has picked up supersubs Wigginton and Nix tio rest Utley and Polanco and platoon with Mayberry. Neither takes a walk, but they damn sure can’t field

Steven

12 years ago

That Cardinal infield was a distant memory by 1966. Opening Day had Cnarley Smith at third, Jerry Buchek at short, Javier at second, and George Kernek at first. They played the Phillies, who had…Groat at shortstop, and Bill White at first.

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

FWIW, 154 games is 95% of a 162-game schedule. Applying the same 95% standard to shorter seasons brings in no more iron infields from any of the strike-shortened years (1994-95, 1981, 1972), nor from the war-shortened years of 1918-19, nor the 140-game years of 1901-03. But there are a few more from the 154-game schedule (threshold is now 146): – 1953 Cards: Steve Bilko, Solly Hemus, Ray Jablonski, Red Schoendienst. – 1952 Phils: Granny Hamner, Willie Jones, Connie Ryan, Eddie Waitkus. – 1947 Cards: Whitey Kurowski, Marty Marion, Stan Musial, Red Schoendienst. – 1936 Indians: Odell Hale, Roy Hughes, Bill… Read more »

AlbaNate

12 years ago

The old blog, on bbref.com had a post about the Mets infield of 2008, which had three players who played 159 games or more (Delgado, Reyes, Wright) plus outfielder Beltran who played 161 games.

Paul E

12 years ago

Reply to AlbaNate

And those 2008 Mets finished 7 – 10 to miss the NL East flag by 3 games to the Phillies and the wild card by one game to the Brewers

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to Paul E

Yes, but it was their bullpen that collapsed, not their “overworked” regulars. The 2008 Mets scored 5.0 R/G in September, slightly more than their season average. Even in those last 10 losses, they scored 30 runs, which is a lot for losses. Let’s look at the September records of those 4 players who played 159+ games: — Carlos Beltran, .344 BA, 1.086 OPS, 6 HR, 19 RBI, 22 R in 25 G, 6-0 in steals. — Carlos Delgado, .340 BA, 1.049 OPS, 8 HR, 22 RBI. (He had a phenomenal 2nd half overall, .991 OPS with 21 HR and 63… Read more »

Paul E

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

John:
You’re absolutely right. Of the four, Reyes in the final 17 games, went .270 .333 .459 and scored 13 times. He was the WORST of the four, with Delgado having a .926 OPS and the other two above 1.000 for the final 17 games….

As always, blame Aaron Heilmann. That guy just seemed to always get “lit-up when it counted”.

Paul E

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

How about Delgado, Wright, Beltran, and Reyes all compiling over 300 total bases in the 2008 season? I imagine this hasn’t been done too frequently in the history of baseball?

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to Paul E

Nice one, Paul. The record is 5 players with 300+ total bases, by the 2000 Angels The 2008 Mets are the last of 9 teams with 4 such players. 2000, Anaheim Angels, 5 – Garret Anderson / Darin Erstad / Troy Glaus / Tim Salmon / Mo Vaughn 2008, New York Mets, 4 – Carlos Beltran / Carlos Delgado / Jose Reyes / David Wright 2007, Philadelphia Phillies, 4 – Ryan Howard / Jimmy Rollins / Aaron Rowand / Chase Utley 2004, New York Yankees, 4 – Derek Jeter / Hideki Matsui / Alex Rodriguez / Gary Sheffield 1999, Arizona… Read more »

Lawrence Azrin

12 years ago

Reply to Paul E

The 1984 Red Sox had their entire outfield (Rice, Armas, Evans) plus Mike Easler with 300+ TB, plus Wade Boggs had 260 TB. This was mentioned quite a bit after the 1984 season.

The 1927 Yankees had two players over 400(!) in 1927, that being Ruth and Gehrig of course. Those two also had over 375 TB in 1930.

I’m sure that someone with B-R P-I agility can generate a complete list.

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Some iron teams:

8 players with at least 144 games – 1962 Twins, 1978 Expos, 1978 Red Sox (none was a DH).
9 players with at least 138 games – 1982 Angels (with a DH).
9 players with at least 136 games (no DH) – 1963 Twins (OF Lenny Green was used a lot as a defensive replacement, with 145 G but only 319 PAs).
10 players with at least 123 games – 2003 Astros, 1999 Reds.

All were good teams.

Tmckelv

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

There’s my 1978 Expos again…which is not surprising since we talked a few weeks ago about all 8 starters having had 550+ PA.

As for the 1978 Red Sox (which was an awesome team), none of the 8 players were primarily DH, but several of them needed the DH position to get to the 144 game limit (Remy, Hobson, Rice, Evans, Yaz).

Paul E

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

JA:
Re “All were good teams”….’78 Expos won 76 games. They started to contend shortly thereafter

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to Paul E

Fair point … although their Pythagorean record was 84-78, as they outscored the opposition, 633-611.

Paul E

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

John,
Re Pythagoras, the game is still played on the field 🙂

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to Paul E

True, but Pythagorean record has been proven to be a better predictor of future record, of who will win a given matchup, etc. — in other words, it’s a truer measure of the quality of a team.

Lawrence Azrin

12 years ago

Reply to Paul E

What position did this Pythagoras guy play, and how many World Series did _he_ win?

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to Paul E

Lawrence #66 — Pythagoras may not have known how to throw a curveball, but he knew that the distance from home to 2nd base is 127′ 3″.

Mike L

12 years ago

Reply to Paul E

Paul (and lawrence azerin @ 66). FYI-Mikis Theodorakis Pythagoras (Iron Mike) was a hard throwing righthander out of the Hellenic League who saved 41 games (in a 120 game season) in 1988. The Yankees had an interest in him-they were hoping to move Righetti back into the rotation. There was also a rumor that George was looking to make inroads into the Met’s fanbase in Astoria and Flushing. It didn’t work out. He apparently injured his arm slipping on a spanakopita and returned to graduate school, getting a PhD in applied mathematics and then working on early cell-phone versions for… Read more »

Paul E

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

I can remember Dick Williams maintaining Rodney Scott (and his 70 OPS+) was the “heart and soul” of his contending ballclubs. Was this supposed to be motivation for guys like Dawson, Carter, Valentine, Cromartie, Rodgers?

Hartvig

12 years ago

Reply to Paul E

Maybe he was just trying to keep Bill “Spaceman” Lee happy. He kind of went off the deep end when Fanning took over from Williams & pretty much quit playing Scott.

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

Other AL teams (besides 1982 Angels) with all 9 guys (incl. DH) over 130 games. – 2005 Indians, 9 over 137, 8 over 141 – 2006 White Sox, 9 over 132, but only 5 over 140 The 1963 Twins didn’t really had 9 guys who played 130 games in the field. The swing player you mention (Lenny Green) played 135 games, but 26 of them were only as PR or PH. The most games for 9 players without a DH seems to be the 1965 White Sox. Their swing guy was J.C. Martin who shared catching duties with John Romano.… Read more »

topper009

12 years ago

So which team used the fewest number of lineups all-time?

Hartvig

12 years ago

Reply to topper009

Casey Stengel has to hold most of the top 10 seasons for MOST lineup changes for a championship team.

Off the top of my head, the ’69 Cubs probably rank pretty high on the fewest end of the equation.

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to Hartvig

Good shot on the ’69 Cubs, Hartvig … but the ’68 edition had an even more static lineup. They’re one of 15 teams with 6 guys with 150+ games, and their 7th had 143. The ’67 Cubs also had 7 guys with 144+ games.

Maybe Durocher thought the College of Coaches was still in charge of lineup cards….

Lawrence Azrin

12 years ago

Reply to Hartvig

A lot of that is the versatility of supersub Gil McDougal, and his ability to play well at second base and third base AND shortstop throughout the 1950s. Kinda like Tony Philips, but better.

Richard Chester

12 years ago

Reply to Lawrence Azrin

I would not characterize McDougald as a sub, he averaged 134 GP and 540 PA per year. He was a starting player with a capability to play at second, third and short.

Lawrence Azrin

12 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

Richard,

We’ve fallen into the nuances of semantics. “Starter” usually implies a player who has a primary position within a particular year. McDougald did had a primary position most years, but also played a fair amount of games at another position most years. He was was both a starter _and_ a supersub.

I was using the term “supersub” (not sub) as a term of admiration for players such as McDougald, Phillips, and Billy Goodman for being versatile to play well at several different positions.

Richard Chester

12 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

OK, good reply.

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to topper009

I don’t know how to find the answer to that, but the 1962-63 Twins are in the running. The ’62 club had 8 regulars play 144 games or more (one of 3 teams to ever do that). The ’63 edition had 9 guys with at least 136 games; those 9 got 87% of the team’s non-pitcher PAs.

topper009

12 years ago

Without a play index subscription this took awhile, but can anyone name the outfields in the past 10 years to have 3 players with at least 150 games?

Hint, they occurred:
2001 NL
2003 NL
2009 NL
2011 AL (2)

Tmckelv

12 years ago

Reply to topper009

I would guess 2011 Yankees with Gardner, Granderson, Swisher – they seemed to be out there almost every game.

Hartvig

12 years ago

Reply to Tmckelv

Looks like Swisher played only 141 games in right plus another 11 at first & 5 at DH (he only played 150 games total so he must have split time at different positions in a few games).

But I cannot for the life of me figure out who the second AL team (besides KC that Richard already found) would be. I thought for a moment it might actually be Baltimore because of Jones & Markakis but they didn’t have a regular left fielder

topper009

12 years ago

Reply to Hartvig

I used 90% of games played in the outfield so it found Swisher, I guess that was wrong so the Royals were the only team in 2011.

The NL teams were the
2001 Phillies
2003 Braves (with Chipper in LF)
2009 Astros

Richard Chester

12 years ago

2011 AL; Royals–Francoeur, Gordon Cabrera. I found that via PI without a subscription. I could find the others but I have to run out now.

topper009

12 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

The point is not to just look it up, I already did that. Can anyone figure out the answers off the top of their head?