This post is for voting and discussion in the 34th round of balloting for the Circle of Greats.  This round adds to the ballot those players born in 1941.  Rules and lists are after the jump. Continue reading →

Nolan Ryan crept as close as one vote back during this week’s voting but Fergie Jenkins, in his first ballot appearance, ultimately pulled away with a strong showing.  Jenkins appeared on well over half the ballots to become the 33rd player inducted into the High Heat Stats Circle of Greats.  More on Jenkins, and the balloting results, after the jump (or you can click here first for another Fergie: Fergalicious ). Continue reading →

With the Red Sox and Cardinals meeting each other for the fourth time in World Series history, a list of the matchups that have occurred most frequently might be appropriate.  Here is a list of all the combinations that have occurred more than twice:

11 World Series meetings: Yankees/Dodgers
7 World Series meetings: Yankees/Giants
5 World Series meetings: Yankees/Cardinals
4 World Series meetings: Yankees/Braves, Athletics/Giants, Tigers/Cubs, Red Sox/Cardinals (including 2013)
3 World Series meetings: Yankees/Reds, Tigers/Cardinals

I count a total of ten matchups that have occurred exactly twice: the Yankees with the Cubs, Phils and Pirates; the A’s with the Cubs, Reds, Dodgers and Cards; the Indians with the Braves (Native American nickname vs. Native American nickname); the Senators (now known as the Twins) with the Giants; and the Orioles with the Pirates.

This post is for voting and discussion in the 33rd round of balloting for the Circle of Greats.  This round adds to the ballot those players born in 1942.  Rules and lists are after the jump. Continue reading →

Joe Morgan was not the favorite baseball broadcaster of the High Heat Stats community.  But as most of us recognize, the same sabermetric analysis that Morgan denigrated when speaking into a microphone shows that he was likely the greatest modern second baseman of all.  Though some COG voters declined to look past Joe’s television shtick, a large majority were able to use their evaluative mute buttons and view Morgan’s playing career in its own right, voting Little Joe in as the 32nd inductee into the HHS Circle of Greats.  More on Morgan and the balloting results, if you click on this RTROTE underline thing: Continue reading →

Most Consecutive Post-Season Games With At Least One Time On Base:
1. Miguel Cabrera 28 games (current streak)
2. Chase Utley 27 games
3. Boog Powell 25 games
T4. Carlos Beltran and Carlos Ruiz 24 games
T6. Lou Gehrig and Lance Berkman 23 games
T8. Joe Morgan and Rickey Henderson 22 games
T10. Derek Jeter and Barry Bonds 21 games

With respect to post-season hit streaks (consecutive post-season games with at least one hit), the record is 17 games, jointly held by Hank Bauer, Derek Jeter and Manny Ramirez.

Yoenis Cespedes has a current post-season hit streak going of 9 games.  If Yoenis gets a hit in tonight’s game, he will match Babe Ruth’s current post-season hit streak of ten games.

Yes, the Babe has hits in each of his ten most recent post-season games, and should he mount an unlikely post-retirement, post-death comeback Ruth could challenge the 17-game record.  The longest currently active post-season hit streak is 12, held by Al Dark, who is still alive, though at age 91 his opportunities to break the 17-game record are probably limited.  After Dark (so to speak), the holder of the next-longest current streak is Billy Martin, with hits in his last 11 post-season games.  As with the Babe, death will probably interfere with Billy’s extending that streak, though with PEDs these days, who knows?  Three actually living, albeit long-retired, guys have, like the Babe, ten-game current streaks: Hall of Famers Barry Larkin and Ryne Sandberg, plus Roy White, the fine Yankee outfielder of the 1960s and 70s.  And there is one guy with a ten-game active post-game hit streak who does have a real chance to extend it someday, Pablo Sandoval.

This post is for voting and discussion in the 32nd round of balloting for the Circle of Greats.  This round adds to the ballot those players born in 1943 who were not added in the previous round.  Rules and lists are after the jump. Continue reading →

It may not have been passionately dramatic, but this round continued the recent trend of pitchers taking the top several vote-getting spots.  Steve Carlton, freed of the competition from Tom Seaver he faced in the previous round, surged to the top spot, solidly ahead of Nolan Ryan and Jim Palmer, who landed in second and third places respectively.  Carlton becomes the 31st inductee into the High Heat Stats Circle of Greats (COG).   More on Lefty and the voting after the jump. Continue reading →

After the jump is a table that shows the major league totals in various hitting categories for the 2013 regular season as compared to the 2012 regular season, and some discussion of what the table shows. Continue reading →

This post is for voting and discussion in the 31st round of balloting for the Circle of Greats.  This round begins to add those players born in 1943.  Rules and lists are after the jump. Continue reading →