Author Archives: Doug

Circle of Greats 1977 Run-Off: Beltran vs. Halladay

There was a tie vote in the Circle of Greats 1977 Balloting, so we will have a run-off election between the two tied players, Carlos Beltran and Roy Halladay. More after the jump.

  Seasons G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ TB
Carlos Beltran 1998-2017 2586 11031 9768 1582 2725 565 78 435 1587 312 49 1084 1795 .279 .350 .486 .837 119 4751
  per 162 games 162 691 612 99 171 35 5 27 99 20 3 68 112 .279 .350 .486 .837 119 298
  Seasons W L W-L% ERA G GS CG SHO IP BB SO ERA+ FIP WHIP H9 HR9 BB9 SO9 SO/W
Roy Halladay 1998-2013 203 105 .659 3.38 416 390 67 20 2749.1 592 2117 131 3.39 1.178 8.7 0.8 1.9 6.9 3.58
  per 162 games 17 9 .659 3.38 35 33 6 2 232 50 179 131 3.39 1.178 8.7 0.8 1.9 6.9 3.58
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 2/7/2022.
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One Brief Shining Moment

The careers of most major league players are brief and unremarkable. Of 15,403 retired players who debuted since 1901, only 5,102 (33%) posted careers of 200 or more games, and just 2,745 (18%) managed 500 contests. Yet, even among the other 82% of players can be found those who showed promise of becoming successful major leaguers in extended careers, promise that, for one reason or another, went unfulfilled. It is to those players that this post is dedicated. More after the jump.

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The Incredible Shrinking Pitching Start

With the advent of “openers”, “bullpen days”, and avoidance of the dreaded “third time through the order”, recent seasons have seen a quickening of the already rapid decline in the average length of a pitcher’s start. Perhaps, though, there is reason to surmise that starts may begin lengthening soon. Find out why after the jump.

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Almost Perfect: John Means no-hits the Mariners UPDATED AGAIN

Oriole left-hander John Means no-hit the Mariners, facing the minimum 27 batters, with the only baserunner reaching on a strikeout on a wild pitch (he was erased attempting to steal). An “imperfect” complete game, with 9 IP, exactly 27 batters faced, and no hits, walks or hit batsmen, had been achieved only once previously, by Terry Mulholland for the Phillies against the Giants on August 15th, 1990, with the only batter reaching on an error and erased by a double play. More after the jump.

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200 Game Batteries UPDATED

With Baseball-Reference.com gamelogs now mostly complete back to 1901, I’ve gone back to look at posts published previously, when there were no game level data prior to 1914. This post was originally published in 2016, but in its reprised version, nine new batteries with 200 starts together are identified (there was a lot more matching of catchers to elite pitchers in the early years of the modern era). More on long-term batteries is after the jump.

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