Here’s how one small group of hitters progressed through their 20s:

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In 1944-45, the height of the wartime talent depletion, some hitters had good years far above their career norms. Which ones were the most out of context?

This, of course, is “the Snuffy Stirnweiss question.” His first two full years in the majors, 1944-45, were both excellent offensive seasons for any hitter, and — because he was also a slick keystone fielder — rank second all-time in WAR for a player’s 2nd & 3rd years combined. In the rest of his career, Stirnweiss was a solid player, but a below-average hitter.

Do any other players fit that mold?

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No, I’m not lamenting the unwritten rule that’s deprived us of left-throwing shortstops ever since Ragtime was the rage and hot dogs came with gloves — not right now, anyway. This is for the left-only batter, a species that’s become almost as rare.

Left-swinging Arky Vaughan came to bat for the 5,000th time in 1939, and Cecil Travis followed in ’46. That made four LHBs out of 41 shortstops with 5,000 plate appearances to date. Now let’s play a game: Of the 78 shortstops to cross 5,000 PAs since then, think of one who hit left-handed only.

Got one? You’re sure? All right, then — I will now divine your answer:

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Barring major surprises this year, the 2015 season will begin with no active player owning 3,000 hits. That’s not unusual (see end of post), but it naturally makes us wonder who’ll be the next to that milestone. Who do you think has the best shot at 3,000 hits? The obvious candidates, and more, after the jump:

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OK, I’m a little late with the Olympic imagery. Anyway … What feat has been achieved by only these five pitchers? No one in this century has even had an opportunity to do it.

• Mordecai Brown for Cubs vs. Tigers, 1907 game 5 (clincher) and 1908 game 4
• Wild Bill Hallahan for Cardinals vs. Athletics, 1930 game 3 and 1931 game 2
• Christy Mathewson for Giants vs. Athletics, 1905 games 1, 3 and 5 (clincher), and 1913 game 2
• Art Nehf for Giants vs. Yankees, 1921 game 8 (clincher) and 1923 game 3 (both by 1-0)
• Allie Reynolds for Yankees vs. Dodgers, 1949 game 1 and 1952 game 4

Congratulations to Richard Chester! These five are the only pitchers with two World Series shutouts against the same team in different seasons. No one’s had a chance to do it this century because no pitcher has faced the same team in more than one Series; last year saw the first rematch of the century, but no pitcher from 2004 was on the same side in 2013. And of course, there hasn’t been an individual WS shutout since Josh Beckett’s 2003 clincher.

What seasonal feat is shared by only these five players in MLB history? Small hints: (1) You can tell from the basic stats on their main B-R pages that they meet the two criteria. (2) Positions played are irrelevant. (3) The list will not grow this year, but a Yankee could make it in two years.

• Luis Aparicio
• Richie Ashburn
• Roberto Clemente
• Jake Daubert
• Jeff Kent

Congratulations to Insert Name Here!  These are the only five MLB players with 15 or more seasons and 100+ games in every season. The implied hints were:

(a) The lack of a catcher — They rarely have long streaks of 100+ games, due to the physical toll of the job. Only Ivan Rodriguez, Carlton Fisk and Bob Boone had 15+ years of 100+ games; all three had several years with less than 100 games, and at least two of those in mid-career. I believe Brad Ausmus is the only catcher with 14 straight years of 100+ games played (not necessarily 100 at catcher); Jason Kendall did it in 14 of his 15 years. Also, most catchers end their careers as backups; out of 666 retired players with 100+ games in their last season, just 20 were catchers.

(b) Clemente and Daubert both died after a season of 100+ games; neither had planned to retire.

Ichiro Suzuki is the active player closest to joining this list, with at least 146 games in all 13 MLB seasons.

__________

Just by chance, we have a SS, a CF, a RF, a 1B and a 2B, for the start of a pretty good lineup — especially with Ashburn on hand to keep Little Louie out of the leadoff spot. You might glean a clue to the feat from one of the positions not covered. And there’s at least one other natural lead to deducing the feat, which applies to two of the five.

In the wake of Homer Bailey‘s big contract … Since 1916, what feat is shared by only Bailey and Allie Reynolds?

(My quizzes have often given too much info up front. Not this time!)

Congratulations to Bix and Jim! Both correctly answered that Allie Reynolds and Homer Bailey are the only pitchers from 1916-2013 with at least two no-hitters in which the opposing starting pitcher had already thrown a no-hitter or would do so in the future.

In fact, Reynolds and Bailey both had one of each:

• On July 12, 1951, Reynolds defeated Bob Feller, 1-0, behind Gene Woodling’s 7th-inning home run. Feller had already thrown all three of his no-hitters, including the previous one in the majors, just 11 days earlier. (In the nightcap of that Feller no-no, Bob Chakales held Detroit to 4 hits for his only career shutout.)
• Then, on Sept. 28, 1951, Reynolds held the Red Sox hitless and bested Mel Parnell, as the Yankees clinched a share of their third straight pennant (they’d lock it up in the nightcap). Parnell got his no-hitter about five years later, in his final season.
• On September 28, 2012, Bailey no-hit Pittsburgh, nursing a 1-0 lead all the way from the top of the 1st inning to beat A.J. Burnett. It was the first no-hitter against the Bucs since Bob Gibson in 1971, and it sealed their 20th straight non-winning season. Eleven years earlier, Burnett had no-hit the Padres, setting a searchable record of 9 walks in a regulation-no-hitter (he also hit a man).
• Then, on July 2, 2013, Bailey turned the trick on San Francisco and Tim Lincecum. Eleven days later, The Freak flung 148 pitches and no-hit the Padres.

Incidentally, none of the seven pitchers whom Nolan Ryan defeated in his no-hitters ever threw one themselves.

Jim Fregosi died last Friday at age 71, after a half-century in major league baseball as a player, manager and front-office adviser. (Read his obituary in the Los Angeles Times and his SABR biography.) Some reflections on Fregosi’s career, and tangential wanderings:

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Hall of Fame slugger Ralph Kiner died Thursday, at age 91. (NY Times obituary; Jayson Stark on the lighter side of Ralph.) Some notes on his playing days:

During his 10-year career (1946-55) with the Pirates, Cubs and Indians, Ralph Kiner led the majors with 369 HRs, 80 more than #2 Stan Musial. He ranked 3rd with his 1,015 RBI (behind Musial and Del Ennis) and 971 Runs (Musial and Pee Wee Reese), and 2nd to Musial in Times On Base and Total Bases.

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A chance observation led to an unusual search of the Play Index, which produced these four pitchers:

• Elmer Ponder
• Roy Parmelee
• Steve Blass
• Sam McDowell

These are the only pitchers since 1916 with an extraordinary relationship among three adjacent items in their seasonal pitching lines. What might seem an error actually reflects a bizarre game feat. The pitchers are listed in order of the years in which this occurred.

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