Since 1901, 318 baseball players have posted a 150 OPS+ or better with at least 500 plate appearances. Just 10 of these players, though, have surpassed a 150 OPS+ while walking 25 times or fewer, including just two players since the Deadball Era.
Most Homers In a Season By a Hall of Famer:
60, by Babe Ruth (1927)
59, by Babe Ruth (1921)
58, by Hank Greenberg (1938) and Jimmie Foxx (1932)
56, by Hack Wilson (1930)
54, by Mickey Mantle (1961), Ralph Kiner (1949) and Babe Ruth (1920 and 1928)
52, by Willie Mays (1965) and Mickey Mantle (1956)
Those top two Ruth seasons are eighth and ninth on the full most-homers-in-a-season list. Bonds, Maris, two McGwire seasons and three Sosa seasons are ahead of the Babe.
The pitchers in this quiz share the distinction of being the only post-war hurlers (those who played their entire careers since 1946) with a particular career accomplishment. What is it?
| Rk | Player |
|---|---|
| 1 | Frank Baumann |
| 2 | Gene Brabender |
| 3 | Nino Espinosa |
| 4 | Art Fowler |
| 5 | Dave Freisleben |
| 6 | Mark Gardner |
| 7 | Mike LaCoss |
| 8 | Ramon Martinez |
| 9 | Frank Pastore |
For bonus points, Art Fowler is also in a group with Jack Quinn, Dutch Leonard, Dizzy Trout, Nolan Ryan and Goose Gossage as the only live-ball era pitchers with a certain game accomplishment. What is that feat?
Looks like I’ve got a stumper. The key to this quiz was in noticing that all of these pitchers had a similar number of career complete games. They, in fact, are the only pitchers to go undefeated in 15 or more complete games over an entire career. Clayton Kershaw with 11 wins and Kyle Lohse with 10 top the list for active pitchers who have never lost a CG. The bonus quiz answer is after the jump.
Back in 1989 the Indians were in a dismal place. They had lost over 100 games in each of the previous 2 seasons, and were in the middle of what appeared to be another lost season. They were trailing the White Sox for the division lead by what seemed to be an insurmountable margin. Their owner, the much hated Rachel Phelps, had just inherited the team from her recently deceased father and was planning on relocating to Miami. Rachel Phelps in many respects was Jeffrey Loria with a nicer smile. The team was destined for failure, but somehow pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and won the pennant. Sadly the records from the day do not tell us if they went on to win the World Series. I believe in 1994 a hidden tape was revealed that released this information, but I am a man of principal and refuse to watch such rubbish. Through a minor miracle I have stumbled upon some old scouting reports of the players that made this season possible. Perhaps they can shed a light on what gave these ragamuffins the will to succeed against such long odds. Continue reading
Over the holidays, we too soon lost one of the outstanding defensive centerfielders in baseball history. Longtime Oriole Paul Blair passed away in Baltimore, aged only 69.
Among contemporary centerfielders, Blair’s 174 WAR fielding runs from 1964 to 1980 were more than the combined total of Garry Maddox (102) and Ken Berry (69) in second and third place. That 174 mark ranks 4th all-time among centerfielders, close behind Jim Piersall (175) and Willie Mays (183), with those three trailing only the phenomenal total of 236 WAR fielding runs posted by Andruw Jones.
After the jump, more on the career of Paul Blair.
The 2013 World Series champion Red Sox succeeded for a lot of reasons, including a league-leading batting average on balls in play (BABIP). Not only did Boston’s .329 BABIP lead the AL this past season, it was the highest BABIP for any team in more than 80 years, and third highest of all teams since 1916.
Undoubtedly, the Red Sox were a fine hitting team, so it shouldn’t be a great surprise that they produced a stellar BABIP. But, playing in an outstanding hitters’ ballpark shouldn’t be overlooked as a major contributor to good BABIP scores.
After the jump, more on team BABIP and the influences of home ballparks.
Last year’s Hall of Fame ballot was arguably the most stacked in our respective lifetimes. Legitimate cases could be made for over a dozen of last year’s candidates, and many of said cases were lucidly spelled out on blogs, television or other media. How did the BBWAA respond? By not voting a single player in.
This year, we’ve lost only Dale Murphy and Bernie Williams from the ballot, but have gained the likes of Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, Frank Thomas, Jeff Kent and Mike Mussina. Sean Casey too I suppose, but most voters don’t give a ton of credit for jovial jocularity, regardless how far it is above replacement.
Simply put, we’ve got an even stronger ballot this year, and there’s not a chance that the BBWAA completely blows it again. Much like last year, I’m going to be predicting percentages, analyzing players and hammering out my own ballot. This, and probably a bad joke or two, after the jump.
This post is for voting and discussion in the 42nd round of balloting for the Circle of Greats. This round adds to the ballot those players born in 1936. Rules and lists are after the jump. Continue reading
Brooks Robinson’s supporters fielded all concerns, defended their man, and gave Brooks enough votes to allow him to scoop up the designation as the 41st inductee in to the High Heat Stats Circle of Greats. More on Robinson and the voting after you cleanly handle the jump. Continue reading
Continuing my series on WAR in the wild card era, this post looks at team WAR, broken out among position players and pitchers. There’s a long preface here, dealing with terms and such; those in a hurry can scroll down to the first major heading, “WAR/pos and WAR/pitch.” (Just look for the charts.)