more GIDP
Posted by Andy on February 19, 2009
I was curious, so I looked up career leaders since 1956 for most individual games with at least 2 grounded-into-double-plays. Here they are:
Games Link to Individual Games +-----------------+-----+-------------------------+ Jim Rice 24 Ind. Games George Scott 21 Ind. Games Carl Yastrzemski 19 Ind. Games Tony Gwynn 18 Ind. Games Joe Torre 17 Ind. Games Roberto Clemente 16 Ind. Games Rusty Staub 15 Ind. Games Ken Singleton 15 Ind. Games Mike Piazza 15 Ind. Games Frank Howard 15 Ind. Games Vinny Castilla 15 Ind. Games Lee May 14 Ind. Games Paul Konerko 14 Ind. Games Buddy Bell 14 Ind. Games Ted Sizemore 13 Ind. Games Hank Aaron 13 Ind. Games Ron Santo 12 Ind. Games Ivan Rodriguez 12 Ind. Games Brooks Robinson 12 Ind. Games Cal Ripken 12 Ind. Games Edgar Renteria 12 Ind. Games Lou Piniella 12 Ind. Games Tony Pena 12 Ind. Games Rafael Palmeiro 12 Ind. Games Tino Martinez 12 Ind. Games Julio Franco 12 Ind. Games Dave Concepcion 12 Ind. Games
That's a pretty impressive list, with 7 Hall of Famers and a bunch of others that will get some (or have already gotten some) serious consideration. I guess the bottom line is that you're prone to grounding into a lot of double plays if you typically come up with a lot of runners on base. If that's the case, you probably have a lot of RBIs too.
The one name that sticks out like a sore thumb is Tony Pena, who as a hitter is very clearly grouped with Ted Sizemore as the worst of this bunch. I guess guys who hit a lot of ground ball outs also ground into a lot of double plays.
February 19th, 2009 at 11:27 am
Probably not too many players prior to '56 would make this list, since DPs were less common back then.
I'm surprised there's as many lefties on the list, especially at the top, as there are.
February 19th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
What is it with those Red Sox? Maybe if Manny returns to Boston he'll zoom up the list to No. 4?
February 19th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
I dunno about that JohnnyTwisto. There were some pretty potent double play combos. Tinker to Evers to Chance!
February 19th, 2009 at 10:03 pm
Tinker to Evers to Chance were great for their time, but they simply didn't turn a lot of DPs compared to now, due to more base stealing, more sac bunts, and worse gloves. Evers never turned more than 73 DPs in a season. That would have been only 7th highest among NL second basemen last season.
February 20th, 2009 at 4:14 am
Ernie Lombardi put up some very impressive GIDP numbers in the 30's and 40's.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/shareit/NV26
He's the only player to meet that criteria and there are no GIDP records for his first 2 seasons.
February 20th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
I bet when the play by play for Ernie Lombardi's career is available it will yield some very odd plays.