Stats Fun: Most Walk Off Hits in the Retrosheet Era
David Ortiz’s continued walk-off success led me to plumb the retrosheet db for the most walk off hits.
Here is a list of the players from 1957-2005 (1999 excepted) with the most walk-off hits in their career. I checked this by looking for the end_game_flag and an rbi on the play.
I think Ortiz only has two this year, but I might be wrong on that. I don’t know about 1999.
| name_common | WalkOffPAs | WalkOffHits | WalkOffHRs |
+——————+————+————-+————+
| Frank Robinson | 27 | 26 | 12 |
| Dusty Baker | 25 | 21 | 8 |
| Andre Dawson | 20 | 20 | 5 |
| Tony Perez | 20 | 20 | 11 |
| Lou Whitaker | 20 | 19 | 8 |
| Rusty Staub | 19 | 19 | 4 |
| Roberto Clemente | 19 | 19 | 3 |
| Don Baylor | 19 | 18 | 7 |
| Manny Mota | 20 | 18 | 1 |
| Pete Rose | 21 | 18 | 3 |
| Carlton Fisk | 18 | 18 | 4 |
| Lance Parrish | 17 | 17 | 7 |
| Jack Clark | 18 | 17 | 8 |
| Eddie Murray | 18 | 17 | 9 |
| Brooks Robinson | 18 | 17 | 8 |
| Graig Nettles | 18 | 17 | 7 |
| Hank Aaron | 18 | 17 | 9 |
| Rickey Henderson | 22 | 16 | 5 |
| George Hendrick | 16 | 16 | 6 |
| Jose Cruz | 17 | 16 | 6 |
……….
| David Ortiz | 10 | 10 | 5 |
i count three this year. three this MONTH actually.
june 11th - 3R HR in 9th, 5-4 win over texas - http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=260611202
june 24th - 2R HR in 9th, 5-4 win over philly - http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=260624102
june 26th - RBI single in 12th, 8-7 win over philly - http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=260626102
Comment by matt — June 27, 2006 @ 8:11 am
I’m curious to see where he ranks among active players. I wonder if a nonsuperstar player (joe crede?) is higher or close to Ortiz.
Comment by rob — June 27, 2006 @ 3:45 pm
I feel obliged to point out that every player on that list played for at least 18 seasons and most of those were as a regular. Ortiz is in his 10th season, only his 6th as a full time player.
Comment by Ed — June 29, 2006 @ 9:24 am
Ed makes a good point. It would be good to also see the # of walk off PAs per 600 PA.
Comment by tangotiger — June 29, 2006 @ 10:14 am
We are also missing 1999, but I don’t know that Ortiz was clutch in 1999.
Comment by Sean — June 29, 2006 @ 11:36 am
Well, Ortiz had 0 RBIs in 25 PAs in 1999, so yeah… not clutch.
Comment by Ed — June 29, 2006 @ 1:37 pm
Do those totals include postseason games? I’d guess a lot of why Ortiz is associated with walk-offs is his 3 in the 2004 postseason and I’m wondering how that compares to other players. (I know it isn’t really fair to compare modern vs historical postseason stats because of the much larger number of games today, but I’m curious nonetheless.)
Comment by vince — June 29, 2006 @ 5:38 pm
I don’t believe those count playoffs, as I feel Ortiz would have a few more.
Comment by Ed — July 26, 2006 @ 12:53 pm
No, they definitely don’t have playoff games or 1999.
Comment by Sean — July 27, 2006 @ 8:15 am
Make that 12 for Ortiz…
Comment by Ed — July 31, 2006 @ 10:20 pm
Whoops, I meant 12 with the Sox. That should be 15 overall.
Comment by Ed — July 31, 2006 @ 10:24 pm
8 walkoff home runs + 2 extremely memorable postseason = 10
15 walkoff hits
http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2006/08/01/this_hit_maker_is_off_the_charts/?page=2
Comment by chickenpants — August 1, 2006 @ 9:03 am