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June 26, 2006
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’m getting my act together for the SABR convention in Seattle this week. Sylvia, Carl and I are spending the week in Seattle. I’ve never been to Seattle, but I already know I’m going to love it. I very much love walkable cities with local interest. And I like coffee.
If you are attending, I’ll be at the poster session on Thursday 10-12 and then giving a talk on “Better Defense Through Bruising: Assessing a Catcher’s Ability to Block Pitches” Or “Why Mike Piazza isn’t as bad defensively as you think.” on Saturday at noon.
The SABR convention is one of the highlights of my year. If you are a serious enough baseball fan to care what I say on my blog, you should be a SABR member.
Amazon.com Grocery: Snacks, Cookies and Candy, Coffee and Tea, Natural & Organic, Baby Care, Household, Pet Supplies & more Grocery:
I have no idea if this is going to fly or night, but more and more delivery is actually probably a good thing for the environment than all of us trucking off to the grocery store every few days. This is how things used to be. Milk deliveries and the like. I’m not sure if having pampers delivered from Seattle is a good move, but having them delivered by the local Acme might make sense, especially if we all had little lockable boxes outside of our house that would keep the deliveries dry and safe.
June 21, 2006
I was at the ballgame last night, at least until Carl bonked and we had to leave early, but I did get to see the longest home run I’ve ever seen. Ryan Howard’s moonshot in the third deck in right. Here are all of the Phillies games (in the retrosheet era) with 2+ HR, 7+RBI and 11+ TB.
| name_common | date_game | opp | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB |
+————–+————+—–+—-+—+—-+—-+—-+——+—-+
| Willie Jones | 1958-08-20 | STL | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 0 |
| Don Demeter | 1961-09-12 | LAD | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 1 |
| Dick Allen | 1968-09-29 | NYM | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 1 |
| Mike Schmidt | 1976-04-17 | CHC | 6 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 0 |
June 19, 2006
Sandbox - BR Bullpen
Last night I made some improvements to the wiki software. It mostly entailed upgrading to a newer version and then adding some extensions for:
- Embedding Google Maps
- Creating timelines
- Blocking spambots
There was also a major redesign of the front page by MichaelEng that I think makes it look a whole lot better.
The site just keeps getting better and better. Also if anyone is interested, I would entertain redesigns of the Bullpen logo. Something under 150×150 would be suitable.
June 16, 2006
Thorn Pricks
John Thorn relates his latest nighttime discussion (actually a monologue) with Babe Ruth.
June 14, 2006
In preparation for my SABR talk, I’ve been poring over the 69,457 wild pitch and passed balls in the retrosheet archive (excluding 1911 and 1922). I think the talk will be an interesting one and it is likely to challenge some people preconceptions of who is and is not a stellar or poor defensive catcher.
Anyways, I’m calculating the average change in run expectancy following a PB or WP (I’ll call them Missed Pitches, MP’s from here on out). The average change is .27 or a quarter of a run. The most expensive wild pitch cost 2.30 runs. Seventh Inning, A’s and Rangers, 2001, two outs. Magnante throws a wild pitch with bases loaded and Hernandez throws it away allowing two more runners to score. A’s lost 6-9.
June 12, 2006
SABR :|| Convention | Poster Presentations (3rd Floor Foyer)
SABR has the program for the convention up. The link to my poster is above. I’m also giving a talk. Link here. Should be fun.
Yesterday, Matt Kemp (who I through dumb luck picked up in my scoresheet league) hit two home runs in his 13th game. That caused me to look up the players who have equaled this feet. This list is from the retrosheet era (1911 and 1922 NL, 1957-2005 except 1999). Bert Campaneris is the only guy to do this in his first game (two dingers off Jim Kaat). J.D. Drew did it twice in his first 13 games. Only Bobby Estalella hit three.
(more…)
June 9, 2006
I’m working on massaging the retrosheet data motherlode into an easier to use form for me. One benefit of this is that I can answer questions such as the above pretty quickly.
I got an e-mail question today. I may try and send more of these answers to the blog, just so I have a place to archive them.
BTW, 14 teams scored 9 in an inning and lost. 4 scored 10 and lost. Three of them were in 1912 and they were home teams that were way behind and scored ten in the bottom of the ninth.
One team scored 11 and lost. The A’s in 1933.
| team_id | opp_id | year_game | RS | RA | line_score | vis_line_score |
+———+——–+———–+—-+—-+————-+—————–+
| COL | SFG | 2005 | 8 | 10 | 000000800 | 210120013 |
| DET | TEX | 2004 | 15 | 16 | 0213810000 | 0400(10)01001 |
| TBD | OAK | 2002 | 9 | 13 | 000801000 | 001421014 |
| SEA | CLE | 2001 | 14 | 15 | 04802000000 | 00020034501 |
| SFG | STL | 2000 | 10 | 11 | 000081001 | 000141131 |
| ANA | TOR | 2000 | 11 | 12 | 100008110 | 03260010x |
| BAL | OAK | 1999 | 10 | 11 | 000101800 | 060000023 |
| CHW | BOS | 1998 | 14 | 15 | 101018030 | 05411040x |
| CHW | CLE | 1998 | 9 | 15 | 000800100 | 413010033 |
| MIL | CHC | 1998 | 12 | 15 | 008020200 | 020012415 |
| MIN | DET | 1998 | 11 | 12 | 800010002 | 210002241 |
| OAK | NYY | 1998 | 13 | 17 | 050080000 | 02554010x |
| COL | LAD | 1996 | 10 | 13 | 000000082 | 001150060 |
| PHI | PIT | 1996 | 8 | 12 | 000800000 | 20330040x |
| CAL | NYY | 1993 | 8 | 9 | 080000000 | 012100302 |
| LAD | PHI | 1990 | 11 | 12 | 012080000 | 010000029 |
| CHC | PHI | 1989 | 13 | 16 | 208003000 | 012072400 |
| CHW | KCR | 1988 | 8 | 9 | 000000800 | 00005400x |
| SDP | ATL | 1987 | 12 | 13 | 210800001 | 002004601 |
| CLE | MIL | 1986 | 9 | 12 | 800000001 | 14210040x |
| SEA | NYY | 1986 | 12 | 13 | 080400000 | 320060101 |
| OAK | SEA | 1983 | 12 | 15 | 180300000 | 51400311x |
| KCR | CLE | 1976 | 8 | 11 | 000800000 | 03600101x |
| NYY | CAL | 1976 | 8 | 11 | 00000000800 | 10011122003 |
| TEX | BOS | 1973 | 8 | 9 | 000000080 | 043020000 |
| ATL | SFG | 1970 | 11 | 15 | 082001000 | 005400024 |
| MLN | CIN | 1965 | 9 | 10 | 010008000 | 205002001 |
| CIN | STL | 1959 | 8 | 11 | 000000800 | 200115020 |
| PHI | CIN | 1959 | 13 | 15 | 083000002 | 003310305 |
| CLE | DET | 1952 | 8 | 11 | 000080000 | 200134001 |
| WSH | SLB | 1950 | 9 | 10 | 000801000 | 00420301x |
| NYY | CHW | 1949 | 9 | 10 | 008001000 | 100003033 |
| SLB | CHW | 1949 | 11 | 14 | 111000008 | 101241050 |
| NYG | PHI | 1944 | 8 | 14 | 008000000 | 2000200(10)x |
| NYG | STL | 1941 | 9 | 13 | 000000810 | 001340050 |
| CIN | PHI | 1935 | 10 | 12 | 080020000 | 51000330x |
| BSN | PIT | 1933 | 8 | 9 | 0000000080 | 2010320001 |
| PHI | STL | 1932 | 13 | 18 | 080020030 | 205061220 |
| SLB | CLE | 1931 | 9 | 10 | 0000010080 | 1200012031 |
| PHI | CHC | 1930 | 9 | 10 | 000100800 | 302003002 |
| PHI | CIN | 1930 | 9 | 14 | 000000081 | 011064200 |
| CHC | CIN | 1929 | 12 | 17 | 110180010 | 51604001x |
| PHI | CHC | 1922 | 23 | 26 | 032130086 | 1(10)0(14)0100x |
| CHW | CLE | 1921 | 10 | 11 | 280000000 | 10432010x |
| DET | PHA | 1918 | 8 | 9 | 000008000 | 010103004 |
| STL | NYG | 1912 | 9 | 14 | 000100800 | 30410303x |
| BSN | CIN | 1911 | 9 | 11 | 000080010 | 413100002 |
| CHW | SLB | 1902 | 9 | 10 | 100800000 | 302101201 |
| STL | PIT | 1901 | 12 | 14 | 002100018 | 30208001x |
| WSH | CHW | 1901 | 10 | 13 | 0010001800 | 0341300002 |
June 7, 2006
Category:Hall of Fame - BR Bullpen
I attempted a little experiment with middling success yesterday. Amazon.com’s Mechanical Turk allows you to pay people for tiny pieces of work. One group paid people 10 cents to draw sheep for an experiment. It is a neat idea and I’ve been mulling over uses for it for awhile now. One thing I came up with had to do with the Bullpen (baseball-reference’s baseball wiki).
The bullpen has been going great guns do to tremendous work by tireless volunteers. One thing that has happened is a focus on less-covered areas of baseball history. For instance, there is a lot of work being done on the minor leagues and on foreign leagues, but less on the titans of the game like Hank Aaron or Ty Cobb. I understand why that happens, but I wanted to give the site a nudge to have some content on those areas, so I paid 40 people $1 each to copy wikipedia articles of HOFers over to the Bullpen. I believe I followed the gnu free document license that wikipedia operates under. Basically, copying and reuse is allowed as long as you note the source and allow it under the same license (and I’m sure I’m missing some issue regarding it).
Anyways, we now have 40 decent bios for HOFers that need to be cleaned up and relinked. Some of the people doing the task didn’t quite do it right, but overall I was positive about the experience. I’m up in the air as to whether I’ll continue it, but I might. My hope is that these copied bios will be improved by users and that they will soon exceed what wikipedia has. We’ll see.
The Baseball-Reference.com Bullpen is an attempt to catalog and organize the totality of baseball knowledge and experience. Obviously, it is a quixiotic goal, but if you would have told me that we would have every affiliate in a minor league baseball listed one year ago, I would have thought you were crazy.
June 6, 2006
QlikTech: World Cup Software
I saw this in the Philly paper today. I haven’t tried this out yet, but QlikTech in Radnor is using their business software to attempt to mine data from the World Cup. Could be an interesting way to promote your business to a worldwide audience. I’ll have to give it a whirl.
[Update:] Just ran through it. Pretty disappointing. Very slow and it appeared to just be a presentation of widely available data. Not much in the way of insight that I can see.
Chicago Cubs Draft Register - Baseball-Reference.com
In honor of today’s amateur draft, here is a feature on Baseball-Reference. You can get to this for each team by starting at a team’s main index page and looking for amateur draft. It is a little out of date and doesn’t include the guys who didn’t make the show, but it has some interesting info.
June 1, 2006
Search for a Player - Baseball-Reference.com
I’m sure that people (those who give a hoot about where the site is headed) have been thinking, “Holy Cow, Forman! You’ve had three weeks to work on the site, where is our personal hovercraft and our nutritious meal in a single pellet.” Well, it isn’t quite jetpack-worthy, but I’ve been working on some ajax-y type things for the site and one of the things that I need is a google suggest-ish box for finding players. I found some code here, and heavily modified for my uses.
I know that this looks just like the normal search page for BR. However, if you have javascript enabled in your browser you will see some new functionality. Use the search box in the upper right hand corner and hopefully as you start typing a name, a list of choices will start to appear below the name. I was able to check this is firefox, IE 7, IE 6, and Opera, and it worked in all of them except Opera (open mouth enter foot, probably a coding issue).
It isn’t much, but as I said, I’m progressing toward some new tools that I’m getting excited about and this is just one step in that direction.
Opera Web Browser
I’ve been on the firefox bandwagon for a good while, but my laptop has a measly 256 MB of RAM and running GMail in it causes all sorts of memory leaks and my computer starts running slower than a rusty pinto. I’m not a big fan of internet explorer, so that led me to Opera and I have to say it is a pretty good browser. It has a lot of neat perks like a very customizable toolbar, and many other thngs that I’m not going to tell you about. If you are looking for another browser and aren’t quite happy with firefox, Opera is worth a shot.
Scoreboard Sudoku » puzzlinks.com
Mercy! This is quite the baseball puzzle. I’ve been kicking myself for not seeing the baseball tie-in to Sudoku (9 rows = 9 positions), but this one is beyond the pale. I haven’t seen the ESPN Sudoku book, but they’ve been pushing it pretty hard.
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