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Jon Garland just got traded from the Sox to the Angels.  He has one year left on his contract and he'll be 28 that year.

His main features are that: 1) he's durable, 2) he doesn't strike out anyone, 3) he doesn't walk many.

OK, go to PI and look for pitchers who tossed between 1100 and 1300 IP from ages 22-27 (Garland tossed 1242 in those years) with a W rate under 3.0/9IP (Garland at 2.74) and a K-rate under 5.25 (Garland at 5.21 - since the K-rate is so much higher nowadays, I wanted to put him at the uppermost extreme.
He's one of only 12 pitchers to meet those criteria in the liveball era.

Looking at the comps (sorted by IP pitched in those years):

Bill Gullickson's a good one. Even gave up plenty of homers. He wasn't as good as Garland (actually has the most similar ERA+, but Gullickson's was front-loaded in his first years with good seasons. Garland had better years later), but at age 28 he had a lousy year and then missed the entire campaigns for the two subsequent years. Then he went back to being Bill Gullickson.

Ross Grimsley: Also had trouble with the longball. Had the best year of his career at age 28, then receded.

Milt Pappas. Not as good a comp. His K-rate was better, espeically when compared to the league. Plus he spent more time pitching before age 22. Also gave up his share of homers, though. Good year at age 28, then despite some ebbs and flows remained a good pitcher through age 33.

Larry Sorenson. WOuld be a very good comp except his age 26 season is far worse than anything Garland did. With homers, he ranged from 3 HRA to 30 in a year. OK, weird split. Age 28 he collapsed, but again, he had already collapsed at age 26.

Tommy JOhn. Interesting one. A better K-pitcher relative to the league than Garland, but also a worse control pitcher. Not as substantial homer problems. Here's the most interesting part: like Garland, his peripherals got noticably worse prior to turning 28. His walks skyrocketed, and while his raw K-totals increased, that was entirely a funciton of IP. He struck out far fewer batters. And, like Garland, at age 27 he had a huge number of UER while pitching for the Chicago White Sox. At age 28, his control returned, but he allowed a bunch more hits off balls in play, causing his ERA to get worse. His BABIP cleared up and his control stayed good. He pitched nearly 20 years more. However, please note, his ERA+ from ages 22-27 was 120, far better than Garland's.

Stan Bahnsen. Made the list despite not pitching at all at age 22. Racked up bigger IP when pitching, but wasn't as good in general. After winning 20 with an ERA+ of 88 at age 27, he lost 20 with an ERA+ of 112 at age 28. At age 28, his peripherals COLLAPSED, though. It was his last hurrah.

Sidney Ponson. Heading into age 28, his walks were on the upswing, and K's on downswing. He was similar to Garland, but with slightly worse ERA+s. His age 27 was much worse than Garland, but not then again Garland has the huge number of unearned runs making him look better than he was. Really, he might be the closest comp yet. He sucked at age 28 and wasn't any good again.

Jack Fisher. Lousy comp. He tossed fewer innings in an era when starters tossed more than they do now. His best single-season ERA+ from those ages was 99. Garland's been worse than that only once. Fisher had years of 70, 72, 84, and 89. He sucked at age 28. But he's the worst comp here.

Steve Rogers. Another lousy comp. Came up midway through his age 23 season and tossed over 300 IP at age 27. Much better than Garland. Much better strikeout pitcher and he didn't allow as many homers. Very good at age 28. That's as meaningful as Fisher's terrible 28 season. Pass.

Jack Russell. Ladies and gents, the only pre-1960 pitcher on the list. At age 27, became a relief pitcher. Well that automatically makes him the worst comp here so far. Made the All-Star team (weird) at age 28, but as a reliever.

John Candelaria. Looks like he solved his early-career homer problems by age 27, but was injured that year. Pitched effectively for a while.

A mixed bag, but given Garland's effectiveness and durability overall so far, I'd cautiously expect him to be an average innings eater this year. The Ponson comparison scares me a bit, though.

This morning, while shaving, I found myself wondering "How many times has a pitcher started a post-season game, and they went 6 innings or more, and their team won the game - but, the starting pitcher had no strikeouts in the game?"  (And, yes, at that moment, I also thought to myself "Only a baseball nut like you would wonder this type of stuff while shaving.")

Thanks to Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index Pitching Game Finder for the Post-season, finding an answer to a question like this is a snap.  And, here's the answer:

  Cnt Player            Date          Series G Tm   Opp GmReslt App,Dec    IP   H  R ER BB SO HR Pit Str **GmSc** IR IS BF AB 2B 3B IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS Pk BK WP   ERA 

 ----+-----------------+-------------+------+- ---+----+-------+---------+----+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+---+--------+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+--+--+--+--+--+------ 

    1 Tom Zachary       1924-10-05    WS     2 WSH  NYG W  4-3  GS-9  ,W   8.2  6  3  3  3  0  0             57         33 30  0  0   0   0  0  0   3  0  0  0  0  0   3.12 

    2 Babe Ruth         1918-09-09    WS     4 BOS  CHC W  3-2  GS-8  ,W   8    7  2  2  6  0  0             54         33 27  0  0   0   0  0  0   2  0  0  1  0  1   2.25 

    3 Andy Messersmith  1974-10-06    NLCS   2 LAD @PIT W  5-2  GS-7  ,W   7    8  2  2  3  0  0             50         31 26  0  0   0   1  1  0   2  1  0  0  0  0   2.57 

    4 Livan Hernandez   2002-10-13    NLCS   4 SFG  STL W  4-3  GS-7       6.1  9  2  2  1  0  0  84  58     46         29 25  2  0   0   1  2  0   2  0  0  0  0  0   2.84 

    5 Greg Maddux       1995-10-03    NLDS   1 ATL @COL W  5-4  GS-7       7    9  3  3  2  0  1  85  54     45         29 24  2  0   1   1  1  1   4  0  0  0  0  0   3.86 

    6 Bob Turley        1960-10-06    WS     2 NYY @PIT W 16-3  GS-9  ,W   8.1 13  3  2  3  0  0             44         42 38  3  0   0   1  0  0   0  0  0  0  0  0   2.16 

    7 Andy Pettitte     1995-10-04    ALDS   2 NYY  SEA W  7-5  GS-7       7    9  4  4  3  0  1 115  74     40         30 26  2  0   0   0  0  1   0  0  2  2  0  0   5.14 

    8 Roy Oswalt        2004-10-17    NLCS   4 HOU  STL W  6-5  GS-6       6    8  5  5  4  0  1  97  62     32         29 23  1  0   0   0  1  1   0  0  0  0  0  0   7.50

As you can see, it's only happened 8 times in baseball history.  That's always interesting - when something happens so few times.  It's also interesting that no pitcher has ever thrown 9 innings (or more) in a post-season game, where his team won, and he did not register a whiff.

Note that the last time this "trick" happened in the World Series was 1960.  That's almost a half-century.  But, it's happened in the LCS as recent as 2004.

What I found very interesting was that 5 (out of these 8 games) were one-run contests.  Check out that game by Babe Ruth in 1918.  He allowed 13 baserunners in 8 IP - in a 3-2 game - and won.  An unearned run in the bottom of the 8th sealed the win for the Babe.  Must have been a nail-biter.

Using the PI Team Batting Game Finder, I searched for the most runs scored since 1957 in a game with no extra base hits:

  Cnt Date          Tm   Opp GmReslt  PA  AB  **R**  H 2B 3B HR XB RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF ROE GDP SB CS LOB Batrs
+----+-------------+---+----+-------+---+---+------+--+--+--+--+--+---+--+---+--+---+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+-----+
    1 1979-08-06    KCR @TOR W 16-12  52  42   16   17  0  0  0  0  16  7   0  2   1  1  1   2   1  1  0   9    13 

    2 1988-06-03    LAD  CIN W 13-5   50  45   13   22  0  0  0  0  11  3   1  8   1  0  1   1   1  2  0  13    17
    3 1973-06-18    LAD  ATL W 13-3   43  41   13   18  0  0  0  0  12  2   1  4   0  0  0   2   2  1  0   6    10
    4 1960-08-07(2) KCA  NYY W 13-3   44  35   13   14  0  0  0  0  12  4   0  5   0  2  3   2   0  0  0   7    10 

    5 1993-06-12    DET  TOR W 12-1   45  37   12   15  0  0  0  0  12  6   0  6   1  1  0   0   0  0  1   9    10
    6 1970-09-08    KCR  CAL W 12-0   45  40   12   17  0  0  0  0  11  5   0  6   0  0  0   0   0  0  0   9    11 

    7 1985-09-20    SDP  ATL W 11-1   45  38   11   15  0  0  0  0   9  6   0  6   0  1  0   2   2  1  0  10    16
    8 1966-05-14    NYM  SFG W 11-4   43  37   11   17  0  0  0  0  10  4   0  4   0  2  0   1   0  1  0   8    12 

    9 2005-09-17    PHI @FLA W 10-2   41  39   10   11  0  0  0  0   7  1   0  8   0  0  1   2   0  0  0   4    16
   10 2004-06-27    STL @KCR W 10-3   44  40   10   15  0  0  0  0  10  2   0  6   1  0  1   1   2  0  0   7     9
   11 2003-05-26    PIT @CHC W 10-0   44  34   10    8  0  0  0  0   9  8   0 14   2  0  0   0   0  1  1   7    13
   12 1997-05-18    CHW @OAK W 10-4   44  35   10   12  0  0  0  0  10  6   0  3   1  1  1   0   1  0  1   7     9
   13 1992-08-15    DET @TEX W 10-3   52  36   10   11  0  0  0  0   9 13   1  7   0  0  3   1   0  0  0  15    14
   14 1979-05-31    SFG @LAD L 10-12  48  42   10   17  0  0  0  0  10  5   0  9   0  0  1   0   0  4  0  11    15
   15 1977-09-10    KCR @MIN W 10-1   43  38   10   13  0  0  0  0   9  5   0  4   0  0  0   0   2  1  0   6    10
   16 1970-07-06    LAD @HOU W 10-8   50  40   10   16  0  0  0  0  10  8   2 11   0  1  1   0   2  0  0  10    15
   17 1968-07-06(2) CHC  PIT W 10-2   42  36   10   13  0  0  0  0   8  4   1  4   0  2  0   3   1  1  0   8    11
   18 1963-09-09(2) DET @WSA W 10-7   44  34   10   12  0  0  0  0   9  4   0  2   2  1  3   1   1  1  0   7    14

It's not too surprising that these games are fairly well spread out in history, since it's harder these days to go a whole game with no extra base hits. I am somewhat surprised that many of these games didn't feature a ton of walks, although there are a few doozies in there, such as #13 where the Tigers drew 13 walks off Texas.

And as long as we mentioned it, here are the highest run totals since 1957 while drawing no walks:

  Cnt Date          Tm   Opp GmReslt  PA  AB  **R**  H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF ROE GDP SB CS LOB Batrs
+----+-------------+---+----+-------+---+---+------+--+--+--+--+---+--+---+--+---+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+-----+
    1 1998-06-23    TEX  ARI W 16-5   44  43   16   19  2  0  3  14  0   0  6   1  0  0   1   0  0  0   4    12 

    2 2006-07-02    CHC  CHW W 15-11  44  43   15   20  4  0  5  14  0   0  7   0  0  1   1   0  1  1   5    15
    3 1978-05-27    MON @PIT W 15-1   48  46   15   20  7  1  2  15  0   0  8   0  0  2   1   0  0  0   6    10 

    4 2005-06-14    CHC  FLA W 14-0   41  40   14   18  5  1  4  13  0   0  4   0  0  1   0   0  0  1   3    13
    5 1998-08-14    CHW  SEA W 14-2   41  37   14   16  5  0  2  14  0   0  4   1  1  2   1   0  1  1   3    10
    6 1998-05-08    BOS @KCR W 14-3   48  45   14   20  4  0  3  13  0   0  9   1  0  2   1   1  1  0   7    12
    7 1988-05-28    CHC  HOU W 14-7   46  43   14   19  2  1  3  14  0   0  5   1  0  2   3   0  2  0   8    12
    8 1986-06-27    TOR @NYY W 14-7   48  47   14   19  6  1  3  14  0   0  7   0  0  1   2   0  0  0   7    12
    9 1979-06-15    KCR @MIL W 14-11  48  47   14   21  1  0  2  13  0   0  0   0  0  1   0   0  0  0   7    15
   10 1967-06-11    PHI @PIT W 14-1   48  44   14   17  3  3  1  14  0   0  2   1  1  2   4   1  0  0   7    10 

   11 1997-06-25    BOS @TOR W 13-12  44  42   13   16  2  1  5  13  0   0  4   1  0  1   1   0  1  1   4    11
   12 1989-09-07    NYM  STL W 13-1   43  41   13   15  5  0  3  11  0   0  7   0  1  1   4   0  1  0   6    17
   13 1987-06-27    OAK @CLE W 13-3   46  46   13   19  3  0  5  12  0   0  7   0  0  0   1   1  0  0   6    13
   14 1985-07-13    ATL  PHI W 13-5   44  43   13   19  5  2  2  13  0   0  2   0  0  1   1   0  1  0   7    11
   15 1979-09-02    MON  CIN W 13-1   45  44   13   21  3  1  1  11  0   0  5   1  0  0   0   1  1  0   8    11

These games are a bit more recent, although with walk rates being higher, there is also bias against no-walk games these days.

How about the combo? Most runs scored in a game since 1957 with no walks OR extra base hits:

 Cnt Date          Tm   Opp GmReslt  PA  AB  **R**   H 2B 3B HR XB RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF ROE GDP SB CS LOB Batrs
+----+-------------+---+----+-------+---+---+------+--+--+--+--+--+---+--+---+--+---+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+-----+
    1 1989-06-03    OAK  CLE W  7-0   38  38    7   14  0  0  0  0   6  0   0  5   0  0  0   1   1  2  0   7    10
    2 1971-09-05    MIN  OAK W  7-3   40  38    7   15  0  0  0  0   6  0   0  3   0  2  0   2   0  1  0   9    10 

    3 1983-07-30    PIT @NYM W  6-3   35  35    6    7  0  0  0  0   3  0   0  6   0  0  0   2   1  0  0   2    11
    4 1982-04-28    TOR  TEX W  6-4   33  32    6    8  0  0  0  0   5  0   0  5   0  1  0   2   0  1  0   3    16
    5 1980-06-16    TEX @KCR W  6-3   37  37    6   12  0  0  0  0   6  0   0  3   0  0  0   0   1  0  0   4    15
    6 1968-06-25    ATL  PHI W  6-1   36  35    6   12  0  0  0  0   6  0   0  7   0  0  1   0   0  2  0   6    10 

    7 2001-08-29    COL @LAD W  5-3   39  38    5   13  0  0  0  0   5  0   0  9   0  1  0   2   1  1  1   7    13
    8 1996-07-02    MON  ATL W  5-1   36  34    5   11  0  0  0  0   4  0   0  9   0  2  0   2   0  1  0   7    13
    9 1992-06-13    CAL  KCR W  5-4   38  36    5   11  0  0  0  0   4  0   0  3   1  0  1   3   1  2  0   9     9
   10 1991-05-22    STL @PIT W  5-3   38  36    5   11  0  0  0  0   4  0   0  6   1  1  0   1   0  2  2   6    14
   11 1979-04-27    MIN @DET W  5-3   35  30    5   11  0  0  0  0   5  0   0  2   1  3  1   0   2  0  2   3    11
   12 1978-05-18    HOU  PHI L  5-8   36  34    5    9  0  0  0  0   5  0   0  3   1  1  0   0   0  1  0   4    13
   13 1974-09-27    KCR  TEX W  5-4   50  47    5   13  0  0  0  0   4  0   0  8   2  1  0   2   1  2  0  11    12
   14 1973-08-29    CAL  NYY W  5-0   34  32    5    8  0  0  0  0   4  0   0  9   1  1  0   1   0  0  0   5    10
   15 1972-06-09    PIT @LAD W  5-1   39  38    5   11  0  0  0  0   4  0   0  6   0  1  0   2   1  0  0   7     9
   16 1969-06-03    STL  ATL W  5-2   35  33    5    9  0  0  0  0   5  0   0  9   0  1  1   1   0  1  0   6    10
   17 1969-05-30(1) WSA  CHW W  5-4   45  42    5   17  0  0  0  0   4  0   0  5   0  2  1   0   2  0  0  11    18

Now this list is really biased against recent games, and it shows. In game #1 above, the A's scored their first three runs on 5 consecutive singles, and then scored three more later on 4 consecutive singles (with a stolen base in there too.) Their last run scored on a combo of a couple of singles and an error.

Here are the last 20 guys to throw a complete game of no more than 9 innings while allowing at least 18 baserunnners:

 Cnt Player            Date          Tm   Opp GmReslt App,Dec    IP   H  R ER BB BR SO HR Pit Str GmSc IR IS BF AB 2B 3B IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS Pk BK WP   ERA
+----+-----------------+-------------+---+----+-------+---------+----+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+---+----+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+--+--+--+--+--+------+
    1 Chris Carpenter   2001-06-09    TOR  FLA L  1-6  CG 9  ,L   9    9  6  3  6 18  5  1 125  74   50       42 33  3  1   3   1  2  0   2  1  0  0  0  0   3.00 

    2 Tim Wakefield     1996-06-10    BOS @CHW L  2-8  CG 8  ,L   8   16  8  6  3 19  0  1 158 103   19       43 40  2  0   0   0  0  0   0  2  0  0  0  0   6.75 

    3 Chris Hammond     1995-06-19    FLA @COL W  7-2  CG 9  ,W   9   12  2  2  5 18  3  2 141  84   53       41 35  2  0   0   1  0  0   4  0  0  0  0  0   2.00 

    4 Rick Sutcliffe    1988-08-12    CHC  STL L  0-4  CG 9  ,L   9   10  4  4  5 18  6  1 136  85   52       43 34  0  0   0   0  4  0   0  0  1  0  0  0   4.00 

    5 Mike Norris       1980-09-26    OAK  MIL L  7-10 CG 9  ,L   9   17 10 10  1 18  9  4           21       45 44  3  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  0  0  0  1  10.00 

    6 J.R. Richard      1979-07-05    HOU @CIN L  4-5  CG 8  ,L   8   11  5  5  6 18 12  0           46       42 33  2  0   1   1  1  1   0  0  0  0  0  1   5.62
    7 Odell Jones       1979-04-17    SEA @OAK L  5-6  CG 9  ,L   8.2 13  6  3  3 19  5  0           42       43 38  1  0   3   0  1  1   1  1  1  0  0  1   3.12 

    8 Geoff Zahn        1978-08-26    MIN @TOR L  3-4  CG 10 ,L   9   15  4  4  3 18  2  1           40       43 37  2  1   0   0  2  1   0  0  2  0  0  0   4.00 

    9 Reggie Cleveland  1977-09-25    BOS @DET W 12-5  CG 9  ,W   9   18  5  5  0 18  1  1           32       44 43  2  0   0   0  0  1   1  0  0  0  0  0   5.00 

   10 Ed Figueroa       1976-09-28    NYY @BOS L  5-7  CG 8  ,L   8   15  7  7  3 18  0  2           21       38 35  5  1   0   0  0  0   1  0  2  0  0  0   7.88
   11 Ken Holtzman      1976-05-31(1) BAL @CLE L  1-4  CG 8  ,L   8   13  4  4  4 18  1  1           37       39 35  0  2   0   0  0  0   1  0  1  0  0  0   4.50 

   12 Fritz Peterson    1975-08-17    CLE @MIN W 14-5  CG 9  ,W   9   16  5  5  2 18  3  2           36       43 41  2  0   0   0  0  0   2  0  0  0  0  0   5.00
   13 Nolan Ryan        1975-07-30    CAL  CHW W  5-4  CG 9  ,W   9    8  4  4  7 18  5  0           53       41 33  1  0   0   1  0  0   2  2  1  1  0  1   4.00
   14 Steve Busby       1975-07-10    KCR  DET L  2-3  CG 9  ,L   9   11  3  3  5 18  8  1           56       44 39  1  0   1   0  0  0   0  2  0  1  0  1   3.00 

   15 Dick Drago        1974-07-08    BOS  KCR L  0-5  CG 9  ,L   9    9  5  5  9 20  3  1           43       43 33  1  0   2   0  1  0   0  0  2  0  0  0   5.00
   16 Burt Hooton       1974-04-17    CHC  PIT W 18-9  CG 9  ,W   9   16  9  5  1 21  7  3           33       47 46  0  1   0   0  0  0   1  0  0  0  0  0   5.00 

   17 Nolan Ryan        1973-09-23    CAL @MIN W 15-7  CG 9  ,W   9   13  7  7  5 18 12  0           40       43 38  1  0   0   0  0  0   2  1  0  0  0  1   7.00
   18 Terry Forster     1973-09-12    CHW @CAL L  5-6  CG 8  ,L   8   16  6  6  2 18  2  0           26       41 38  1  0   0   0  0  1   1  0  0  0  0  0   6.75
   19 Fritz Peterson    1973-07-29(1) NYY @MIL L  2-7  CG 8  ,L   8   13  7  6  5 19  2  0           27       41 34  1  1   2   0  1  1   2  0  0  0  0  0   6.75 

   20 Jimmy Freeman     1972-09-01(2) ATL  PHI W 11-5  CG 9  ,W   9    8  5  5 11 19  5  1           45       44 33  1  1   0   0  0  0   2  0  0  0  0  1   5.00

That Chris Hammond game in 1995 is wild. He allowed 18 baserunners in 9 innings but still got the win. He was helped by 4 double plays and a pick-off, and allowed just 2 runs. In each of the first 4 innings, the Rockies got at least 2 runners on but left them all stranded (other than Ellis Burks leading off the bottom of the 1st with a solo homer.) They left the bases loaded in the 6th too. The Rockies also had 2 infield hits, which doesn't surprise me. Hammond didn't get hit as hard as it might look.

I was just thumbing though Sports Illustrated and they mentioned that only two players have ever had a 2B, 3B, and HR in the same post-season game. PI confirms it: Read the rest of this entry »

Here's a thought: use the pitcher game finder to find times when a pitcher:

- Allowed no hits

- Allowed no walks

- Faced 28 or more batters.

In other words, did the toss trickiest parts in pitching a perfect game, but didn't pitch a perfect game.

It's happened 6 times since 1957.

At first I assumed it meant errors, but no.  Kevin Brown plunked Marvin Bernard in the 8th to screw himself over.

Bob Forsch had a HBP and an error by a defensive player in his game.

Bill SInger plunked Oscar Gamble.  And there were some errors as well.

Joe Horlen hit Bill Freehan.

That leaves two games: Dick Bosman's 1974 game and Jerry Reuss in 1980.  Bosman has no one to blame put himself.  He made the error.

Jerry Reuss has a ready-made scapegoat.  Shortstop Bill Russell made the error that cost him perfection.  That's the only time in the last 51 seasons a pitcher lost his shot at a perfecto when one of the defenders behind him made an error.

Look, just because Andy wrote a Joe Nuxhall blurb, that doesn't mean I can't, right?

Not all Nuxhall's career is up in the daily PI splits, but enough is so that we can find out a few things about him.  For example: he had a lot of trouble against third basemen who came of age somewhere around 1960.   The top three men on that list - Hoak, Hart, and Santo - were all at the hot corner.  Spencer spent plenty of time there.  Heck, Gil Hodges was an excellent minor league third baseman only switched to first because Brooklyn had the best defensive third baseman in the league when he came up.

Actually, Don Hoak owned him to a degree that was downright comic.  In his first 13 PA against Nuxhall, he had nine singles, two walks, and two homers.  Um ... . ow.   Looks like Nuxhall finally figured him out, though.

RIP, Joe Nuxhall.

I just heard that Joe Nuxhall passed away. Lots has been written about his interesting career as both a player and broadcaster, so I won't try to add to that. But here are all the pitchers since 1901 under the age of 18:

  Cnt                       Year Age Tm  Lg  G  GS CG SHO GF  W  L  W-L% SV   IP   H   R   ER  BB  SO   ERA  ERA+ HR  BF   AB  2B 3B IBB HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB CS Pk BK WP   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  OPS+  Pit  Str
+----+-----------------+---+----+---+---+--+---+--+--+---+--+--+--+-----+--+-----+---+---+---+---+---+------+----+--+----+----+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+----+
    1 Joe Nuxhall           1944  15 CIN NL   1  0  0   0  0  0  0        0   0.2   2   5   5   5   0  67.50    5  0    9                  0                        0  1                            0
    2 Jim Derrington        1956  16 CHW AL   1  1  0   0  0  0  1  .000  0   6     9   6   5   6   3   7.50   55  2   31              0   0                        1  0                            0
    3 Rogers McKee          1943  16 PHI NL   4  1  1   0  2  1  0 1.000  0  13.1  12   9   9   5   1   6.08   55  0   59                  0                        0  2                            0
    4 Carl Scheib           1943  16 PHA AL   6  0  0   0  5  0  1  .000  0  18.2  24  14   9   3   3   4.34   78  4   85                  1                        0  0                            0
    5 Jay Dahl              1963  17 HOU NL   1  1  0   0  0  0  1  .000  0   2.2   7   7   5   0   0  16.88   19  0   16   16  1  0   0   0   0   0   0   0  0  0  0  1  .438  .438  .500  .938  188
    6 Jim Derrington        1957  17 CHW AL  20  5  0   0  4  0  1  .000  0  37    29  21  20  29  14   4.86   77  4  166  134  7  0   0   1   1   1   3   2  2  0  0  1  .216  .358  .358  .716  102
    7 Larry Dierker         1964  17 HOU NL   3  1  0   0  2  0  1  .000  0   9     7   4   2   3   5   2.00  171  1   36   32  0  0   0   0   0   1   1   0  0  0  0  2  .219  .278  .313  .591   77
    8 Bob Feller            1936  17 CLE AL  14  8  5   0  5  5  3  .625  1  62    52  29  23  47  76   3.34  154  1  279                  4                        3  8                            0
    9 Chris Haughey         1943  17 BRO NL   1  0  0   0  1  0  1  .000  0   7     5   6   3  10   0   3.86   87  0   33                  0                        0  0                            0
   10 Art Houtteman         1945  17 DET AL  13  0  0   0  9  0  2  .000  0  25.1  27  17  15  11   9   5.33   66  1  116                  1                        0  0                            0
   11 Joey Jay              1953  17 MLN NL   3  1  1   1  1  1  0 1.000  0  10     6   0   0   5   4   0.00    0  0   37                  0                        0  1                            0
   12 Harry Macpherson      1944  17 BSN NL   1  0  0   0  1  0  0        0   1     0   0   0   1   1   0.00    0  0    4                  0                        0  0                            0
   13 Mike McCormick        1956  17 NYG NL   3  2  0   0  1  0  1  .000  0   6.2   7   7   7  10   4   9.45   40  1   36              0   0                        1  0                            0
   14 Stover McIlwain       1957  17 CHW AL   1  0  0   0  1  0  0        0   1     2   0   0   1   0   0.00    0  0    5    4  0  0   0   0   0   0   0   0  1  0  0  0  .500  .600  .500 1.100  214
   15 Rogers McKee          1944  17 PHI NL   1  0  0   0  1  0  0        0   2     2   1   1   1   0   4.50   80  1    9                  0                        0  0                            0
   16 Bob Miller            1953  17 DET AL  13  1  0   0  8  1  2  .333  0  36.1  43  25  24  21   9   5.94   69  2  171                  1                        0  3                            0
   17 Ron Moeller           1956  17 BAL AL   4  1  0   0  3  0  1  .000  0   8.2  10   5   4   3   2   4.15   94  0   39              0   0                        0  1                            0
   18 Charlie Osgood        1944  17 BRO NL   1  0  0   0  0  0  0        0   3     2   1   1   3   0   3.00  118  0   13                  1                        0  0                            0
   19 Claude Osteen         1957  17 CIN NL   3  0  0   0  1  0  0        0   4     4   1   1   3   3   2.25  181  0   19   16  1  0   0   0   0   0   0   0  0  0  0  2  .250  .368  .313  .681   88
   20 Carl Scheib           1944  17 PHA AL  15  0  0   0  9  0  0        0  36.1  36  18  17  11  13   4.21   82  1  156                  4                        2  1                            0
   21 Dave Skaugstad        1957  17 CIN NL   2  0  0   0  1  0  0        0   5.2   4   1   1   6   4   1.59  256  0   27   21  1  0   0   0   0   0   0   0  0  0  0  1  .190  .370  .238  .608   70
   22 Chuck Stobbs          1947  17 BOS AL   4  1  0   0  0  0  1  .000  0   9    10   6   6  10   5   6.00   65  0   45                  0                        0  1                            0
   23 Lefty Weinert         1919  17 PHI NL   1  0  0   0  1  0  0        0   4    11   9   8   2   0  18.00   18  0   25                  0                        0  0                            0
   24 George Werley         1956  17 BAL AL   1  0  0   0  1  0  0        0   1     1   1   1   2   0   9.00   43  0    6              0   0                        0  0                            0           

Notice, too, that after appearing at age 15, he didn't come back to the big leagues until age 23. How many other players can you name with 7+ year layoffs from big league activity? The other one who comes to mind right away is Minnie Minoso.

And I just wanted to add some thoughts about Barry Bonds' indictment. Based on the very long due process that has occurred, it seems like to me that he will be convicted although will probably serve only a token jail sentence. However, this penalty is a lot more severe than has been faced by any player who tested positive for a banned substance (which Bonds has not.) This indictment, and the likely conviction to follow, will probably do more to elicit compliance from baseball players, at least when it comes to answering questions about PEDs in MLB. The timing of the whole thing is odd to me: had Bonds' indictment on obstruction of justice come before George Mitchell's investigation was completed, the former senator may have obtained a lot more useful information from players. Still, it will be interesting to see what he did find once the report is released in the coming weeks.

As a reader asked for, here are the longest streaks for reaching base at least once per game, broken down by position.

Read the rest of this entry »

Resident suggestion guru kingturtle asked about which players had the largest differential between RBI and runs in a season. There is no straightforward way to calculate the leaders for this, so I thought I'd break it down by total number of RBI. Read the rest of this entry »