Last week I wrote about the numbers surrounding the Mets and their choice of players from Latin America. My post focused on players from the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, but as reader Venom pointed out, I did omit several key countries. Lets take a look as those countries and see where the 2007 Mets rank. Read the rest of this entry »

It was always the lesser league, but the Cooperstown boys really haven't thought much of them.  Bid McPhee is essentially the only player from it in the Hall.  Here's their top guys in terms of Runs Created.

Here's how they look compared to their NL counterparts.   The NL was the better league but Stovey & Browning could rake.

Here were their best pitchers.  Really, Mullane & Caruthers are the only notables.  Compared with NL pitchers, they don't hold up as well, though.

Here's a frivolous weekend post for you. Remember this crazy game? Third-baseman Jeff Hamilton played 20 innings at 3rd base, then retired the side as pitcher in the 21st, then took the loss in the 22nd? And he pitched only after Orel Hershiser pitched 7 innings in relief!

Crazy.

Using the Play Index, you can figure out which players have only appeared in MLB as DHs.  Look for games played, career, with 100% of appearances coming as designated hitter.  Here are the results.  I knew there wouldn't be many, but I'm surprised how little it is.

This is a pretty tough trivia question, and you don't need the PI to solve it (although you do need it to generate the original list):

Following is the complete list of players since 1901 to ever do what in a particular season?

  Cnt Player            Year Age Tm  Lg  G   PA  AB  R   H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB IBB  SO HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Positions
+----+-----------------+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+
    1 Albert Pujols     2001  21 STL NL 161 676 590 112 194 47  4 37 130  69   6  93   9   1   7  21   1  3  .329  .403  .610 1.013 5379/D
    2 Dmitri Young      2001  27 CIN NL 142 586 540  68 163 28  3 21  69  37  10  77   5   1   3  22   8  5  .302  .350  .481  .831 *735/9
    3 Jason Giambi      1996  25 OAK AL 140 598 536  84 156 40  1 20  79  51   3  95   5   1   5  15   0  1  .291  .355  .481  .836 375D/9
    4 Russ McGinnis     1995  32 KCR AL   3   6   5   1   0  0  0  0   0   1   0   1   0   0   0   0   0  0  .000  .167  .000  .167 /375
    5 Pat Tabler        1984  26 CLE AL 144 528 473  66 137 21  3 10  68  47   2  62   3   0   5  16   3  1  .290  .354  .410  .764 375/4D
    6 Danny Cater       1967  27 KCA AL 142 573 529  55 143 17  4  4  46  34   9  56   4   2   4  14   4  5  .270  .317  .340  .657 573
    7 Augie Galan       1945  33 BRO NL 152 696 576 114 177 36  7  9  92 114   0  27   2   4   0  10  13  0  .307  .423  .441  .864 375       

Here's another set of players that are from a similar (but not the same) set of criteria, and are the only players to do it since 1901:

  Cnt Player            Year Age Tm  Lg  G   PA  AB  R   H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB IBB  SO HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Positions
+----+-----------------+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+
    1 Jay Payton        2006  33 OAK AL 142 588 557  78 165 32  3 10  59  22   1  52   4   0   5  12   8  4  .296  .325  .418  .743 789/D
    2 Ryan Sweeney      2006  21 CHW AL  18  35  35   1   8  0  0  0   5   0   0   7   0   0   0   1   0  0  .229  .229  .229  .458 /879
    3 So Taguchi        2005  35 STL NL 143 424 396  45 114 21  2  8  53  20   2  62   2   2   4  11  11  2  .288  .322  .412  .734 978
    4 Mark Little       2004  31 CLE AL  11  23  20   0   4  0  0  0   2   0   0   7   2   0   1   0   0  0  .200  .261  .200  .461 /879
    5 Jeffrey Hammonds  2003  32 TOT NL  46 149 132  22  32 12  0  4  13  16   0  28   1   0   0   3   1  0  .242  .329  .424  .753 789
    6 Bobby Kielty      2001  24 MIN AL  37 118 104   8  26  8  0  2  14   8   2  25   1   0   5   2   3  0  .250  .297  .385  .682 987/D
    7 Tsuyoshi Shinjo   2001  29 NYM NL 123 438 400  46 107 23  1 10  56  25   3  70   7   4   2   8   4  5  .268  .320  .405  .725 879
    8 Johnny Damon      1997  23 KCR AL 146 524 472  70 130 12  8  8  48  42   2  70   3   6   1   3  16 10  .275  .338  .386  .724 879
    9 Darren Bragg      1996  26 TOT AL 127 499 417  74 109 26  2 10  47  69   6  74   4   2   7   5  14  9  .261  .366  .405  .771 789
   10 Eric Fox          1992  28 OAK AL  51 163 143  24  34  5  2  3  13  13   0  29   0   6   1   1   3  4  .238  .299  .364  .663 789/D
   11 Juan Beniquez     1983  33 CAL AL  92 341 315  44  96 15  0  3  34  15   0  29   4   6   1  10   4  2  .305  .343  .381  .724 798/D
   12 Ralph Garr        1976  30 CHW AL 136 558 527  63 158 22  6  4  36  17   2  41   2   8   4   6  14  5  .300  .322  .387  .709 978/D
   13 Jim Northrup      1972  32 DET AL 134 469 426  40 111 15  2  8  42  38   6  47   2   3   0  16   4  7  .261  .324  .362  .686 *978/3
   14 Woodie Held       1965  33 WSA AL 122 390 332  46  82 16  2 16  54  49   1  74   3   2   4   9   0  0  .247  .345  .452  .797 798/546
   15 Ken Berry         1962  21 CHW AL   3   6   6   2   2  0  0  0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0  0  .333  .333  .333  .666 /879
   16 Gene Stephens     1961  28 TOT AL  94 275 241  26  49  8  1  4  28  30   0  34   2   2   0   2   4  3  .203  .297  .295  .592 879
   17 Gino Cimoli       1959  29 STL NL 143 569 519  61 145 40  7  8  72  37   2  83   2   7   4  19   7  0  .279  .327  .430  .757 987
   18 Pat Seerey        1946  23 CLE AL 117 476 404  57  91 17  2 26  62  65   0 101   1   6   0  12   2  3  .225  .334  .470  .804 987
   19 Max West          1939  22 BSN NL 130 513 449  67 128 26  6 19  82  51   0  55   5   8   0   9   1  0  .285  .364  .497  .861 987
   20 Alex Metzler      1928  25 CHW AL 139 567 464  71 141 18 14  3  55  77   0  30   6  20   0   0  16  8  .304  .410  .422  .832 798
   21 Les Mann          1926  33 BSN NL  50 141 129  23  39  8  2  1  20   9   0   9   0   3   0   0   5  0  .302  .348  .419  .767 879
   22 Tony Murray       1923  19 CHC NL   2   5   4   0   1  0  0  0   0   0   0   0   1   0   0   0   0  0  .250  .400  .250  .650 /*8*7*9
   23 Herbie Moran      1908  24 TOT ML  27 102  88   7  17  0  0  0   6   8   0   0   3   3   0   0   2  0  .193  .283  .193  .476 8/97      

Can you figure out what we're looking at here?

And Raphy, you can't guess, because it's directly related to what we were talking about yesterday.

The other day, I noticed that Curtis Wilkerson once hit a game-winning grand slam off Lee Smith. Wilkerson was with the Pirates at the time, and Barry Bonds hit his famous game-ending shot off Smith about a month earlier.

Smith gave up 9 game-ending homers in his career. Most of them were to big names too, including Bonds, Ted Simmons, Dave Parker, Darryl Strawberry, Marko Solo, and Albert Belle. Manny Trillo, John Russell, and Wilkerson stick out.

Incidentally, those 9 career walk-off losers for Smith are not actually that many. Mariano Rivera has given up 4, Trevor Hoffman has given up 9, Bill Wagner has given up 7, and they are all still pitching (so their totals might go up.)

Goose Gossage gave up 11 game-ending bombs, and to quite a motley bunch of guys: George Scott, Adrian Garrett, John Mayberry, Jose Cruz, Richie Zisk, Amos Otis, Cecil Cooper, Tom Foley, Chris Chambliss, Hubie Brooks, and Robin Ventura. Quite a bunch!

By the way, if you like free stuff, I'm giving away a 1988 Topps Gallery of Champions set right here.

Here’s a fun little nugget for you today – via Baseball-Reference.com’s Play Index Batting Game Finder.  Since 1957, only one player in baseball has had a game with 5+ hits AND 3+ walks in the same contest – where he also did not score a run. 

The Player:  Rod Carew
The Game:  May 12, 1972 

Carew’s team lost this game, by a score of 4-3.  Stranding Rod on base 8 times in game probably did not help the Twins cause that day.

Ever since Omar Minaya rebuilt the Mets, there have been many heated discussions about his stockpiling of Latin American players. I thought that it might be interesting to see what the PI can tell us about this subject. I am not presenting them to you as a judgment, just as a presentation of facts. Read the rest of this entry »

Here is the list for 2007:

 Year Lg Team                              Number Players Matching
+----+--+---------------------------------+------+-----------------------------------------+
 2007 NL Chicago Cubs                           4 Carlos Zambrano / Ted Lilly / Jason Marquis / Rich Hill
 2007 AL Chicago White Sox                      4 Javier Vazquez / Jose Contreras / Jon Garland / Mark Buehrle
 2007 NL Arizona Diamondbacks                   3 Brandon Webb / Livan Hernandez / Doug Davis
 2007 NL Atlanta Braves                         3 Tim Hudson / John Smoltz / Chuck James
 2007 AL Boston Red Sox                         3 Daisuke Matsuzaka / Tim Wakefield / Josh Beckett
 2007 NL Cincinnati Reds                        3 Aaron Harang / Bronson Arroyo / Matt Belisle
 2007 AL Cleveland Indians                      3 C.C. Sabathia / Fausto Carmona / Paul Byrd
 2007 NL Houston Astros                         3 Woody Williams / Roy Oswalt / Wandy Rodriguez
 2007 AL Minnesota Twins                        3 Johan Santana / Carlos Silva / Boof Bonser
 2007 AL Oakland Athletics                      3 Danny Haren / Joe Blanton / Chad Gaudin
 2007 NL San Diego Padres                       3 Jake Peavy / Greg Maddux / Chris Young
 2007 AL Seattle Mariners                       3 Miguel Batista / Jarrod Washburn / Felix Hernandez
 2007 AL Tampa Bay Devil Rays                   3 Scott Kazmir / Edwin Jackson / James Shields
 2007 AL Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim          2 John Lackey / Kelvim Escobar
 2007 AL Detroit Tigers                         2 Justin Verlander / Nate Robertson
 2007 NL Florida Marlins                        2 Dontrelle Willis / Scott Olsen
 2007 NL Los Angeles Dodgers                    2 Brad Penny / Derek Lowe
 2007 NL Milwaukee Brewers                      2 Jeff Suppan / David Bush
 2007 NL New York Mets                          2 Tom Glavine / John Maine
 2007 AL New York Yankees                       2 Andy Pettitte / Chien-Ming Wang
 2007 NL Philadelphia Phillies                  2 Jamie Moyer / Adam Eaton
 2007 NL Pittsburgh Pirates                     2 Ian Snell / Tom Gorzelanny
 2007 NL San Francisco Giants                   2 Barry Zito / Matt Cain
 2007 NL St. Louis Cardinals                    2 Adam Wainwright / Braden Looper
 2007 AL Baltimore Orioles                      1 Daniel Cabrera
+----+--+---------------------------------+------+-----------------------------------------+
 Year Lg Team                              Number Players Matching
+----+--+---------------------------------+------+-----------------------------------------+
 2007 NL Colorado Rockies                       1 Jeff Francis
 2007 AL Kansas City Royals                     1 Gil Meche
 2007 AL Texas Rangers                          1 Kevin Millwood
 2007 AL Toronto Blue Jays                      1 Roy Halladay
 2007 NL Washington Nationals                   1 Matt Chico                                

All 30 teams had at least 1 pitcher to start 30 games, which surprised me. The other thing to surprise me is to note that there isn't much correlation between where a team falls on this list and what it's record was. I guess the fallacy in my thinking is that stable pitching rotations mean the pitchers must be pretty good, whereas in reality starting pitchers are most often replaced in the rotation due to injury, as opposed to performance. The bottom half of the list includes half of the playoff teams (LAA, NYY, PHI, and COL.) And of the two teams to finish with 4 such pitchers, one was a playoff team (CHN) and one was a stinker (CWS.)

After giving it some more thought, I guess what surprises me is that the replacement pitchers who come in for the injured guys could possibly be as good as the guys they replaced. In the case of the Yankees and the Phillies, both of whom had pretty significant injuries in the rotation, I think their winning percentage was determined largely by their offensive output, and they might have been able to churn out a rotation of triple-A players and do just the same. (Hey, that's effectively what the Yankees did this past year anyway.

Whenever there is a trade rumor about a player, the media is always quick to ask if the talks bother him. Certainly, when a player is traded more than once, the questions arise if he feels unwanted. What then, would you ask a player who played on four different teams in the same season? It seems almost painful to imagine. Yet, there are ten players since 1901 to have accomplished this dubious feat. Read the rest of this entry »