21st March 2008
To answer the above question, I used Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index and I set the controls for:
Yankees, LHP seasons, 1957 to 2007
where Inherited Runners % =<.5 and
WHIP<=1.3 and
at least 80% games came in relief, and
at least 45 Innings Pitched.
and, this is the result of that query:
1959 Bobby Shantz
1960 Bobby Shantz
1961 Luis Arroyo
1962 Bud Daley
1963 Steve Hamilton
1965 Steve Hamilton
1966 Steve Hamilton
1967 Steve Hamilton
1968 Steve Hamilton
1969 Steve Hamilton
1970 Steve Hamilton
1972 Sparky Lyle
1973 Sparky Lyle
1974 Sparky Lyle
1976 Sparky Lyle & Grant Jackson
1977 Sparky Lyle
1981 Dave LaRoche
1982 Rudy May & Dave LaRoche
1984 Dave Righetti
1985 Bob Shirley
1986 Dave Righetti
1989 Lee Guetterman
1990 Lee Guetterman
1991 Steve Howe
1997 Mike Stanton
1998 Mike Stanton
2001 Randy Choate
2002 Mike Stanton
2003 Chris Hammond
Based on this, it's not a reach to say that, since 1957, the Yankees have only had two seasons, 1976 and 1982, where they had two effective left-handed relief pitchers in their pen.
That's an amazing stat - just twice since 1957. Or, so I thought...
...until I looked at the same sort for all big league teams, and this is what I found, in terms of teams with two or more effective lefties in the same season:
2006 NL N.Y. Mets Wagner / Feliciano / Oliver
2003 AL Tx. Rangers Shouse / Mahay / Erasmo Ramirez
1998 NL Pittsburgh Pirates Christiansen / Rincon / Tabaka
1997 AL Baltimore Orioles Orosco / Myers / Arthur Rhodes
1983 NL New York Mets Orosco / C. Diaz / Tom Gorman
2007 AL Seattle Mariners G. Sherrill / Eric O'Flaherty
2007 AL Toronto Blue Jays Scott Downs / Brian Tallet
2005 NL Philadelphia Phillies Billy Wagner / Aaron Fultz
2004 NL Philadelphia Phillies Rheal Cormier / Billy Wagner
2004 NL St. Louis Cardinals Ray King / Steve Kline
2003 NL Colorado Rockies Brian Fuentes / Javier Lopez
2002 NL Atlanta Braves Mike Remlinger / Chris Hammond
2002 AL Minnesota Twins J.C. Romero / Eddie Guardado
2002 NL Montreal Expos Scott Stewart / Joey Eischen
2001 AL Seattle Mariners Arthur Rhodes / Norm Charlton
2001 NL St. Louis Cardinals Steve Kline / Mike Matthews
2001 AL Toronto Blue Jays Pedro Borbon / Dan Plesac
2000 NL Colorado Rockies Mike Myers / Gabe White
1999 NL Atlanta Braves John Rocker / Mike Remlinger
1998 NL Houston Astros Billy Wagner / C.J. Nitkowski
1998 NL New York Mets Dennis Cook / Brian Bohanon
1997 NL Houston Astros Billy Wagner / Mike Magnante
1993 AL Milwaukee Brewers Jesse Orosco / Graeme Lloyd
1992 NL Atlanta Braves Mike Stanton / Kent Mercker
1991 NL Chicago Cubs Paul Assenmacher / C. McElroy
1991 AL Chicago White Sox Scott Radinsky / Ken Patterson
1990 NL Pittsburgh Pirates Bob Patterson / Bob Kipper
1989 AL Milwaukee Brewers Dan Plesac / Tony Fossas
1989 NL St. Louis Cardinals Ken Dayley / Frank DiPino
1988 NL Cincinnati Reds Rob Murphy / John Franco
1988 AL Detroit Tigers Willie Hernandez / Paul Gibson
1988 AL Milwaukee Brewers Dan Plesac / Paul Mirabella
1988 NL San Diego Padres Mark Davis / Dave Leiper
1987 NL Cincinnati Reds Rob Murphy / John Franco
1986 NL Atlanta Braves Paul Assenmacher / Ed Olwine
1986 AL Detroit Tigers W. Hernandez / Mark Thurmond
1986 NL Montreal Expos Bob McClure / Dan Schatzeder
1984 NL New York Mets Jesse Orosco / Tom Gorman
1983 NL Philadelphia Phillies Al Holland / Willie Hernandez
1982 NL Los Angeles Dodgers Steve Howe / Terry Forster
1982 AL New York Yankees Rudy May / Dave LaRoche
1982 NL San Francisco Giants Gary Lavelle / Al Holland
1981 NL San Francisco Giants Al Holland / Gary Lavelle
1980 AL California Angels Dave LaRoche / Andy Hassler
1978 AL Kansas City Royals Al Hrabosky / Steve Mingori
1978 NL Los Angeles Dodgers Terry Forster / Lance Rautzhan
1977 AL Kansas City Royals Larry Gura / Steve Mingori
1976 AL Kansas City Royals Steve Mingori / Larry Gura
1976 AL New York Yankees Sparky Lyle / Grant Jackson
1975 NL Philadelphia Phillies Tug McGraw / Tom Hilgendorf
1974 AL Baltimore Orioles Grant Jackson / Don Hood
1973 NL Los Angeles Dodgers Jim Brewer / Pete Richert
1972 NL Los Angeles Dodgers Jim Brewer / Pete Richert
1971 AL Oakland Athletics Darold Knowles / Jim Roland
1971 AL Washington Senators Joe Grzenda / Paul Lindblad
1970 AL Detroit Tigers Fred Scherman / John Hiller
1968 AL Boston Red Sox Sparky Lyle / Bill Landis
1967 AL Washington Senators Darold Knowles / Dick Lines
1966 NL Cincinnati Reds Billy McCool / Ted Davidson
1966 NL St. Louis Cardinals Hal Woodeshick / Joe Hoerner
1965 NL Milwaukee Braves Billy O'Dell / Dick Kelley
1965 NL Los Angeles Dodgers Ron Perranoski / Jim Brewer
1964 NL Cincinnati Reds Billy McCool / Bill Henry
That's just 63 times since 1957 - in all of baseball. Just goes to show, it's hard enough to find one good lefty for your pen...and, if you have two, you've got something special.
Posted in Season Finders | 3 Comments »
20th March 2008
Since 1957 no pitcher has started on Opening Day with less than 5 games experience. 2 pitchers, Steve Busby in 1973 and Jose Guzman in 1986, each started on Opening Day in their 6th career starts. Here is the list of pitchers who have started on Opening Day despite having less than 10 games of major league experience.
While no starter since 1957 has made his debut on Opening Day, there have been 14 starters who have made their debut in the second game of the season. Included in that list is Tom Seaver, who would then start the next 12 Opening Days and become the career(post 1957) leader in opening day starts.
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
20th March 2008
Do you know which ML player had the highest salary in 2007? I was very surprised to see who it was.
Can you name to top 3 overall? Again, a bit surprising.
The answers are on this page (last category at the bottom of the page on the left.)
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
19th March 2008
Here's some nice trivia, courtesy of Tim Kurkjian. Rickey Henderson, Cleon Jones, Hal Chase, and Hick Carpenter are the only 4 players to play 1000 games and what?
(Bizarrely, Steve posted on this EXACT subject yesterday even though he and I didn't discuss it at all.)
Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments »
18th March 2008
Here's a fun fact: Using Play Index, and setting it for "For single seasons, From 1901 to 2007, Bats RH, Throws LH, Played 50% of games at C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, LF, CF, RF, DH, or OF, (requiring PA>=1), sorted by greatest number of players matching criteria " shows us that there's never been a big league team with three position players who Bat/Right and Throw/Left on their roster getting a PA in a the same season. Here's the teams with two guys like this in a season:
Year Lg Team Number Players Matching
+----+--+---------------------------------+------+-----------------------------------------+
2000 AL Seattle Mariners 2 Rickey Henderson / Brian Lesher
1998 AL Oakland Athletics 2 Rickey Henderson / Brian Lesher
1996 NL San Francisco Giants 2 David McCarty / Mark Carreon
1995 NL San Francisco Giants 2 Mark Carreon / David McCarty
1983 AL Oakland Athletics 2 Rickey Henderson / Kelvin Moore
1982 AL Oakland Athletics 2 Rickey Henderson / Kelvin Moore
1981 AL Oakland Athletics 2 Rickey Henderson / Kelvin Moore
1962 NL Houston Colt .45's 2 Carl Warwick / Bobby Shantz
1911 AL St. Louis Browns 2 Paul Meloan / Jim Murray
Posted in Game Finders | 4 Comments »
17th March 2008
Cincy's the game's most historic franchise, in the sense that they are home to the first openly pro squad. Funny thing - they don't have a reputation for great players. Before clicking, try to answer the following: 1) who are the 5 winningest pitchers in Reds history, 2) how many Reds pitchers have won 100 games for the club, and 3) who are the 5 winningest pitchers the squad actually developed?
Here's their winningest guys.
If you're curious, with regard to the last question, it's #s 7, 9, 10, 11, & 12 who the Reds developed.
Kinda sad when Tom Browning is one of the 5 winnigest homegrown products of all-time, innit?
Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments »
17th March 2008
Kurkjian noted that Jeff Kunkel went a long time at the beginning of his career without drawing a walk. Check out his gamelogs. He didn't get a walk until his 43rd game.
Here are all the players (except pitchers) who went their first 43 games without a walk:
Games Link to Individual Games
+-----------------+-----+-------------------------+
Herb Washington 43 Ind. Games
Julio Valdez 43 Ind. Games
Adam Stern 43 Ind. Games
Wally Shannon 43 Ind. Games
John Scott 43 Ind. Games
Alejandro Sanchez 43 Ind. Games
Chris Roberson 43 Ind. Games
Pablo Ozuna 43 Ind. Games
Ross Moschitto 43 Ind. Games
Miguel Mejia 43 Ind. Games
Don Mason 43 Ind. Games
Jeff Kunkel 43 Ind. Games
Darrin Jackson 43 Ind. Games
Herman Hill 43 Ind. Games
Edwards Guzman 43 Ind. Games
Tom Goodwin 43 Ind. Games
Cesar Geronimo 43 Ind. Games
Craig Gerber 43 Ind. Games
Marshall Edwards 43 Ind. Games
Brian Doyle 43 Ind. Games
Alex Diaz 43 Ind. Games
John DeMerit 43 Ind. Games
Javier Cardona 43 Ind. Games
Joe Cannon 43 Ind. Games
Rafael Belliard 43 Ind. Games
+-----------------+-----+-------------------------+
Games Link to Individual Games
+-----------------+-----+-------------------------+
Juan Bell 43 Ind. Games
German Barranca 43 Ind. Games
Jeff Abbott 43 Ind. Games
We know Herb Washington's story. He didn't have any plate appearances so he couldn't have gotten any walks. Tom Goodwin getting no walks didn't help much. Tough to steal bases when you can't get on base. Adam Stern's got 48 games and still no walks.
Posted in Game Finders | 1 Comment »
13th March 2008
...and order and sanity are restored in the world of baseball statistics.
Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments »
13th March 2008
Kurkjian noted how unusual it is for a player to have at least 20 homers and 10 sac hits in the same season.
Here are the 25 most-recent such seasons:
Cnt Player Year HR SH Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B RBI BB IBB SO HBP SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions
+----+-----------------+----+--+---+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+
1 Randy Winn 2005 20 10 31 TOT ML 160 683 617 85 189 47 6 63 48 4 91 5 3 11 19 11 .306 .360 .499 .859 *78/D
2 Juan Uribe 2004 23 11 24 CHW AL 134 553 502 82 142 31 6 74 32 1 96 3 5 10 9 11 .283 .327 .506 .833 *465/D
3 Derek Jeter 2004 23 16 30 NYY AL 154 721 643 111 188 44 1 78 46 1 99 14 2 19 23 4 .292 .352 .471 .823 *6
4 Marcus Giles 2003 21 10 25 ATL NL 145 635 551 101 174 49 2 69 59 2 80 11 4 7 14 4 .316 .390 .526 .916 *4
5 Jose Valentin 2000 25 13 30 CHW AL 144 648 568 107 155 37 6 92 59 1 106 4 4 11 19 2 .273 .343 .491 .834 *6/9
6 Roberto Alomar 1999 24 12 31 CLE AL 159 694 563 138 182 40 3 120 99 3 96 7 13 13 37 6 .323 .422 .533 .955 *4/D
7 Kevin Elster 1996 24 16 31 TEX AL 157 596 515 79 130 32 2 99 52 1 138 2 11 8 4 1 .252 .317 .462 .779 *6
8 Craig Biggio 1995 22 11 29 HOU NL 141 673 553 123 167 30 2 77 80 1 85 22 7 6 33 8 .302 .406 .483 .889 *4
9 Ron Karkovice 1993 20 11 29 CHW AL 128 453 403 60 92 17 1 54 29 1 126 6 4 12 2 2 .228 .287 .424 .711 *2
10 Brady Anderson 1992 21 10 28 BAL AL 159 749 623 100 169 28 10 80 98 14 98 9 9 2 53 16 .271 .373 .449 .822 *7/89
11 Steve Buechele 1991 22 11 29 TOT ML 152 600 530 74 139 22 3 85 49 4 97 7 3 14 0 5 .262 .331 .440 .771 *54/6
12 Devon White 1987 24 14 24 CAL AL 159 696 639 103 168 33 5 87 39 2 135 2 2 8 32 11 .263 .306 .443 .749 *98/7
13 Alan Trammell 1986 21 11 28 DET AL 151 653 574 107 159 33 7 75 59 4 57 5 4 7 25 12 .277 .347 .469 .816 *6/D
14 Wally Joyner 1986 22 10 24 CAL AL 154 674 593 82 172 27 3 100 57 8 58 2 12 11 5 2 .290 .348 .457 .805 *3
15 Dwayne Murphy 1982 27 12 27 OAK AL 151 660 543 84 129 15 1 94 94 2 122 3 8 8 26 8 .238 .349 .418 .767 *8/6D
16 Willie Upshaw 1982 21 10 25 TOR AL 160 646 580 77 155 25 7 75 52 8 91 1 3 11 8 8 .267 .327 .443 .770 *3/D
17 Roy Smalley 1979 24 15 26 MIN AL 162 729 621 94 168 28 3 95 80 8 80 4 9 9 2 3 .271 .353 .441 .794 *6/3
18 Bobby Grich 1979 30 12 30 CAL AL 153 609 534 78 157 30 5 101 59 10 84 2 2 14 1 0 .294 .365 .537 .902 *4
19 Butch Hobson 1977 30 10 25 BOS AL 159 637 593 77 157 33 5 112 27 4 162 4 3 17 5 4 .265 .300 .489 .789 *5
20 Rusty Staub 1970 30 11 26 MON NL 160 699 569 98 156 23 7 94 112 11 93 3 4 7 12 11 .274 .394 .497 .891 *9
21 Bobby Tolan 1969 21 10 23 CIN NL 152 691 637 104 194 25 10 93 27 2 92 15 2 9 26 12 .305 .347 .474 .821 *89
22 Paul Blair 1969 26 13 25 BAL AL 150 685 625 102 178 32 5 76 40 0 72 2 5 11 20 6 .285 .327 .477 .804 *8
23 Max Alvis 1967 21 16 29 CLE AL 161 697 637 66 163 23 4 70 38 1 107 4 2 13 3 10 .256 .301 .403 .704 *5
24 Jim Lefebvre 1966 24 10 24 LAD NL 152 610 544 69 149 23 3 74 48 6 72 3 5 10 1 1 .274 .333 .460 .793 *45
25 Johnny Callison 1963 26 13 24 PHI NL 157 692 626 96 178 36 11 78 50 4 111 2 1 8 8 3 .284 .339 .502 .841 *9/78
Since the steroids era started in 1992 or so, a bunch of speed guys have done it. Before that, it was really quite rare.
And here are all the guys to do it at least twice:
From To Ages Seasons Link to Individual Seasons
+-----------------+----+----+-----+-------+------------------------------+
Rogers Hornsby 1921 1929 25-33 7 Ind. Seasons
Lou Gehrig 1925 1930 22-27 5 Ind. Seasons
Mel Ott 1929 1939 20-30 4 Ind. Seasons
Hack Wilson 1927 1930 27-30 4 Ind. Seasons
Babe Ruth 1926 1930 31-35 4 Ind. Seasons
Ken Williams 1921 1925 31-35 4 Ind. Seasons
Jim Bottomley 1925 1929 25-29 3 Ind. Seasons
Jack Fournier 1923 1925 33-35 3 Ind. Seasons
George Kelly 1921 1925 25-29 3 Ind. Seasons
Joe Adcock 1954 1956 26-28 2 Ind. Seasons
Alvin Dark 1953 1954 31-32 2 Ind. Seasons
Gil Hodges 1949 1950 25-26 2 Ind. Seasons
Whitey Kurowski 1944 1945 26-27 2 Ind. Seasons
Al Simmons 1929 1930 27-28 2 Ind. Seasons
Lefty O'Doul 1929 1930 32-33 2 Ind. Seasons
Don Hurst 1929 1932 23-26 2 Ind. Seasons
Babe Herman 1929 1930 26-27 2 Ind. Seasons
Jimmie Foxx 1929 1930 21-22 2 Ind. Seasons
Dale Alexander 1929 1930 26-27 2 Ind. Seasons
Chick Hafey 1928 1930 25-27 2 Ind. Seasons
Bill Terry 1927 1930 28-31 2 Ind. Seasons
Bob Meusel 1921 1925 24-28 2 Ind. Seasons
So it's really an unusual thing. Nobody has done it twice since the 1950s.
Posted in Season Finders | 6 Comments »
11th March 2008
(Note: if you don't know what TK notes are, please refer back to this post.)
Note #2 is in regards to a 2005 start by John Halama, where he was yanked by Frank Robinson in the 1st inning after giving up just 1 ER. The Nationals went on to lose 12-1, and Halama got the loss, but perhaps undeservingly since he did give up just that one run.
I did a PI search for fewest pitches in a start when giving up just 1 run. Here are the results. Halama, with 24 pitches ties for "only" 57th on this list. Pedro Astacio wins, though, with a 1-pitch start giving up 1 ER. He must have gotten injured, of course, either by the batted ball or by pulling a muscle or some such.
By looking at the "batters faced" column, you can find games where the pitcher was likely pulled, as opposed to being removed due to injury. Here's one that was a doozie. Todd Stottlemyre gave up 1 first-inning run on 2 hits and a walk. In the bottom of the first, that man (Pedro Astacio again) started the game with 3 straight singles and a 3-run homer. So Stottlemyre was off the hook, but he didn't come back for the second inning, instead being replaced by the ageless Mike Morgan.
Anyway, check out that list. There are tons of neat games on there.
Posted in Game Finders | 16 Comments »
