The Baseball-Reference.com Play Index Stat of the Day

Since Mr. Knice Guy got shortchanged yesterday, I thought I’d use the PI batter-vs-pitcher feature to point out some of his career performances.

Knicely had only 12 career homers, but he did manage two off of the same guy: HOFer Dennis Eckersley:

                    PA  AB  H  2B 3B **HR** RBI  BB  SO   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS   SH  SF IBB HBP GDP G_miss YR_miss
+—————–+—+—+—+–+–+——+—+—+—+—–+—–+—–+—–+—+—+—+—+—+——+——-+
 Dennis Eckersley    7   7   2  0  0    2     4   0   3  .286  .286 1.143 1.429   0   0   0   0   0
 Jim Barr            3   2   1  0  0    1     3   0   0  .500  .667 2.000 2.667   0   0   0   1   0
 Bill Campbell       2   2   2  0  0    1     3   0   0 1.000 1.000 2.500 3.500   0   0   0   0   0
 Pete Falcone        7   5   1  0  0    1     1   2   1  .200  .429  .800 1.229   0   0   0   0   0
 Dave Goltz          1   1   1  0  0    1     1   0   0 1.000 1.000 4.000 5.000   0   0   0   0   0
 Rick Honeycutt      6   6   1  0  0    1     2   0   2  .167  .167  .667  .834   0   0   0   0   0
 Frank Pastore       3   3   3  0  0    1     2   0   0 1.000 1.000 2.000 3.000   0   0   0   0   0
 Don Robinson        3   2   1  0  0    1     3   1   0  .500  .667 2.000 2.667   0   0   0   0   0
 Bruce Ruffin        7   6   1  0  0    1     1   1   1  .167  .286  .667  .953   0   0   0   0   0
 Mike Scott          5   4   1  0  0    1     1   1   2  .250  .400 1.000 1.400   0   0   0   0   0
 Bob Welch           1   1   1  0  0    1     1   0   0 1.000 1.000 4.000 5.000   0   0   0   0   0

They came in consecutive starts for Eck in 1985 while he was with the Cubs and Knicely was with the Reds. The first was a 6th-inning 3-run job that put the Reds ahead 4-2. The second one came leading off the 9th inning (Eck had pitched the whole game to that point), making the score 4-2 Cubs, and then Lee Smith relieved to record the save. (Baseball is weird like this sometimes. Knicely homered twice off just one pitcher, and they came 5 days apart and made the score 4-2 in each case.)

Knicely had 600 career PAs, and here are all the pitchers against which he had at least 10:

                    PA  AB  H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB  SO   BA   OBP   SLG   **OPS**   SH  SF IBB HBP GDP G_miss YR_miss
+—————–+—+—+—+–+–+–+—+—+—+—–+—–+—–+———+—+—+—+—+—+——+——-+
 Shane Rawley       10   6   3  1  0  0   1   4   0  .500  .700  .667   1.367     0   0   0   0   1
 Tim Lollar         10   7   3  0  0  0   0   3   1  .429  .600  .429   1.029     0   0   0   0   0
 Jerry Reuss        18  14   5  1  0  0   3   3   2  .357  .444  .429    .873     0   1   2   0   2
 Joaquin Andujar    11  10   3  1  0  0   2   1   1  .300  .364  .400    .764     0   0   0   0   0
 Chris Welsh        13  13   4  0  0  0   3   0   0  .308  .308  .308    .616     0   0   0   0   0
 Fernando Valenzue  22  19   4  1  0  0   3   3   8  .211  .318  .263    .581     0   0   0   0   0
 Dave Dravecky      13  12   3  0  0  0   0   1   2  .250  .308  .250    .558     0   0   0   0   0
 Steve Carlton      20  17   3  1  0  0   2   2   4  .176  .263  .235    .498     1   0   0   0   2
 Orel Hershiser     11   8   1  0  0  0   2   1   2  .125  .182  .125    .307     0   2   0   0   0
 Atlee Hammaker     19  19   2  0  0  0   1   0   5  .105  .105  .105    .210     0   0   0   0   1

Not a ton of production there, but thems the facts.

One other interesting tidbit: of those 12 career homers, two came in his only PA against that opposing pitcher, giving him the perfect lifetime OPS of 5.000:

                    PA  AB  H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB  SO   BA   OBP   SLG   **OPS**   SH  SF IBB HBP GDP G_miss YR_miss
+—————–+—+—+—+–+–+–+—+—+—+—–+—–+—–+———+—+—+—+—+—+——+——-+
 Dave Goltz          1   1   1  0  0  1   1   0   0 1.000 1.000 4.000   5.000     0   0   0   0   0
 Bob Welch           1   1   1  0  0  1   1   0   0 1.000 1.000 4.000   5.000     0   0   0   0   0

Is that knice or what?