Most games played at cleanup
Reader kingturtle pointed out in the suggestions that Justin Morneau played all 163 of the Twins’ games this year as the cleanup hitter. Here are the leaders since 1956, in terms of games played in one year at cleanup:
Year Games Link to Individual Games -----------------+----+-----+------------------------- Justin Morneau 2008 163 Ind. Games Ron Santo 1963 162 Ind. Games Eddie Murray 1984 162 Ind. Games Cecil Fielder 1991 162 Ind. Games Carlos Delgado 2000 162 Ind. Games Rocky Colavito 1965 162 Ind. Games Don Baylor 1979 162 Ind. Games Joe Torre 1971 161 Ind. Games Carlos Lee 2005 161 Ind. Games Carlos Delgado 2003 161 Ind. Games Rocky Colavito 1961 161 Ind. Games Bobby Bonilla 1989 161 Ind. Games Albert Belle 1997 161 Ind. Games Albert Belle 1999 161 Ind. Games
This piqued my interest about other lineup spots. The complete list:
1st: 164, Maury Wills, 1962
2nd: 162, Felix Millan 1975
3rd: 163, Jim Rice 1978
4th: 163, Justin Morneau 2008
5th: 157, Robin Ventura 1998
6th: 141, Vinny Castilla 1997
7th: 132, Larry Parrish 1979
8th: 156, Ed Brinkman 1971
9th: 160, Alfredo Griffin 1983
Wills actually played in 165 games in 1962 thanks to a 3-game playoff with the Giants. In his one non-leadoff game he was sitting out the second game of a double-header but came in in the 8th spot in the bottom of the ninth as part of a double switch.
It’s interesting spots 6 and 7 especially were apparently changed more often throughout the season. Since the Game Finder only goes back to 1956, there may have been seasons before then with players in the 154 game schedule that beat the numbers for 6th and 7th.
Ed Brinkman was a notoriously bad hitter (lifetime OPS+ of 65!) so it’s not surprising he batted 8th a lot. He actually played in 159 games in 1971, but batted 7th once and lead off twice (!).
Of course the record for 9th spot occurred after the advent of the DH.
Comment by whiz — October 6, 2008 @ 1:22 pm
There may have been seasons before 1956 with players in the 154 game schedule that beat the numbers for 5th and 8th, too (although it’s unlikely). The record number of games played in a 154 game schedule is 162.
Comment by gerry — October 7, 2008 @ 6:46 pm
As far as I can tell, Eddie Murray is the all-time leader in games batting cleanup, and Delgado is the active leader. Are my numbers here anywhere near being correct?
* Eddie Murray (2041)
* Fred McGriff (1826)
* Willie McCovey (1622)
* Willie Stargell (1534)
* Dave Winfield (1484)
* Albert Belle (1448)
* Frank Robinson (1409)
* Tony Perez (1401)
* Carlos Delgado (1328)
* Ron Santo (1284)
* Jeff Kent (1277)
* Bobby Bonilla (1252)
* Manny Ramírez (1250)
* Harmon Killebrew (1148)
* Dave Kingman (1121)
* Andre Thornton (1107)
* Cecil Fielder (1058)
* Magglio Ordóñez (1045)
* Mike Schmidt (1027)
Comment by kingturtle — October 8, 2008 @ 8:33 pm
kingturtle is using “all-time” in the sense of “since 1957.” I reckon Lou Gehrig, for one, ought to be pretty high on the “since 1871″ list.
Comment by gerry — October 9, 2008 @ 7:35 pm
kingturtle - Manny is the active leader. You also forgot Greg Luzinski.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/shareit/QKX7
Comment by Raphy — October 9, 2008 @ 8:33 pm
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