Daryle Ward (son of Gary) had a big hit for the Cubs today. Perusing his career stats, I noticed that he once hit 20 homers for the Astros, doing it in just 264 ABs. Got me to thinking about who’s been able to reach 20 homers in a season with the fewest ABs:
Cnt Player **AB** HR Year Age Tm Lg G PA R H 2B 3B RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions
+—-+—————–+——-+–+—-+—+—+–+—+—+—+—+–+–+—+—+—+—+—+—+—+—+—+–+—–+—–+—–+—–+———+
1 Willie McCovey 229 20 1962 24 SFG NL 91 261 41 67 6 1 54 29 1 35 0 0 3 6 3 3 .293 .368 .590 .958 739
2 Art Shamsky 234 21 1966 24 CIN NL 96 271 41 54 5 0 47 32 1 45 0 3 2 5 0 2 .231 .321 .521 .842 79
3 Mark McGwire 236 32 2000 36 STL NL 89 321 60 72 8 0 73 76 12 78 7 0 2 5 1 0 .305 .483 .746 1.229 *3/467
4 Johnny Blanchard 243 21 1961 28 NYY AL 93 275 38 74 10 1 54 27 9 28 4 0 1 6 1 0 .305 .382 .613 .995 *2/79
5 Dave Ross 247 21 2006 29 CIN NL 90 296 37 63 15 1 52 37 7 75 3 4 5 4 0 0 .255 .353 .579 .932 *2
6 Glenallen Hill 253 20 1999 34 CHC NL 99 278 43 76 9 1 55 22 1 61 0 0 3 7 5 1 .300 .353 .581 .934 79/D
7 Kevin Maas 254 21 1990 25 NYY AL 79 300 42 64 9 0 41 43 10 76 3 0 0 2 1 2 .252 .367 .535 .902 *3D
8 Daryle Ward 264 20 2000 25 HOU NL 119 281 36 68 10 2 47 15 2 61 0 0 2 6 0 0 .258 .295 .538 .833 73/D9
9 Johnny Mize 274 25 1950 37 NYY AL 90 305 43 76 12 0 72 29 0 24 2 0 0 4 0 1 .277 .351 .595 .946 *3
10 Chris Duncan 280 22 2006 25 STL NL 90 314 60 82 11 3 43 30 0 69 2 0 2 4 0 0 .293 .363 .589 .952 *793/D
There’s Ward at 8, but McGwire really sticks out, getting 32 homers in just 236 ABs.
Interesting posts over on the suggestions thread:
- I was trying to find the most career games by a pitcher (Starts or Games) who never came to the plate to bat (without a PA). I thought Jack Morris would make the starter answer easy, but he batted once.
Comment by fabio — May 6, 2008 @ 8:51 pm
- Fabio, there’s no easy way to search for that since the batting and pitching searches are on different engines. But here’s a place to start. Obviously any pitcher who pitched before 1973 will have batted at least once, especially if he appears on a leaderboard for games.
So here are the leaders for game starts since 1973:
http://www.bb-ref.com/pi/shareit/ME46
The first guy I noticed was Frank Tanana, but he had an at-bat for the Tigers in 1991, and then a bunch for the Mets at the tail end of his career.
The next guy I noticed was Mike Mussina, who has been in the AL his entire career. But, thanks to interleague play, he’s had a bunch of ABs.
Next I saw Mike Moore. He was in the AL his entire career, and played before interleague play. But, alas, he had 1 AB in 1987 for some odd reason.
Dave Stieb had 2 ABs…one in 1980 and one in 1998. (I wonder if that’s the biggest break in history between ABs.)
Looks like the answer is Mike Flanagan with 404 starts.
Something similar could be done for relievers, although it’s harder since it’s possible that relievers prior to 1973 could go without PAs.
Comment by Andy — May 6, 2008 @ 10:10 pm
Ages and relative production are a pretty close comp for these two - over the first three years of their big league careers, huh?
Just some of the fun you have have playing around with B-R.com’s PI.
Here’s a fun little list via Baseball-Reference.com’s Play Index Batting Season Finder…
From 1901 to 2008, non-pitchers, batting seasons with at least 20 games played and a Batting Average<=.199 with an OPS>=.800:
From To Ages Seasons Link to Individual Seasons
+-----------------+----+----+-----+-------+------------------------------+
Jason Giambi 2008 2008 37-37 1 Ind. Seasons
Greg Vaughn 2003 2003 37-37 1 Ind. Seasons
Mark McGwire 2001 2001 37-37 1 Ind. Seasons
Rob Deer 1996 1996 35-35 1 Ind. Seasons
Kevin Roberson 1995 1995 27-27 1 Ind. Seasons
George Canale 1991 1991 25-25 1 Ind. Seasons
Of course, Giambi’s numbers are as of today’s game. Note that Vaughn, McGwire, Deer and Canale all did this trick in the last year of their big league career. An interesting way to go out, huh?
Bob Gibson had a pretty awesome year in 1968. He threw 304.2 innings and allowed only 198 hits, and walked just 62 too. (And struck out 268….)
For pitchers with at least 300 IP in a season, here are the fewest hits allowed. SOme of these seasons are a lot more impressive that others. For example, in 1974, Nolan Ryan allowed only 221 hits in 332.2 IP, but he also allowed a staggering 202 walks to go with his 367 strikeouts.
But anyway, in 1968, Gibson went only 22-9 despite a 0.853 WHIP, just about the lowest number I can imagine for a pitcher throwing so many innings. How in the heck did he lose 9 games?
Check out those 9 losses here. No fewer than 8 IP in all 9 games, and 1 or 2 ER in 6 of them. No more than 3 ER in any of them. Wow.
With Martinez getting injured for the Indians yesterday, I looked him up. I was amazed to see that he’s topped 250 total bases each of the last 3 years.
What’s more surprising is the list of all catchers to top 250 in any of those 3 years:
From To Ages Seasons Link to Individual Seasons
+-----------------+----+----+-----+-------+------------------------------+
Victor Martinez 2005 2007 26-28 3 Ind. Seasons
Jorge Posada 2007 2007 35-35 1 Ind. Seasons
Russell Martin 2007 2007 24-24 1 Ind. Seasons
Brian McCann 2006 2006 22-22 1 Ind. Seasons
Joe Mauer 2006 2006 23-23 1 Ind. Seasons
Martinez has done it almost as many times himself as all other catchers combined. Not too shabby.
David’s idea from yesterday got me to wondering who hit the most homers in their final major-league season. Do you know? Click through. (more…)
David in Toledo came up with this interesting list:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/shareit/7MGQ
Of course, the new addition he refers to is one Barry Lamar Bonds.
Kurkjian noted that in 1991, Manny Lee became the first player to strike out 100 times in a season without hitting a single homer. Nobody has done it since.
Here are the top strikeout totals with no homers:
Cnt Player **SO** HR Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B RBI BB IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions
+—-+—————–+——-+–+—-+—+—+–+—+—+—+—+—+–+–+—+—+—+—+—+—+—+—+–+—–+—–+—–+—–+———+
1 Manuel Lee 107 0 1991 26 TOR AL 138 485 445 41 104 18 3 29 24 0 2 10 4 11 7 2 .234 .274 .288 .562 *6
2 Vince Coleman 98 0 1986 24 STL NL 154 670 600 94 139 13 8 29 60 0 2 3 5 4 107 14 .232 .301 .280 .581 *78
3 Steve Jeltz 97 0 1986 27 PHI NL 145 510 439 44 96 11 4 36 65 9 1 3 2 9 6 3 .219 .320 .262 .582 *6
4 Tim Johnson 93 0 1973 23 MIL AL 136 510 465 39 99 10 2 32 29 2 1 11 4 10 6 3 .213 .259 .243 .502 *6
5 Gary Pettis 91 0 1991 33 TEX AL 137 343 282 37 61 7 5 19 54 0 0 6 1 4 29 13 .216 .341 .277 .618 *8
6 Nook Logan 86 0 2007 27 WSN NL 118 350 325 39 86 18 4 21 19 1 0 5 1 9 23 5 .265 .304 .345 .649 *8
7 Luis Castillo 85 0 1999 23 FLA NL 128 563 487 76 147 23 4 28 67 0 0 6 3 3 50 17 .302 .384 .366 .750 *4
8 Otis Nixon 85 0 1995 36 TEX AL 139 656 589 87 174 21 2 45 58 1 0 6 3 6 50 21 .295 .357 .338 .695 *8
9 Reggie Willits 83 0 2007 26 LAA AL 136 518 430 74 126 20 1 34 69 2 3 11 5 7 27 8 .293 .391 .344 .735 798D
10 Marvell Wynne 81 0 1984 24 PIT NL 154 702 653 77 174 24 11 39 42 0 0 5 2 8 24 19 .266 .310 .337 .647 *8
11 Don Kessinger 80 0 1967 24 CHC NL 145 628 580 61 134 10 7 42 33 1 4 7 4 3 6 13 .231 .275 .272 .547 *6
…I give you Luke Easter.
He’s one of 11 players in the 1950s to have a season with 100+ RBI but fewer than 500 AB.
Cnt Player Year RBI AB Age Tm Lg G PA R H 2B 3B HR BB IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions
+—-+—————–+—-+—+—+—+—+–+—+—+—+—+–+–+–+—+—+—+—+—+—+—+—+–+—–+—–+—–+—–+———+
1 Rocky Colavito 1958 113 489 24 CLE AL 143 578 80 148 26 3 41 84 6 89 2 0 3 16 0 2 .303 .405 .620 1.025 *93/17
2 Del Ennis 1957 105 490 32 STL NL 136 537 61 140 24 3 24 37 3 50 1 1 8 22 1 3 .286 .332 .494 .826 *79
3 Vic Wertz 1956 106 481 31 CLE AL 136 568 65 127 22 0 32 75 10 87 5 0 7 8 0 0 .264 .364 .509 .873 *3
4 Joe Adcock 1956 103 454 28 MLN NL 137 500 76 132 23 1 38 32 6 86 1 11 2 11 1 0 .291 .337 .597 .934 *3
5 Eddie Mathews 1955 101 499 23 MLN NL 141 616 108 144 23 5 41 109 20 98 1 1 6 5 3 4 .289 .413 .601 1.014 *5
6 Roy Campanella 1955 107 446 33 BRO NL 123 522 81 142 20 1 32 56 9 41 6 5 9 14 2 3 .318 .395 .583 .978 *2
7 Al Rosen 1954 102 466 30 CLE AL 137 566 76 140 20 2 24 85 0 43 3 1 11 14 6 2 .300 .404 .506 .910 *53/64
8 Eddie Mathews 1954 103 476 22 MLN NL 138 601 96 138 21 4 40 113 0 61 2 3 7 9 10 3 .290 .423 .603 1.026 *57
9 Frank Thomas 1953 102 455 24 PIT NL 128 510 68 116 22 1 30 50 0 93 2 3 0 12 1 2 .255 .331 .505 .836 *89/7
10 Ray Boone 1953 114 497 29 TOT AL 135 582 94 147 17 8 26 72 0 68 5 8 0 9 3 3 .296 .390 .519 .909 6
11 Luke Easter 1951 103 486 35 CLE AL 128 532 65 131 12 5 27 37 0 71 9 0 0 14 0 1 .270 .333 .481 .814 *3
12 Sid Gordon 1950 103 481 32 BSN NL 134 562 78 146 33 4 27 78 0 31 2 1 0 14 2 0 .304 .403 .557 .960 *75
That’s quite good company he’s in.
Also, Easter cracks the top 20 in OPS+ for players whose careers were less than 500 games, minimum 500 career PAs (active players excluded, or else Ryan Howard is #2 and a bunch of others make the list.)
In other words, for a guy with a short career, he had one of the best, at least by the OPS+ metric.
So when you hear “Happy Easter”, be sure to think of the late Luke Easter.