SUGGESTIONS
Let us know what you want to see!
Create Your Own Stats of the Day!
Try
the Play Index tools for Free! Create Custom Reports from 51 years
of searchable play-by-play and gamelog data and 137 years of
full-season data. You can also save your reports to share with
others. Subscriptions with full reports are $29/year or
$5/month. Examples:
Most Home Runs in a season by a Shortstop
Longest Batting Streak in games played as a Catcher
All 89 HR allowed by Anaheim vs. LHB in 2006
Most Home Runs in a season by a Shortstop
Longest Batting Streak in games played as a Catcher
All 89 HR allowed by Anaheim vs. LHB in 2006
I remember many years ago reading an article (or was it seeing a tv show) discussing how Reggie Jackson batted better when he played in the field than when he DH’ed.
I took a look at some of the numbers. In 1981, Reggie had a .604 OPS at DH (in 33 games), and a .824 OPS at RF (in 61 games). In 1983, .568 at DH (62 games) and .708 in RF (47 games). In 1985, .722 at DH (52 games) and .933 at RF (81 games). For his career, .739 at DH (630 games) and .893 at RF (1905 games).
The hypothesis is: playing in the field gives a player more rhythm than sitting on the bench and then taking swings. Is there any further data to support or refute this hypothesis?
Comment by kingturtle — October 26, 2007 @ 4:06 pm
[…] SUGGESTIONS […]
Pingback by Stat of the Day » Hitting as a DH vs hitting as a first baseman — October 27, 2007 @ 7:26 am
I posted the beginning of an answer to #1 right here.
Comment by Andy — October 27, 2007 @ 7:27 am
Any chance we could see most perfect *innings* by a pitcher? I’d be curious to see if the most dominant pitchers (or those we consider the most dominant) are also the ones that retire the side in order the most. (Is this stat even possible?)
Thanks for the consideration…
Comment by pcg — October 28, 2007 @ 12:20 pm
That’s not possible with the current configuration of the PI. However, we could look up most perfect APPEARANCES, regardless of length. I’ll post that one tomorrow.
Comment by Andy — October 28, 2007 @ 2:17 pm
How many players other than Bobby Kielty have homered in their only World Series PA? Kirk Gibson’s limp-off is pretty obvious, but I can’t think of any others off the top of my head.
Comment by gswitter — October 29, 2007 @ 1:00 pm
This isn’t necessarily a stat question - but something I’ve always wanted to know. When I was a kid I saw a stat that Ted Williams pitched 1 inning and he had 1 strike out…I’ve always wondered who it was that he struck out. Anyone know?
Along those lines - can anyone make a list of most pitching appearances by a non-pitcher?
Thanks!
Comment by doug730 — October 29, 2007 @ 9:39 pm
We’ve got a partial answer to #6 right here.
Comment by Andy — October 30, 2007 @ 5:53 am
As we all know, the term clean-up hitter refers to the 4th spot in the order and is a euphemism for getting hits that clear the bases. The ultimate cleanup hitter moment is the grand slam (for which the greatest cleanup hitter (Gehrig) still holds the all-time record).
My question is this: How many times has a cleanup hitter (for example Manny Ramirez) hit a grand slam in which the 1st (Lugo), 2nd (Youkilis), and third (Ortiz) batters in the line up were on base? This would be sort of a “perfect grand slam.”
Can it be answered at all in PI? Maybe it is only possible to find in the first inning?
Just curious. And just wondering.
Comment by kingturtle — November 5, 2007 @ 1:35 pm
Got an answer for #9, will post in a couple of days. (Can find it only for the first inning.)
Comment by Andy — November 5, 2007 @ 5:44 pm
Technically, this isn’t a suggestion, but I was noodling around- not only here, but also on MLB.com, and I found out that over the past two years A-rod has been making just about $8400 per pitch seen.
I just needed to share that.
Comment by cheeseboy10000 — November 11, 2007 @ 5:52 pm
In 1976, Lee May had 109 RBIs and scored 61 runs. That’s a difference of 48! And a ratio of 1.79:1. Can we find out which players had the largest margin of RBIs over runs? Or the largest ratios of RBIs:Runs?
In 1974, Lee May had 97 SOs and 17 BBs (a difference of 80). That’s a ratio of 5.71:1. Can we find out which players had the largest ratios of SOs:BBs?
Comment by kingturtle — November 13, 2007 @ 2:39 pm
the PI is not set up to calculate differences or ratios, although this is something I have talked to Sean about, and perhaps he’ll get an opportunity to implement it at some point. however, there are ways to check on what you are asking for, and i’ll look into that for Thursday’s post.
Comment by Andy — November 13, 2007 @ 3:06 pm
I was thinking about lefty/righty hitters and how it affects their stats.
For example lefties generally hit more triples, but what’s the ratio compared to righties. How does doubles change? Would they be evenly split?
What about singles? Would there be a better ratio that a single is hit from a righty because they generally pull it to SS/3B where it takes more time to make plays.
You get the idea.
Comment by mlbfan30 — November 23, 2007 @ 12:36 am
This will be up tomorrow. (#14)
Comment by Andy — November 24, 2007 @ 9:45 am
test
Comment by OscarAzocar — December 5, 2007 @ 1:37 pm
Are stat o’ the day posts for only a few people? I’d like to join in and post some.
Comment by Davie — December 6, 2007 @ 3:11 pm
You’d need to email Sean, the owner and operator of Baseball-Reference.com to ask about that. Otherwise, you’re always welcome to make suggestions here, or post your own findings in comments.
Comment by Andy — December 6, 2007 @ 3:15 pm
Hi guys:
I just did the survey and there was a question about our thoughts regarding uniform numbers.
I think that would not be a great idea since you can get that info from any team media guide. To me, the whole purpose of this baseball reference site is to give the serious fan a place for stuff they can’t get in a regular book.
The uniform number idea would be great if it were integrated into the play-index. Something like “most homers by a New York Mets player wearing the number 24″
If it’s just a number on the player page, what’s the point? I can get that anywhere.
Comment by Davie — December 8, 2007 @ 12:32 am
Davie,
I have to say I complete disagree. Virtually all of the data on B-R.com is available in some other places–whether on other websites or in print form. But this site combines more than any other place and–this is key–puts it in a very user friendly format. As far as I am concerned, the more data the better.
Comment by Andy — December 8, 2007 @ 11:41 am
I have a sugestion for you: Can you please post the team with the longest losing streak during a season that they finished over .500? And the longest winning streak for a team that finished under .500 in a season? Thanks!
Comment by ImAShark — December 9, 2007 @ 11:43 am
This isn’t really a suggestion, but I need some clarification on Blown Saves, and this seems like the best Blog to turn to.
I see instances in B-R in which a pitcher is credited with a Blown Save even though it is not a Save Opportunity. For example, in Game One of the 1923 World Series, Rosy Ryan is given a Blown Save - but I don’t think it was a Save Situation. He replaced the starting pitcher in the 3rd inning. The starting pitcher was not qualified to get a Win. If Ryan pitched perfectly to the end of the game, Ryan would have gotten the Win, not the Save. Can someone please explain?
Comment by kingturtle — December 12, 2007 @ 8:31 am
Is there any way we can get a “two-team total” for the team batting game finder page?
An example would be to find a game where the Mets and Braves played a game and both teams hit 4 HRs…or most of something for any two teams combined in a single game.
On a side note: Can somebody with more guts and patience than me do a search for most HRs hit in both games of a doubleheader?
I saw the Pirates had a player named Jason Thompson and he hit 2 HRs in both games. Is that the record? It sounds impressive enough.
Comment by Davie — December 12, 2007 @ 11:55 am
Davie, check it out:
*http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Most_Home_Runs_in_a_Doubleheader
Comment by kingturtle — December 12, 2007 @ 12:05 pm
Is there anywhere where I can quickly find a list of players that have hit a walk-off inside the park grand slam?
I heard Roberto Clemente did it, but I don’t know when.
Comment by Davie — December 15, 2007 @ 4:57 pm
It can’t be done with the PI, as there isn’t a distinction between regular homers and inside-the-park jobs. For just regular walk-off grannies, you can do a PI team event finder search, such as this one for 2007:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/shareit/5B2C
Comment by Andy — December 15, 2007 @ 5:16 pm
I was just wondering why the batting season finder has info regarding franchise count but the pitching season finder doesn’t.
You can find the most HRs by a player with one team but not the most strikeouts or games pitched by a one-team player…
Comment by Davie — December 15, 2007 @ 11:12 pm
I just notied Brad Penny has 3 complete games in his career but he has never finished a game.
How does a person pitch a complete game without finishing it? Isn’t that the same thing?
If you throw a complete game, don’t you finish it?
Comment by Davie — December 17, 2007 @ 8:58 am
Games finished are games where that pitcher was on the mound for the final out recorded by his team, EXCEPT where he was also the starter.
See here for the stats glossary:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/about/pitch_glossary.shtml
So, games finished includes saves by a closer (or a non-closer), as well as being the last pitcher on the mound when you win OR lose by a blow-out, and even being the last guy to pitch the top of the 9th when your team wins on a walkoff in the bottom of the 9th.
Comment by Andy — December 17, 2007 @ 9:04 am
What the heck is ERA+ supposed to be?
Is that another one of those kooky bill james things?
Comment by Davie — December 22, 2007 @ 11:29 am
Read the stats glossary. There are links to it on every single player page.
Comment by Andy — December 22, 2007 @ 12:04 pm
Hey, with all the Raines HOF stuff out there.
I noticed that he scored 133 runs for a team that scored 677 runs. I find it hard to believe that many, if any have topped that ratio. So, I was hoping you could look at that. With a Raines-in-his-prime playing for a NL team that averaged about 650 runs a season with Raines scoring over 100 numerous times I wonder how that stacks up against other “top of the order guys”.
I’m sick of people dismissing Raines because of his counting totals (Against Jeter, Rickey, etc) & not taking into account the team, league, etc…
I really think you could use this.
I apologize if you have already gone here & I missed it.
McCombe35
Comment by mccombe35 — December 27, 2007 @ 11:43 pm
And if I posted this in the wrong place - too bad…. haha
Let me know what to do.
Thanks.
Comment by mccombe35 — December 27, 2007 @ 11:59 pm
You posted it in the right place, but there is no easy way to determine this using the current PI tools. However, it’s a good thought. Something like this should be nicely accounted for in Win Shares, though, in the sense that Raines must have played a large part in the Expos’ wins in that year.
Comment by Andy — December 28, 2007 @ 7:18 am
Hey, guys!
Here’s some questions for you guys to look up (and maybe expound on later). And I do know the answers…
What player holds the record for most homers in a season without hitting at least one homer against every team in his own league?
Who is the only Canadian-born member of the Hall of Fame?
Of all the active players (at the end of 2007) that have played for 10 or more franchises in their career, who is the only one to not play for the Pirates?
Who are the only two players to play for only the Expos and the Blue Jays in their career?
Who are the only two visiting pitchers to hit more than one home run in Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Stadium?
Comment by Davie — January 1, 2008 @ 9:35 pm
You may want to do a post on 4 hit games and the 2000 KC Royals. Johnny Damon and Mike Sweeney had two of the highest totals ever and the team itself would have set a record that year had it not been for the altitude aided Rockies.
Comment by OscarAzocar — January 6, 2008 @ 11:23 am
Is there a way I can find the top batters against a specific team within a year? Specifically, I’d like to rank batters against the 2007 Mets. Is this possible?
Comment by studes — January 10, 2008 @ 4:44 pm
Dave #37:
Dave,
I don’t think it can be done.
The closest thing I can suggestion is the 2007 Mets pitching splits:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/psplit.cgi?team=NYM&year=2007
There, you can at least which teams hit the best against the Mets.
From there, you can look at individual team batting splits, such as:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/bsplit.cgi?team=PHI&year=2007
And then scroll down to where it’s split against opponents, click on Mets, and you can see each individual player’s performance against the Mets.
But I don’t see any easy way to rank all batters a priori.
Comment by Andy — January 10, 2008 @ 5:08 pm
Thanks, Andy. Might be a nice feature to add in the future — an “opponent” option in the batting and pitching season finder, for instance.
Comment by studes — January 10, 2008 @ 5:26 pm
Is there a way to take extra-inning stats and put them apart from regulation stats?
For example:
A player gets 2 homers in a game but both come past the 9th inning. In the PI game finder, both of those homers are indeed listed in the stats but none of them happened during regulation play.
Is there a way people can look up stuff that happened only in extra innings (using the game finder and not the event finder)
Comment by Davie — January 11, 2008 @ 11:29 pm
Davie, I don’t think so. I think it’s limited to doing event finders for specific players to break that out. You can also use the Team Batting Event finder to characterize it by team, by year.
The kind of search you are asking for is actually quite powerful and would take a lot of resources. There are lots and lots of things that Sean has set up B-R’s databases to be able to do, but that simply take too much time to calculate (I am guessing–I have never asked him about this.) As computers get faster and bandwidth gets cheaper, more and more of this stuff will become available, I think.
Comment by Andy — January 12, 2008 @ 7:06 am
Hi guys:
How difficult would it be to take the batting and/or pitching season finders and come up with a stat line like this:
Most or fewest of something in the first season with a team but not the first season of a career.
For example:
A player has 20 HRs in his very first season but a couple years later is traded to another team and gets 28 HRs in his first full season with club two. Should that second amount be counted as the most HRs in the first season with a club even though it was not the start of the career?
Comment by Davie — January 15, 2008 @ 4:15 pm
Is there a way to find a players career stats against a specific team? I can pull up individual game lines, but it does not show the totals for a career. Thanks and this site is awesome.
Comment by dannyg483 — January 18, 2008 @ 9:08 am
Love the stat of the day, log on every day to read. Have a question.
It could be argured that Ryan Braun had one of the greatest offensive rookie seasons in Major League history. How Tulowitzki got even close to him in the voting is beyond me. His .634 slugging percentage led the National League and was the highest by a rookie in Major League history. Became the fastest player in the Major Leagues to reach 20 career home runs. Was named National League Rookie of the Month for June and July. Looking at his splits, I see in 111 ABs he batted .450 against left handed batters. Now I know this is a rookie record but I’m curious to see how this ranks all time against left handed pitchers with a min. of 100 ABs. or has a right handed batter ever batted better against left handing pitching with a min of 100 ABs?
Thanks! Keep up the great work!
Comment by monotone — February 9, 2008 @ 3:09 am
Sometimes while bored, I play with the tools to find box scores of memorable games that I have attended, or of contests which stand out in my mind. For some reason (who can understand the working of a Cub fan’s brain) I recalled that forgettable hurler Jim Bullinger had hit a home run in his first major league at-bat (on the first pitch, no less), and went about looking for the documentation.
When I found the game, I also saw that Bullinger (who was primarily a starter) launched the dinger as a reliever…and recorded his first career save on the same day (06.08.92– though not in the same game, in the other half of a doubleheader).
What an odd confluence of events, thought I — it must be rare for relief pitchers to hit homers, rarer still to get an at-bat in a game close enough to save, and then to record such divergent career firsts on the same day! I would bet it had never happened before.
I was wrong.
I could find no way with the PI to comb both hitting and pitching performance in the same game, so I had to wing it. I looked in hitting stats for those who entered the game as sub pitchers and had at least 1 HR in games that their teams won. From there (108 games) I looked for final scores close enough to warrant saves, then checked the box scores. Not a perfect search (can get a save with large score disparity, save was not always a recorded stat) - but enough data to be interesting:
Found 7 games where relievers had a save and HR in same contest and one other time when a pitcher had his first career four-bagger and first career save on the same day (and this was in the same game) — Ken Brett on 06.07.70!
Other points of interest:
On 06.16.57 Dixie Howell came on as a relief pitcher in the 5th inning and went deep TWICE in the match-up, securing himself the victory;
In that same season (1957) relief pitchers homered in games an astonishingly disproportionate 14 times (13% of the total from 1957-2007, where statistically one might expect 2.5%) including twice each by Howell, Ed Roebuck (within 12 days), and Tommy Byrne (within 3 days).
Two relief pitchers hit grand slams in games that their teams won: Enrique Romo (10.01.80) and Don Robinson (09.12.85) Robinson’s long fly help defeat a washed-up drunken starting pitcher on the Cubs who would go on to about 700 relief appearances himself..all without hitting a HR: Dennis Eckersley.
Enjoy
Comment by Bleacherboy — March 4, 2008 @ 5:42 pm
There’s only one person who’s played in two opening day games for two different teams in the same year. Can you name him? Followup: What’s special about that season that made it possible?
http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/shareit/ZAFq
Comment by Plutor — March 25, 2008 @ 12:40 pm
My dad and I were talking about a game we went to back in the late 70’s where Willie Wilson hit an inside-the-park home run (the leadoff at-bat in the bottom of the first no less) and that was the only run of the game.
Game can be found here:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/KCA/KCA197908250.shtml
The Royals ended up beating the Red Sox 1-0. It got me to thinking if there ever was another game that ended up 1-0 with the only run being an inside-the-parker. I tried figuring out how to search on this but couldn’t ever get it. Any help would be appreciated…
Comment by RoyalsFan — March 27, 2008 @ 8:56 am
The Yankees start their last season in Yankee Stadium with no left handed starters and only one lefthanded pitcher on the roster.
What is the fewest starts and innings by lefthanders in a season for the Yankees ?
Comment by jmvbaseball — April 5, 2008 @ 1:14 pm
I can’t think of any way to search for that stuff, jmvbaseball. Sorry.
Comment by Andy — April 5, 2008 @ 3:01 pm
jmvbaseball, the Yankees do have a lefty starter named Andy Pettitte. The fact that Pettitte was on the DL for the first 4 games of the season is pretty irrelevant.
In regards to the first part of your question:
Here are the fewest number of starts by a lefty for the Yankees since 1956. Every year is represented, so it looks like the answer is 11.
Comment by Raphy — April 6, 2008 @ 6:47 am
Regarding #46. PI doesn’t have a way to do this easily. (You can get all the inside the park home runs that broke tie games or all the 1-0 games with home runs, but not both).
However, an internet search does reveal that Ted Williams did it in 1946 in the game in which the Red Sox clinched the pennant.
Comment by Raphy — April 6, 2008 @ 9:19 am
Javier Lopez (Red Sox) was credited with a win after making only one pitch. (April 19, 2008). How many times has this happened? Are there instances where a pitcher has been credited with a win without making any pitches, ie picked off runner to end the inning before making a pitch?
Comment by Forrest — April 20, 2008 @ 8:50 am
Is there any chance of adding the “pitch sequence” to the event records?
Also, can the retrosheet player ID be added to the event records to combat the “Alex Gonzalez” issue where two players with the same name are in the league at the same time?
Since I have no idea how difficult those additions would be, I thought that it couldn’t hurt to ask!
Comment by Gary From Chapel Hill — April 21, 2008 @ 9:18 am
When will fielding stats become available? For example, Andruw Jones had 493 putouts in the outfield in 1999. I’d like to know who the last guy was to get 500.
There are lots and lots of things I’d like to search for in the fielding categories.
Comment by kingturtle — April 25, 2008 @ 7:49 am
I can’t figure out how to find all-time player splits for a specific team.
for example i wanted to find the top 10 Reds OBP for leadoff hitters. Is that possible?
Comment by mhowes — May 2, 2008 @ 2:11 pm
mhowes–I don’t know of any way of doing that. Such info is possible to find for individual years, but not over careers, I don’t think. It’s tough to parse data that way–it’s one thing to split a single season by batting order position and performance, but to split all data that way and store it in an accessible way is pretty difficult, I think.
Comment by Andy — May 2, 2008 @ 2:56 pm
Ok honestly i need help cause i can not figure this out. I am a white sox fan and they have to have a terrible batting average with bases loaded but i was wondering over the last 5,8,10 years maybe which team has the worst batting average with the bases loaded?
Comment by glades — May 5, 2008 @ 10:14 pm
glades- you can’t be referring to this year. They’re one of the best.
http://www.bb-ref.com/pi/shareit/t3TQ
I don’t know how to get a total. However if you want to go year by year you can calculate it yourself. Click on 123 to see the individual team totals for the year.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/bsplit.cgi?lg=ML&team=TOT#situa-bases
Comment by Raphy — May 6, 2008 @ 1:41 pm
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
[…] Comment by fabio — May 6, 2008 @ 8:51 pm […]
Pingback by Stat of the Day » Most game starts with no PAs — May 6, 2008 @ 10:12 pm
thanks raphy and no i was taking about over a 5 year span… they just frustrate me cause im a season ticket holder and i dont know if i have seen a hit with the bases loaded in 5 years, and were takin 30 games a year.
Comment by glades — May 7, 2008 @ 10:53 am
Here’s a suggestion for something to look up. I gave it a rudimentary attempt but couldn’t isolate the final answer. I was interested in how many times a pitcher has earned a save by throwing just one pitch when entering the game with a 5 run lead (i.e., the bases are loaded). And did it ever happen that the pitcher got more than 1 out with that one pitch?
cheers
Steven
Comment by fishiam — May 7, 2008 @ 11:43 am
Answer to #54: Dwayne Murphy is the last outfielder with 500+ putouts, with 507 in 1980.
Answer to #59: Buddy Groom is the all-time leader for most games played without ever having a PA. 786 games.
Comment by statboy — May 7, 2008 @ 3:02 pm
Juan Marichal was a guest on BB2T today and he was asked about his MLB debut. He mentioned that he threw a 1-hitter in his debut. I thought that had to be one of the best MLB pitching debuts (since 1956). Sure enough, it is, with a Game Score of 96! What an auspicious start for the future HOFer!
Rounding out the top 10 are some surprises:
2. Steve Woodard, 1997 = 91 (gave up 1 hit over 8 IP, struck out 12)
3. Jimmy Jones, 1986 = 90 (CG 1-hitter)
4. Rudy May, 1965 = 88 (CG 1-hitter)
5. Pedro Astacio, 1992 = 87 (144 pitches!)
6-t. Jim Cosman, 1966 = 86
6-t. Luis Tiant, 1964 = 86
8. Mark Brownson, 1998 = 85 (would win only 1 other game in his career)
8-t. Jeff Pico, 1988 = 85
8-t. Wayne Simpson, 1970 = 85
8-t. Tom Phoebus, 1966 = 85
Comment by savoyspecial — May 11, 2008 @ 8:53 pm