This is our old blog. It hasn't been active since 2011. Please see the link above for our current blog or click the logo above to see all of the great data and content on this site.

Triple play + walk-off homer

Posted by Andy on September 15, 2009

I've previously mentioned how much I like the little stats shown on the mobile version of ESPN.com. Recently, they noted that Prince Fielder was the first guy since 1954 to be involved in a triple play and walk-off homer in the same game. That would be this game in which Fielder received a throw at first base as part of a triple play and hit the game-winning homer in the 12th inning.

I was curious to find that 1954 game so I started with a team batting even finder to find all walk-off homers that year:

   Yr#    G# Date          Batter            Tm   Opp Pitcher           Score       Inn RoB Out Cnt Pit RBI Play Desc.
+-------+---+-------------+-----------------+---+----+-----------------+-----------+---+---+---+---+---+---+-------------------------+
       1   1 1954-04-13    Mickey Vernon     WSH  NYY Allie Reynolds    tied   3-3  b10 1--   1  -        2 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run; Yost Scores
       2   1 1954-04-18(2) Jackie Jensen     BOS  PHA Moe Burtschy      tied   3-3  b13 ---   0  -        1 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run
       3   1 1954-04-19    Eddie Yost        WSH  PHA Art Ditmar        tied   3-3  b 9 ---   0  -        1 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run
       4   1 1954-04-24    Wally Post        CIN  CHC John Pyecha       down   3-5  b 9 12-   2  -        3 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run; Bell Scores; Temple Scores
       5   1 1954-05-12    Bobby Hofman      NYG  CIN Harry Perkowski   down   0-1  b 9 1--   1  -        2 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run (Deep LF Line); Samford Scores
       6   1 1954-05-16(2) Ray Boone         DET  BOS Frank Sullivan    tied   8-8  b14 ---   2  -        1 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run
       7   1 1954-06-09    Jim Greengrass    CIN  PIT Max Surkont       tied   3-3  b 9 ---   1  -        1 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run
       8   1 1954-06-11    Eddie Miksis      CHC  NYG Marv Grissom      tied   4-4  b10 ---   0  -        1 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run
       9   1 1954-06-15    Hank Thompson     NYG  CIN Jackie Collum     down   2-3  b 9 12-   2  -        3 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run; Gardner Scores; Lockman Scores
      10   1 1954-06-19    Hoot Evers        NYG  STL Joe Presko        tied   2-2  b 9 12-   1  -        3 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run (Fly Ball to LF Line); Irvin Scores; Gomez Scores
      11   1 1954-06-30    Bill Wilson       PHA  WSH Connie Marrero    tied   7-7  b 9 ---   2  -        1 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run
      12   1 1954-07-05(2) Harvey Kuenn      DET  CLE Don Mossi         tied   0-0  b11 ---   1  -        1 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run
      13   1 1954-07-09    Roy Campanella    BRO  PHI Murry Dickson     tied   5-5  b10 1--   1 0-0   1   2 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run; Furillo Scores
      14   1 1954-07-16    Irv Noren         NYY  BAL Joe Coleman       tied   2-2  b 9 ---   2  -        1 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run
      15   1 1954-07-19    Hobie Landrith    CIN  NYG Al Corwin         tied   0-0  b12 ---   1  -        1 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run
      16   1 1954-07-19(1) Mickey Owen       BOS  BAL Mike Blyzka       down   5-7  b 9 123   2  -        4 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run; Maxwell Scores; Piersall Scores; Williams Scores
      17   1 1954-07-22(1) Mickey Mantle     NYY  CHW Don Johnson       tied   3-3  b10 ---   2  -        1 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run
      18   1 1954-08-04    Jackie Robinson   BRO  STL Tom Poholsky      down   6-7  b 9 1--   1 0-1   2   2 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run; Gilliam Scores
      19   1 1954-08-04    Jerry Lynch       PIT  CIN Frank Smith       down   2-3  b 9 1--   2  -        2 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run; Skinner Scores
      20   1 1954-08-08    Jim Delsing       DET  NYY Johnny Sain       tied   8-8  b10 1--   1  -        2 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run; Wilson Scores
      21   1 1954-08-13    Del Crandall      MLN  CHC Jim Davis         tied   2-2  b 9 12-   1  -        3 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run; Adcock Scores; Logan Scores
      22   1 1954-08-27    Ted Kluszewski    CIN  PIT Max Surkont       tied   2-2  b 9 ---   0  -        1 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run

By clicking on the date of each game I found out that it was the very last one that year that featured the triple play. In that game, Kluszewski did exactly what Fielder did--fielded a triple play at first base and later hit a walk-off homer.

I wonder if the 1954 Reds has as much fun as the 2009 Brewers did with Fielder's home run. Check out the fanfare on MLB.com.

Posted in Event Finders | 1 Comment »

Feature Watch: Team Splits

Posted by Neil Paine on September 14, 2009

Last week, I gave a little tour of the splits pages we offer for individual players, so today we thought it would be a good idea to go through the same run-down with regard to team splits.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Site Features, Tutorials | Comments Off on Feature Watch: Team Splits

Worst-slugging cleanup hitters

Posted by Andy on September 14, 2009

Check out the worst slugging percentage by 4th-place hitters for each team (stats through last Thursday...sorry...wrote this one a little early.)

Rk HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
2 KCR 8 51 43 130 .211 .278 .301 .579
3 BAL 16 76 50 89 .257 .320 .399 .718
4 OAK 17 72 78 115 .251 .355 .406 .760
5 PIT 19 68 51 112 .233 .297 .407 .704
6 SEA 19 72 53 105 .237 .302 .409 .711
7 FLA 15 82 48 77 .271 .333 .415 .748
8 LAD 15 93 77 106 .274 .361 .423 .784
9 TOR 16 69 47 88 .271 .325 .433 .758
10 CIN 23 98 39 88 .270 .326 .445 .771
11 SFG 21 82 23 81 .283 .311 .458 .769
12 TBR 29 83 92 167 .229 .355 .462 .817
13 CLE 17 89 62 136 .286 .368 .463 .831
14 COL 17 85 68 107 .288 .365 .468 .834
15 SDP 24 88 65 124 .273 .355 .474 .829
16 ATL 24 93 50 94 .275 .334 .475 .810
17 NYM 14 91 49 97 .303 .362 .478 .840
18 ARI 32 88 73 163 .251 .340 .479 .819
19 HOU 24 91 42 53 .300 .349 .487 .836
20 NYY 29 107 90 117 .286 .396 .497 .893
21 LAA 28 101 46 91 .295 .350 .497 .847
22 CHW 33 102 84 129 .273 .376 .511 .887
23 STL 30 113 56 101 .284 .353 .513 .866
24 MIN 33 100 66 105 .267 .346 .520 .866
25 BOS 31 111 72 138 .285 .382 .528 .909
26 CHC 32 101 70 99 .293 .380 .530 .910
27 TEX 36 89 62 118 .254 .341 .538 .879
28 DET 32 100 59 109 .313 .384 .539 .923
29 PHI 37 116 64 166 .270 .348 .549 .897
30 WSN 38 102 102 159 .281 .403 .561 .964
31 MIL 38 125 93 120 .298 .410 .592 1.001
TOT 747 2738 1874 3384 .272 .350 .474 .825
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 9/11/2009.

Man, check out just how awful the Royals' cleanup hitters have been. They are nearly 100 points below the second-worst team, and the entire range of everybody else is about 200 points. It's not like their producing in any other way, either. The Royals' #4 batters have a collective batting average of .211 and OBP of .278. Sheesh. The cumulative OBP for all of MLB is .333, meaning that the guys on the Royals who should be in the upper echelon of power hitters have an OBP that's more than 50 points below leave average. And they have struck out a ton. Umm...yeah.

Let's not miss the Mets. Although they have an average SLG out of their cleanup hitters, they have just 14 HR, the second-fewest in baseball.

Here are the performances by the guys who have hit 4th the most for the Mets.

Rk G HR RBI SO BA OBP SLG OPS
1 Gary Sheffield 44 6 32 22 .308 .385 .484 .869
2 Carlos Delgado 25 4 23 20 .298 .387 .521 .909
3 Jeff Francoeur 20 2 11 15 .313 .313 .500 .813
4 David Wright 19 0 8 20 .319 .405 .431 .835
5 Daniel Murphy 18 2 10 11 .293 .303 .533 .836
Team Total 176 14 91 97 .303 .362 .478 .840
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 9/11/2009.

The loss of Delgado hurts for sure. All of the other guys have hit pretty well, truth be told, and 97 RBI over the course of the season is not too bad. For some reason, though, the dingers have been infrequent.

Posted in Splits | 5 Comments »

Finishing Off Strong – Most Wins in the Final 20 Games

Posted by Raphy on September 13, 2009

As the baseball season enters its final stretch lets take a look at all the teams since 1901 to win at least 17 of their final  20 regular season games. For a more extensive list including the teams before 1901,  you can view my original search here.

Tm  Sched  StartDate    EndDate      Games       W-L      WP     RS     RA   Tot W-L   Rnk Postseason
---+-----+-----------+-----------+-----------+---------+------+------+------+---------+---+------------------+
NYY sched  1960-09-10  1960-10-02   136-155     18-2      .900     94     57   97-57     1 AL Pennant
CHC sched  1935-09-07  1935-09-29   135-154     18-2      .900    129     53  100-54     1 NL Pennant
OAK sched  2001-09-09  2001-10-07   143-162     17-3      .850    120     65  102-60     2 Wildcard
MON sched  1994-07-22  1994-08-11    95-114     17-3      .850    102     60   74-40     1
CLE sched  1952-09-05  1952-09-28   136-155     17-3      .850    103     49   93-61     2
BAL sched  1970-09-10  1970-10-01   143-162     17-3      .850     98     50  108-54     1 WS Champ
STL sched  1942-09-06  1942-09-27   137-156     17-3      .850     92     46  106-48     1 WS Champ

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Streak Finders | 6 Comments »

Runs Created Ages 22-35

Posted by Raphy on September 11, 2009

Lou Gehrig's name has been in the news a lot lately, so here is a quick Gehrig stat.  With the exception of a few games before and after, Gehrig's career essentially ran from 1925 when he was 22 until 1938 when he was 35. According to the runs created formula used by PI, during that time frame Gehrig created 2219 runs. Here are the all-time leader in RC from 22-35.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments »

’09 Yanks, ’93 Tigers & ’78 Brewers Stand Alone?

Posted by Steve Lombardi on September 11, 2009

The 2009 Yankees currently have 7 players with 400+ PA and an OPS+ >=120. If New York can keep this up, they will become only the third team in baseball history have have 7 players with 400+PA and an OPS+ >=120. Via Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index, here are the other teams to do it:

 Year Lg Team                              Number Players Matching
+----+--+---------------------------------+------+-----------------------------------------+
 2009 AL New York Yankees                       7 Robinson Cano / Mark Teixeira / Derek Jeter / Nick Swisher / Johnny Damon / Hideki Matsui / Alex Rodriguez 
 1993 AL Detroit Tigers                         7 Cecil Fielder / Mickey Tettleton / Tony Phillips / Travis Fryman / Lou Whitaker / Chad Kreuter / Alan Trammell 
 1978 AL Milwaukee Brewers                      7 Sal Bando / Larry Hisle / Gorman Thomas / Don Money / Sixto Lezcano / Ben Oglivie / Cecil Cooper 
 2003 AL Boston Red Sox                         6 Nomar Garciaparra / Manny Ramirez / Bill Mueller / Jason Varitek / Trot Nixon / David Ortiz 
 1991 AL Texas Rangers                          6 Ruben Sierra / Rafael Palmeiro / Julio Franco / Juan Gonzalez / Kevin Reimer / Brian Downing 
 1982 AL California Angels                      6 Brian Downing / Reggie Jackson / Doug DeCinces / Bobby Grich / Rod Carew / Fred Lynn 
 1969 NL Cincinnati Reds                        6 Tony Perez / Lee May / Pete Rose / Bobby Tolan / Johnny Bench / Alex Johnson 
 1965 NL Milwaukee Braves                       6 Eddie Mathews / Hank Aaron / Joe Torre / Felipe Alou / Mack Jones / Gene Oliver 
 1939 AL New York Yankees                       6 Red Rolfe / Joe Gordon / George Selkirk / Bill Dickey / Joe DiMaggio / Charlie Keller 
 1933 AL New York Yankees                       6 Lou Gehrig / Ben Chapman / Tony Lazzeri / Babe Ruth / Bill Dickey / Earle Combs 
 1932 AL New York Yankees                       6 Lou Gehrig / Ben Chapman / Earle Combs / Tony Lazzeri / Babe Ruth / Bill Dickey 
 1897 NL Baltimore Orioles                      6 Jake Stenzel / Joe Kelley / Willie Keeler / Hughie Jennings / Jack Doyle / John McGraw 
 1884 NL Chicago White Stockings                6 Fred Pfeffer / Cap Anson / Abner Dalrymple / King Kelly / Ned Williamson / George Gore 

 

Posted in Season Finders | 11 Comments »

Adam Wainwright

Posted by Andy on September 11, 2009

Check out all pitchers since 1901 to record at least 18 wins and an ERA+ of 160 or better in their age 27 season. (Wainwright is now 28, having had his birthday a couple of weeks ago.)

  Cnt Player            Year  W ERA+ Age Tm  Lg  G   GS CG SHO GF  L  W-L% SV   IP   H   R   ER  BB  SO   ERA  HR  BF   AB  2B 3B IBB HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB CS Pk BK WP   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  OPS+  Pit  Str
+----+-----------------+----+--+----+---+---+--+---+---+--+---+--+--+-----+--+-----+---+---+---+---+---+------+--+----+----+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+----+
    1 Adam Wainwright   2009 18  161  27 STL NL  30  30  1   0  0  7  .720  0 205   189  64  59  60 175   2.59 15  853  776 31  2   1   3   9   5  17   8  4  1  0  7  .244  .299  .347  .646    0 3186 2035
    2 Johan Santana     2006 19  161  27 MIN AL  34  34  1   0  0  6  .760  0 233.2 186  79  72  47 245   2.77 24  923  862 42  5   0   4   6   4  10   4  5  0  1  4  .216  .258  .360  .618   59 3450 2364
    3 Pedro Martinez    1999 23  243  27 BOS AL  31  29  5   1  1  4  .852  0 213.1 160  56  49  37 313   2.07  9  835  780 38  0   1   9   3   6  11  21 10  0  0  6  .205  .248  .288  .536   35
    4 Greg Maddux       1993 20  171  27 ATL NL  36  36  8   1  0 10  .667  0 267   228  85  70  52 197   2.36 14 1064  984 38  2   7   6  15   7  26  27  6  3  1  5  .232  .273  .317  .590   61
    5 Roger Clemens     1990 21  213  27 BOS AL  31  31  7   4  0  6  .778  0 228.1 193  59  49  54 209   1.93  7  920  847 35  5   3   7   7   5  11  14 14  2  0  8  .228  .278  .306  .584   60
    6 Ron Guidry        1978 25  208  27 NYY AL  35  35 16   9  0  3  .893  0 273.2 187  61  53  72 248   1.74 13 1057  969 34  5   1   1  13   2  15   9 14  2  1  7  .193  .249  .279  .528   50
    7 Steve Carlton     1972 27  182  27 PHI NL  41  41 30   8  0 10  .730  0 346.1 257  84  76  87 310   1.97 17 1351 1244 44  5   8   1   9   9  23  22 12  5  2  8  .207  .257  .291  .548   60
    8 Don Sutton        1972 19  161  27 LAD NL  33  33 18   9  0  9  .679  0 272.2 186  78  63  63 207   2.08 13 1061  984 34  4   1   4   5   4  18  15  4  1  1  9  .189  .240  .271  .511   51
    9 Luis Tiant        1968 21  186  27 CLE AL  34  32 19   9  0  9  .700  0 258.1 152  53  46  73 264   1.60 16  987  905 27  5   4   4   5   0  10   0  9  0  0  3  .168  .233  .262  .495   56
   10 Juan Marichal     1965 22  169  27 SFG NL  39  37 24  10  2 13  .629  1 295.1 224  78  70  46 240   2.13 27 1153 1092 30  6   4   4   6   4  19  14  5  1  0  2  .205  .239  .318  .557   59
   11 Gene Bearden      1948 20  167  27 CLE AL  37  29 15   6  4  7  .741  1 229.2 187  72  62 106  80   2.43  9  935                  3                        0  5                            0
   12 Walter Johnson    1915 27  191  27 WSH AL  47  39 35   7  8 13  .675  4 336.2 258  83  58  56 203   1.55  1 1305                 19                        0  7                            0
   13 Russ Ford         1910 26  160  27 NYY AL  36  33 29   8  3  6  .813  1 299.2 194  69  55  70 209   1.65  4 1141                  8                        1  5                            0
   14 Jack Coombs       1910 31  182  27 PHA AL  45  38 35  13  6  9  .775  1 353   248  74  51 115 224   1.30  0 1388                  7                        0 10                            0
   15 Christy Mathewson 1908 37  168  27 NYG NL  56  44 34  11 10 11  .771  5 390.2 285  85  62  42 259   1.43  5 1499                  3                        0  2                            0
   16 Ed Walsh          1908 40  163  27 CHW AL  66  49 42  11 15 15  .727  6 464   343 112  73  56 269   1.42  2 1799                  9                        2 10                            0
   17 Carl Lundgren     1907 18  212  27 CHC NL  28  25 21   7  3  7  .720  0 207   130  42  27  92  84   1.17  0  795                  2                        1  2                            0
   18 Doc White         1906 18  168  27 CHW AL  28  24 20   7  4  6  .750  0 219.1 160  47  37  38  95   1.52  2    0                  5                        1  5                            0
   19 Rube Waddell      1904 25  165  27 PHA AL  46  46 39   8  0 19  .568  0 383   307 109  69  91 349   1.62  5 1548                 15                        0  8                            0

Of course, Wainwright's ERA could rise before the end of the season and push him off this list, although his recent performance suggests otherwise.

This is one hell of a list to find yourself on. With the exceptions of Lundgren, Ford, and Bearden, these guys all had long and very productive careers. Some of the very best pitchers of all time appear as well.

Posted in Season Finders | 3 Comments »

200-20-20 with a Twist

Posted by Raphy on September 10, 2009

With the season winding down, a couple of players are in position to join the 200-20-20  (H-HR-SB) club, each  with an interesting twist. Hanley Ramierz is 19 hits short of becoming the second player in baseball history to post multiple 200-20-20 seasons. To date, the only player to have accomplished this was Vada Pinson who posted three 200-20-20 seasons.  Meanwhile, Derek Jeter needs 14 hits and 3 home runs to become the second oldest member of the club. Paul Molitor is currently the only player to put up a 200-20-20 season past the age of 32.

Here are all the 200-20-20 seasons sorted by age:

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Season Finders | Comments Off on 200-20-20 with a Twist

Bloops: Run Estimation for n00bs

Posted by Neil Paine on September 10, 2009

Over at Hardball Times, Colin Wyers goes through linear weights one step at a time, offering an explanation for those folks out there who have trouble understanding the point and/or significance of a run estimator.

Posted in Bloops | Comments Off on Bloops: Run Estimation for n00bs

Pujols in perspective

Posted by Andy on September 10, 2009

The career numbers for Albert Pujols are getting truly ridiculous. Let's try to put his career so far in some perspective. Keep in mind that the numbers below don't even include his 2-HR game from yesterday.

All stats below are 1901-present and for the first 9 seasons of a player's career.

Most HR:

  Cnt Player             **HR** From  To   Ages   G    PA    AB    R    H   2B  3B  RBI  BB  IBB  SO  HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB   CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Positions Teams
+----+-----------------+-------+----+----+-----+----+-----+-----+----+----+---+---+----+----+---+----+---+---+---+---+----+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+-----------+
    1 Albert Pujols       364   2001 2009 21-29 1377  5983  5063 1061 1690 379  14 1098  800 194  562  67   1  52 178   59  30  .334  .427  .630 1.057 *37/59D64 STL
    2 Ralph Kiner         351   1946 1954 23-31 1359  5866  4884  915 1373 203  39  961  946   0  703  24   9   3 118   22   2  .281  .400  .554  .954 *7/83     PIT-TOT-CHC
    3 Eddie Mathews       338   1952 1960 20-28 1330  5810  4894  929 1373 200  49  901  837  52  791  14  30  35  62   43  19  .281  .385  .549  .934 *5/7      BSN-MLN
    4 Adam Dunn           313   2001 2009 21-29 1268  5328  4342  773 1087 227   8  764  899  95 1411  62   2  23  65   59  20  .250  .385  .523  .908 *739/D    CIN-TOT-WSN
    5 Alex Rodriguez      298   1994 2002 18-26 1114  4972  4382  885 1354 255  16  872  472  27  869  57  16  45  94  160  43  .309  .380  .579  .959 *6/D      SEA-TEX
    6 Hank Aaron          298   1954 1962 20-28 1350  5868  5309  956 1697 292  73  991  463 106  515  20  19  57 145   72  32  .320  .373  .571  .944 *987/453  MLN
    7 Ernie Banks         298   1953 1961 22-30 1216  5205  4670  751 1355 210  59  858  452 116  577  29  10  44 103   37  39  .290  .353  .552  .905 *6/573    CHC
    8 Ken Griffey         294   1989 1997 19-27 1214  5262  4593  820 1389 261  24  872  580 142  755  33   6  50  87  123  48  .302  .381  .562  .943 *8/D379   SEA
    9 Ted Williams        293   1939 1950 20-31 1273  5764  4555 1164 1594 338  57 1135 1183   0  397  21   5   0 111   19  13  .350  .486  .642 1.128 *79/1     BOS
   10 Frank Robinson      291   1956 1964 20-28 1346  5735  4945  934 1501 285  45  896  628 111  689 100  13  49 122  148  48  .304  .390  .556  .946 *7938/5   CIN

Pujols is already #1 here. Wow. While Adam Dunn gets on here at #4, note that Pujols has batted more than 80 points higher over the same 9-year period and had an OPS more than 100 points higher.

Here's batting average, minimum 4000 plate appearances:

  Cnt Player              **BA**    PA  From  To   Ages   G    AB    R    H   2B  3B  HR  RBI  BB  IBB  SO  HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB   CS  OBP   SLG   OPS  Positions Teams
+----+-----------------+---------+-----+----+----+-----+----+-----+----+----+---+---+---+----+----+---+----+---+---+---+---+----+---+-----+-----+-----+---------+-----------+
    1 Ty Cobb              .368    4844 1905 1913 18-26 1143  4345  808 1600 248 125  47  751  344   0   31  41 114   0   0  449   0  .420  .515  .935 *89/74    DET
    2 Al Simmons           .358    5470 1924 1932 22-30 1240  5019  960 1796 343  98 208 1156  339   0  403  14  98   0   0   65  47  .400  .590  .990 *78/9     PHA
    3 George Sisler        .353    5258 1915 1924 22-31 1198  4791  826 1692 269 110  69  686  304   0  209  33 130   0   0  301  99  .396  .498  .894 *3/198745 SLB
    4 Rogers Hornsby       .351    4768 1915 1923 19-27 1119  4231  730 1486 243 114 116  721  415   0  364  32  90   0   0  104  49  .413  .545  .958 *465/3798 STL
    5 Ted Williams         .350    5764 1939 1950 20-31 1273  4555 1164 1594 338  57 293 1135 1183   0  397  21   5   0 111   19  13  .486  .642 1.128 *79/1     BOS
    6 Paul Waner           .348    6106 1926 1934 23-31 1351  5352 1023 1860 369 144  81  785  606   0  180  29 119   0  25   85   0  .417  .516  .933 *9/387    PIT
    7 Wade Boggs           .346    6084 1982 1990 24-32 1338  5153  912 1784 358  41  70  586  841 106  407  18  23  49 137   14  22  .436  .472  .908 *5/3D7    BOS
    8 Stan Musial          .346    5392 1941 1950 20-29 1218  4688  920 1624 343 115 174  815  652   0  235  24  28   0  93   49   0  .429  .580 1.009 9378      STL
    9 Lou Gehrig           .342    4762 1923 1931 20-28 1076  3946  937 1350 279 104 233  995  698   0  470  18 100   0   0   59  57  .443  .643 1.086 *3/97     NYY
   10 Bill Terry           .342    4321 1923 1931 24-32 1067  3883  692 1328 239  77 104  717  345   0  282   6  87   0   0   42   6  .397  .524  .921 *3/97     NYG
   11 Chuck Klein          .341    5333 1928 1936 23-31 1203  4837  950 1651 322  63 257  984  434   0  406  11  51   0  27   64   0  .397  .593  .990 *97/8     PHI-CHC-TOT
   12 Eddie Collins        .338    4294 1906 1914 19-27 1013  3616  702 1221 157  84  15  474  472   0   68  43 163   0   0  370  30  .420  .440  .860 *4/69875  PHA
   13 Todd Helton          .337    5424 1997 2005 23-31 1279  4560  924 1535 373  24 271  915  773 131  622  40   3  48 111   33  23  .433  .607 1.040 *3/79     COL
   14 Tris Speaker         .337    4551 1907 1915 19-27 1065  3935  704 1327 241 106  39  542  459   0   61  55 102   0   0  267  54  .414  .482  .896 *8/9137   BOS
   15 Heinie Manush        .335    4977 1923 1931 21-29 1194  4481  784 1502 306  95  72  698  298   0  218  52 146   0   0   84  46  .383  .494  .877 *78/93    DET-SLB-TOT-WSH
   16 Albert Pujols        .334    5983 2001 2009 21-29 1377  5063 1061 1690 379  14 364 1098  800 194  562  67   1  52 178   59  30  .427  .630 1.057 *37/59D64 STL
   17 Ichiro Suzuki        .333    6503 2001 2009 27-35 1403  6004  962 2000 224  67  81  506  405 140  583  42  24  28  43  339  78  .378  .433  .811 *98/D     SEA
   18 Joe Medwick          .333    5322 1932 1940 20-28 1227  5001  854 1667 383  93 162  959  273   0  412  21  27   0 125   30   0  .370  .544  .914 *7/89     STL-TOT
   19 Joe DiMaggio         .332    5585 1936 1947 21-32 1252  5015 1036 1663 294 100 264 1122  527   0  252  29  14   0  69   29   7  .398  .588  .986 *8/79     NYY
   20 Earle Combs          .330    5409 1924 1932 25-33 1181  4780 1006 1577 267 129  48  508  547   0  240  16  66   0   0   86  63  .401  .470  .871 *87/9     NYY

There's Albert at #16, ahead of Joe DiMaggio and a bit behind Eddie Collins and Tris Speaker. That's hard to believe.

Finally here's OPS+, again minimum 4000 PA's:

  Cnt Player            **OPS+**   PA  From  To   Ages   G    AB    R    H   2B  3B  HR  RBI  BB  IBB  SO  HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB   CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Positions Teams
+----+-----------------+--------+-----+----+----+-----+----+-----+----+----+---+---+---+----+----+---+----+---+---+---+---+----+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+-----------+
    1 Ted Williams         193    5764 1939 1950 20-31 1273  4555 1164 1594 338  57 293 1135 1183   0  397  21   5   0 111   19  13  .350  .486  .642 1.128 *79/1     BOS
    2 Lou Gehrig           182    4762 1923 1931 20-28 1076  3946  937 1350 279 104 233  995  698   0  470  18 100   0   0   59  57  .342  .443  .643 1.086 *3/97     NYY
    3 Ty Cobb              181    4844 1905 1913 18-26 1143  4345  808 1600 248 125  47  751  344   0   31  41 114   0   0  449   0  .368  .420  .515  .935 *89/74    DET
    4 Frank Thomas         174    5501 1990 1998 22-30 1236  4406  894 1416 281  10 286  963  989 120  675  32   0  74 137   25  15  .321  .443  .584 1.027 *3D       CHW
    5 Rogers Hornsby       174    4768 1915 1923 19-27 1119  4231  730 1486 243 114 116  721  415   0  364  32  90   0   0  104  49  .351  .413  .545  .958 *465/3798 STL
    6 Mickey Mantle        173    5409 1951 1959 19-27 1246  4478  994 1392 208  54 280  841  892  54  899   9  12  18  44   98  25  .311  .425  .569  .994 *89/645   NYY
    7 Albert Pujols        172    5983 2001 2009 21-29 1377  5063 1061 1690 379  14 364 1098  800 194  562  67   1  52 178   59  30  .334  .427  .630 1.057 *37/59D64 STL
    8 Stan Musial          171    5392 1941 1950 20-29 1218  4688  920 1624 343 115 174  815  652   0  235  24  28   0  93   49   0  .346  .429  .580 1.009 9378      STL
    9 Johnny Mize          169    5298 1936 1947 23-34 1251  4625  850 1517 287  78 257  971  620   0  386  34  19   0  69   22   0  .328  .411  .590 1.001 *3/9      STL-NYG
   10 Tris Speaker         166    4551 1907 1915 19-27 1065  3935  704 1327 241 106  39  542  459   0   61  55 102   0   0  267  54  .337  .414  .482  .896 *8/9137   BOS

Pujols has the 7th highest OPS+ since 1901 for the first 9 seasons of a career. That's pretty amazing, especially considering that he's done it during an era of offensive explosion. Remember that when we think back on the careers of these top 10 guys, we regard them as top extra-base hitters of their time, clearly well ahead of the pack. These days, it's so tough to be ahead of the pack because home runs are being hit at such a high rate. Nevertheless, Pujols has really separated himself from his contemporaries. Frank Thomas is the only other recent player on here and even he had the benefit of playing a few years prior to The Steroids Era.

Posted in Season Finders | 54 Comments »