Posted by Andy on March 23, 2008
...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.
Posted in Season Finders | 6 Comments »
Posted by Chris J. on March 22, 2008
In a recent column, Howard Megdal says of Johan Santana: "The Mets . . . haven’t had a pitcher of Santana’s caliber in roughly 20 years."
Let's check this against the Play Index - look at Mets starters from 1988-2007 who qualified for the ERA title. Here are the best seasons overall.
Santana has a career ERA+ of 141. In his last six seasons, he's had marks of: 149, 148, 182, 155, 161, and 130. It dropped last year, if you're wondering, because he allowed more homers than normal. Probably a fluke & Shea should reduce it further regardless.
Really, a few seasons are equal to Santana, especially Leiter's 1998, but no one can consistently bring it. Leiter's big season was partially caused by a flukishly small number of hits allowed. I know they had a good defense by 151 hits in nearly 200 innings just ain't normal unless you're striking out way over a batter an inning.
Saberhagen and Martinez had trouble staying healthy with the Mets. Mike Hampton only had one season there. David Cone was never anywhere nearly that good again for the team. Nor was Reed. Viola was below average his other season with the squad.
So the closest they've come to Johan Santana since Gooden flamed out is Al Leiter. Yeah, I'd say the Mets haven't had a starter like him in all that time.
Not an especially surprising conclusion, to put it mildly, but it's fun to look this stuff up sometimes.
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Santana & the Mets
Posted by Steve Lombardi on March 21, 2008
To answer the above question, I used Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index and I set the controls for:
Yankees, LHP seasons, 1957 to 2007
where Inherited Runners % =<.5 and
WHIP<=1.3 and
at least 80% games came in relief, and
at least 45 Innings Pitched.
and, this is the result of that query:
1959 Bobby Shantz
1960 Bobby Shantz
1961 Luis Arroyo
1962 Bud Daley
1963 Steve Hamilton
1965 Steve Hamilton
1966 Steve Hamilton
1967 Steve Hamilton
1968 Steve Hamilton
1969 Steve Hamilton
1970 Steve Hamilton
1972 Sparky Lyle
1973 Sparky Lyle
1974 Sparky Lyle
1976 Sparky Lyle & Grant Jackson
1977 Sparky Lyle
1981 Dave LaRoche
1982 Rudy May & Dave LaRoche
1984 Dave Righetti
1985 Bob Shirley
1986 Dave Righetti
1989 Lee Guetterman
1990 Lee Guetterman
1991 Steve Howe
1997 Mike Stanton
1998 Mike Stanton
2001 Randy Choate
2002 Mike Stanton
2003 Chris Hammond
Based on this, it's not a reach to say that, since 1957, the Yankees have only had two seasons, 1976 and 1982, where they had two effective left-handed relief pitchers in their pen.
That's an amazing stat - just twice since 1957. Or, so I thought...
...until I looked at the same sort for all big league teams, and this is what I found, in terms of teams with two or more effective lefties in the same season:
2006 NL N.Y. Mets Wagner / Feliciano / Oliver
2003 AL Tx. Rangers Shouse / Mahay / Erasmo Ramirez
1998 NL Pittsburgh Pirates Christiansen / Rincon / Tabaka
1997 AL Baltimore Orioles Orosco / Myers / Arthur Rhodes
1983 NL New York Mets Orosco / C. Diaz / Tom Gorman
2007 AL Seattle Mariners G. Sherrill / Eric O'Flaherty
2007 AL Toronto Blue Jays Scott Downs / Brian Tallet
2005 NL Philadelphia Phillies Billy Wagner / Aaron Fultz
2004 NL Philadelphia Phillies Rheal Cormier / Billy Wagner
2004 NL St. Louis Cardinals Ray King / Steve Kline
2003 NL Colorado Rockies Brian Fuentes / Javier Lopez
2002 NL Atlanta Braves Mike Remlinger / Chris Hammond
2002 AL Minnesota Twins J.C. Romero / Eddie Guardado
2002 NL Montreal Expos Scott Stewart / Joey Eischen
2001 AL Seattle Mariners Arthur Rhodes / Norm Charlton
2001 NL St. Louis Cardinals Steve Kline / Mike Matthews
2001 AL Toronto Blue Jays Pedro Borbon / Dan Plesac
2000 NL Colorado Rockies Mike Myers / Gabe White
1999 NL Atlanta Braves John Rocker / Mike Remlinger
1998 NL Houston Astros Billy Wagner / C.J. Nitkowski
1998 NL New York Mets Dennis Cook / Brian Bohanon
1997 NL Houston Astros Billy Wagner / Mike Magnante
1993 AL Milwaukee Brewers Jesse Orosco / Graeme Lloyd
1992 NL Atlanta Braves Mike Stanton / Kent Mercker
1991 NL Chicago Cubs Paul Assenmacher / C. McElroy
1991 AL Chicago White Sox Scott Radinsky / Ken Patterson
1990 NL Pittsburgh Pirates Bob Patterson / Bob Kipper
1989 AL Milwaukee Brewers Dan Plesac / Tony Fossas
1989 NL St. Louis Cardinals Ken Dayley / Frank DiPino
1988 NL Cincinnati Reds Rob Murphy / John Franco
1988 AL Detroit Tigers Willie Hernandez / Paul Gibson
1988 AL Milwaukee Brewers Dan Plesac / Paul Mirabella
1988 NL San Diego Padres Mark Davis / Dave Leiper
1987 NL Cincinnati Reds Rob Murphy / John Franco
1986 NL Atlanta Braves Paul Assenmacher / Ed Olwine
1986 AL Detroit Tigers W. Hernandez / Mark Thurmond
1986 NL Montreal Expos Bob McClure / Dan Schatzeder
1984 NL New York Mets Jesse Orosco / Tom Gorman
1983 NL Philadelphia Phillies Al Holland / Willie Hernandez
1982 NL Los Angeles Dodgers Steve Howe / Terry Forster
1982 AL New York Yankees Rudy May / Dave LaRoche
1982 NL San Francisco Giants Gary Lavelle / Al Holland
1981 NL San Francisco Giants Al Holland / Gary Lavelle
1980 AL California Angels Dave LaRoche / Andy Hassler
1978 AL Kansas City Royals Al Hrabosky / Steve Mingori
1978 NL Los Angeles Dodgers Terry Forster / Lance Rautzhan
1977 AL Kansas City Royals Larry Gura / Steve Mingori
1976 AL Kansas City Royals Steve Mingori / Larry Gura
1976 AL New York Yankees Sparky Lyle / Grant Jackson
1975 NL Philadelphia Phillies Tug McGraw / Tom Hilgendorf
1974 AL Baltimore Orioles Grant Jackson / Don Hood
1973 NL Los Angeles Dodgers Jim Brewer / Pete Richert
1972 NL Los Angeles Dodgers Jim Brewer / Pete Richert
1971 AL Oakland Athletics Darold Knowles / Jim Roland
1971 AL Washington Senators Joe Grzenda / Paul Lindblad
1970 AL Detroit Tigers Fred Scherman / John Hiller
1968 AL Boston Red Sox Sparky Lyle / Bill Landis
1967 AL Washington Senators Darold Knowles / Dick Lines
1966 NL Cincinnati Reds Billy McCool / Ted Davidson
1966 NL St. Louis Cardinals Hal Woodeshick / Joe Hoerner
1965 NL Milwaukee Braves Billy O'Dell / Dick Kelley
1965 NL Los Angeles Dodgers Ron Perranoski / Jim Brewer
1964 NL Cincinnati Reds Billy McCool / Bill Henry
That's just 63 times since 1957 - in all of baseball. Just goes to show, it's hard enough to find one good lefty for your pen...and, if you have two, you've got something special.
Posted in Season Finders | 3 Comments »
Posted by Raphy on March 20, 2008
Since 1957 no pitcher has started on Opening Day with less than 5 games experience. 2 pitchers, Steve Busby in 1973 and Jose Guzman in 1986, each started on Opening Day in their 6th career starts. Here is the list of pitchers who have started on Opening Day despite having less than 10 games of major league experience.
While no starter since 1957 has made his debut on Opening Day, there have been 14 starters who have made their debut in the second game of the season. Included in that list is Tom Seaver, who would then start the next 12 Opening Days and become the career(post 1957) leader in opening day starts.
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Inexperienced Opening Day Starters
Posted by Andy on March 20, 2008
Do you know which ML player had the highest salary in 2007? I was very surprised to see who it was.
Can you name to top 3 overall? Again, a bit surprising.
The answers are on this page (last category at the bottom of the page on the left.)
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Posted by Andy on March 19, 2008
Here's some nice trivia, courtesy of Tim Kurkjian. Rickey Henderson, Cleon Jones, Hal Chase, and Hick Carpenter are the only 4 players to play 1000 games and what?
(Bizarrely, Steve posted on this EXACT subject yesterday even though he and I didn't discuss it at all.)
Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments »
Posted by Steve Lombardi on March 18, 2008
Here's a fun fact: Using Play Index, and setting it for "For single seasons, From 1901 to 2007, Bats RH, Throws LH, Played 50% of games at C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, LF, CF, RF, DH, or OF, (requiring PA>=1), sorted by greatest number of players matching criteria " shows us that there's never been a big league team with three position players who Bat/Right and Throw/Left on their roster getting a PA in a the same season. Here's the teams with two guys like this in a season:
Year Lg Team Number Players Matching
+----+--+---------------------------------+------+-----------------------------------------+
2000 AL Seattle Mariners 2 Rickey Henderson / Brian Lesher
1998 AL Oakland Athletics 2 Rickey Henderson / Brian Lesher
1996 NL San Francisco Giants 2 David McCarty / Mark Carreon
1995 NL San Francisco Giants 2 Mark Carreon / David McCarty
1983 AL Oakland Athletics 2 Rickey Henderson / Kelvin Moore
1982 AL Oakland Athletics 2 Rickey Henderson / Kelvin Moore
1981 AL Oakland Athletics 2 Rickey Henderson / Kelvin Moore
1962 NL Houston Colt .45's 2 Carl Warwick / Bobby Shantz
1911 AL St. Louis Browns 2 Paul Meloan / Jim Murray
Posted in Game Finders | 4 Comments »
Posted by Chris J. on March 17, 2008
Cincy's the game's most historic franchise, in the sense that they are home to the first openly pro squad. Funny thing - they don't have a reputation for great players. Before clicking, try to answer the following: 1) who are the 5 winningest pitchers in Reds history, 2) how many Reds pitchers have won 100 games for the club, and 3) who are the 5 winningest pitchers the squad actually developed?
Here's their winningest guys.
If you're curious, with regard to the last question, it's #s 7, 9, 10, 11, & 12 who the Reds developed.
Kinda sad when Tom Browning is one of the 5 winnigest homegrown products of all-time, innit?
Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments »
Posted by Andy on March 17, 2008
Kurkjian noted that Jeff Kunkel went a long time at the beginning of his career without drawing a walk. Check out his gamelogs. He didn't get a walk until his 43rd game.
Here are all the players (except pitchers) who went their first 43 games without a walk:
Games Link to Individual Games
+-----------------+-----+-------------------------+
Herb Washington 43 Ind. Games
Julio Valdez 43 Ind. Games
Adam Stern 43 Ind. Games
Wally Shannon 43 Ind. Games
John Scott 43 Ind. Games
Alejandro Sanchez 43 Ind. Games
Chris Roberson 43 Ind. Games
Pablo Ozuna 43 Ind. Games
Ross Moschitto 43 Ind. Games
Miguel Mejia 43 Ind. Games
Don Mason 43 Ind. Games
Jeff Kunkel 43 Ind. Games
Darrin Jackson 43 Ind. Games
Herman Hill 43 Ind. Games
Edwards Guzman 43 Ind. Games
Tom Goodwin 43 Ind. Games
Cesar Geronimo 43 Ind. Games
Craig Gerber 43 Ind. Games
Marshall Edwards 43 Ind. Games
Brian Doyle 43 Ind. Games
Alex Diaz 43 Ind. Games
John DeMerit 43 Ind. Games
Javier Cardona 43 Ind. Games
Joe Cannon 43 Ind. Games
Rafael Belliard 43 Ind. Games
+-----------------+-----+-------------------------+
Games Link to Individual Games
+-----------------+-----+-------------------------+
Juan Bell 43 Ind. Games
German Barranca 43 Ind. Games
Jeff Abbott 43 Ind. Games
We know Herb Washington's story. He didn't have any plate appearances so he couldn't have gotten any walks. Tom Goodwin getting no walks didn't help much. Tough to steal bases when you can't get on base. Adam Stern's got 48 games and still no walks.
Posted in Game Finders | 1 Comment »
Posted by Andy on March 13, 2008
...and order and sanity are restored in the world of baseball statistics.
Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments »
