There have been 132 four-hit games in the post-season. Here are the guys to do it twice:

                   Games Link to Individual Games
+-----------------+-----+-------------------------+
 Robin Yount           2 Ind. Games                
 Bernie Williams       2 Ind. Games                
 Alex Rodriguez        2 Ind. Games                
 Brooks Robinson       2 Ind. Games                
 Mickey Rivers         2 Ind. Games                
 Manny Ramirez         2 Ind. Games                
 Paul Molitor          2 Ind. Games                
 Derek Jeter           2 Ind. Games                
 Steve Garvey          2 Ind. Games                
 Nomar Garciaparra     2 Ind. Games                
 George Brett          2 Ind. Games                
 Roberto Alomar        2 Ind. Games                

This accounts for 24 of the 4-hit games, meaning that 108 guys have done it exactly once. (Nobody has done it more than twice.) The full list, for those interested, is here.

As soon as I saw Paul Molitor's name, I was curious how far apart his two games were. Indeed, he had a 5-hit game in the 1982 World Series with Milwaukee and then a 4-hit game in the 1993 ALCS with Toronto. That's an 11-year gap.

For all the rest of the guys on the list, here is the gap between their 2 four-hit games (zero meaning that they did them both in the same year): Yount 0, Bernie 1, A-Rod 4, Brooks 1, Rivers 1,  Manny being Manny 8, Jeter 10, Garvey 10, Nomar 4, Brett 0, Alomar 1.

Wow, that's something isn't it? I find it amazing that 3 different guys have had 4-hit postseason games separated by a decade or more.

Over at The Hardball Times, I writing a series of articles on the Best Games Ones in World Series history, Best Games Twos, Best Threes, and so forth to go Game Seven.

Here's a fun fact I just found out in the process.  In Game 4, of 1947, Bill Bevens memorably had a no-hitter going with two out in the bottom of the ninth, when he allowed a double to lose the game, 3-1. 

Since 1957, out of nearly 200,000 regular season starts, there has only been 7 games where a team allowed 3 runs on 1 hit. 

None of those no-hitters  were broken up with 2 outs in the 9th.  None of the teams lost in the bottom of the 9th.  All those hurlers pitched in the majors again, whereas Bevens never did. 

(and to finish up the self-promotion, you can expect my article on the Ten Best Game Fours next week). 

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays traded Elijah Dukes to Washington today.

Using the PI Batting Season Finder, here are first-year players since 1901 who batted .200 or worse, ranked by most home runs:

  Cnt Player             **HR**   BA  From  To   Ages   G    PA    AB    R    H   2B  3B  RBI  BB  IBB  SO  HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB   CS  OBP   SLG   OPS  Positions Teams
+----+-----------------+-------+-----+----+----+-----+----+-----+-----+----+----+---+---+----+----+---+----+---+---+---+---+----+---+-----+-----+-----+---------+-----------+
    1 Elijah Dukes         10    .190 2007 2007 23-23   52   220   184   27   35   3   2   21   33   0   44   2   0   1   6    2   4  .318  .391  .709 /*8D79    TBD
    2 Kevin Roberson        9    .189 1993 1993 25-25   62   195   180   23   34   4   1   27   12   0   48   3   0   0   2    0   1  .251  .372  .623 /*978     CHC
    3 Matt Williams         8    .188 1987 1987 21-21   84   266   245   28   46   9   2   21   16   4   68   1   3   1   5    4   3  .240  .339  .579 /*65      SFG
    4 Franklin Stubbs       8    .194 1984 1984 23-23   87   245   217   22   42   2   3   17   24   3   63   0   3   1   0    2   2  .273  .341  .614 /*3978    LAD
    5 Jack Dittmer          7    .193 1952 1952 24-24   93   355   326   26   63   7   2   41   26   0   26   1   2   0   9    1   0  .255  .291  .546 /*4       BSN
    6 Dave Henderson        6    .167 1981 1981 22-22   59   145   126   17   21   3   0   13   16   1   24   1   1   1   4    2   1  .264  .333  .597 /*8*97    SEA
    7 Matt LeCroy           5    .174 2000 2000 24-24   56   190   167   18   29  10   0   17   17   2   38   2   1   3   6    0   0  .254  .323  .577 /*2D3     MIN
    8 Dave Hollins          5    .184 1990 1990 24-24   72   127   114   14   21   0   0   15   10   3   28   1   0   2   1    0   0  .252  .316  .568 /53       PHI
    9 Jeff King             5    .195 1989 1989 24-24   75   243   215   31   42  13   3   19   20   1   34   2   2   4   3    4   2  .266  .353  .619 /*3546    PIT
   10 Bill Bathe            5    .184 1986 1986 25-25   39   112   103    9   19   3   0   11    2   0   20   1   6   0   2    0   0  .208  .359  .567 /*2       OAK
   11 Jack Howell           5    .197 1985 1985 23-23   43   158   137   19   27   4   0   18   16   2   33   0   4   1   1    1   1  .279  .336  .615 /*5       CAL
   12 Ray Oyler             5    .186 1965 1965 26-26   82   217   194   22   36   6   0   13   21   3   61   0   2   0   9    1   0  .265  .294  .559 /*6435    DET
   13 Dave Nicholson        5    .186 1960 1960 20-20   54   133   113   17   21   1   1   11   20   0   55   0   0   0   2    0   2  .308  .345  .653 /*79      BAL
   14 Lou Limmer            5    .159 1951 1951 26-26   94   247   214   25   34   9   1   30   28   0   40   0   5   0   4    1   0  .256  .280  .536 /*3       PHA

So Dukes set a record this past year. This list is a mixed bag. The only big star is Matt Williams, but several other players had good careers, including Stubbs, Dave Henderson, Hollins, King, and Howell.

Here are first-year players since 1901 with OPS+ of 90 or less, again ranked by most homers:

  Cnt Player            **HR** OPS+ Year Age Tm  Lg  G   PA  AB  R   H  2B 3B RBI  BB IBB  SO HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Positions
+----+-----------------+------+----+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+
    1 Ray Jablonski       21     89 1953  26 STL NL 157 640 604  64 162 23  5 112  34   0  61   1   1   0  15   2  2  .268  .308  .427  .735 *5
    2 Alex Gordon         15     87 2007  23 KCR AL 151 600 543  60 134 36  4  60  41   4 137  13   1   2  12  14  4  .247  .314  .411  .725 *53/6
    3 Jose Guillen        14     82 1997  21 PIT NL 143 526 498  58 133 20  5  70  17   0  88   8   0   3  16   1  2  .267  .300  .412  .712 *9/8
    4 Bobby Higginson     14     87 1995  24 DET AL 131 486 410  61  92 17  5  43  62   3 107   5   2   7   5   6  4  .224  .329  .393  .722 *9*7/D
    5 Bob Schmidt         14     90 1958  25 SFG NL 127 432 393  46  96 20  2  54  33   5  59   3   1   2  19   0  1  .244  .306  .412  .718 *2
    6 Scott Hairston      13     83 2004  24 ARI NL 101 364 339  39  84 15  6  29  21   0  88   1   2   1   4   3  3  .248  .293  .442  .735 *4/79
    7 Harold Baines       13     86 1980  21 CHW AL 141 518 491  55 125 23  6  49  19   7  65   1   2   5  15   2  4  .255  .281  .405  .686 *9/D
    8 Brad Eldred         12     90 2005  24 PIT NL  55 208 190  23  42  9  0  27  13   0  77   3   0   2   5   1  1  .221  .279  .458  .737 *3
    9 John Buck           12     79 2004  23 KCR AL  71 258 238  36  56  9  0  30  15   0  79   0   4   1   6   1  1  .235  .280  .424  .704 *2/D
   10 Shea Hillenbrand    12     77 2001  25 BOS AL 139 493 468  52 123 20  2  49  13   3  61   7   1   4  12   3  4  .263  .291  .391  .682 *5/3D
   11 Craig Paquette      12     71 1993  24 OAK AL 105 409 393  35  86 20  4  46  14   2 108   0   1   1   7   4  2  .219  .245  .382  .627 *5/D7
   12 George Altman       12     85 1959  26 CHC NL 135 468 420  54 103 14  4  47  34   4  80   7   6   1   8   1  0  .245  .312  .383  .695 *8
   13 Gail Harris         12     81 1955  23 NYG NL  79 287 263  27  61  9  0  36  20   3  46   2   0   2   6   0  0  .232  .289  .403  .692 *3
   14 Bill Nagel          12     90 1939  23 PHA AL 105 374 341  39  86 19  4  39  25   0  86   2   6   0  15   2  1  .252  .307  .437  .744 *45/1
   15 Chris Truby         11     86 2000  26 HOU NL  78 279 258  28  67 15  4  59  10   1  56   5   1   5   4   2  1  .260  .295  .477  .772 *5
   16 Felix Torres        11     89 1962  30 LAA AL 127 491 451  44 117 19  4  74  28   5  73   4   4   4  19   0  0  .259  .306  .392  .698 *5
   17 Jake Wood           11     83 1961  24 DET AL 162 731 663  96 171 17 14  69  58   2 141   4   2   4   8  30  9  .258  .320  .376  .696 *4
   18 Harry Agganis       11     87 1954  25 BOS AL 132 493 434  54 109 13  8  57  47   0  57   0   7   5   6   6  3  .251  .321  .394  .715 *3
   19 Leo Norris          11     80 1936  28 PHI NL 154 644 581  64 154 27  4  76  39   0  79   3  21   0  18   4  0  .265  .315  .382  .697 *64
   20 Elijah Dukes        10     88 2007  23 TBD AL  52 220 184  27  35  3  2  21  33   0  44   2   0   1   6   2  4  .190  .318  .391  .709 *8/D79
   21 Tsuyoshi Shinjo     10     90 2001  29 NYM NL 123 438 400  46 107 23  1  56  25   3  70   7   4   2   8   4  5  .268  .320  .405  .725 879
   22 Julio Lugo          10     90 2000  24 HOU NL 116 465 420  78 119 22  5  40  37   0  93   4   3   1   9  22  9  .283  .346  .431  .777 *64/798
   23 Chad Allen          10     82 1999  24 MIN AL 137 523 481  69 133 21  3  46  37   1  89   2   1   2   9  14  7  .277  .330  .395  .725 *7/D9
   24 Jim Presley         10     78 1984  22 SEA AL  70 259 251  27  57 12  1  36   6   1  63   1   0   1   4   1  1  .227  .247  .402  .649 *5/D
   25 Jerry Willard       10     86 1984  24 CLE AL  87 275 246  21  55  8  1  37  26   0  55   0   0   3   6   1  0  .224  .295  .386  .681 *2/D
+----+-----------------+------+----+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+
  Cnt Player            **HR** OPS+ Year Age Tm  Lg  G   PA  AB  R   H  2B 3B RBI  BB IBB  SO HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Positions
+----+-----------------+------+----+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+
   26 John Bateman        10     71 1963  22 HOU NL 128 434 404  23  85  8  6  59  13   1 103   9   4   4   9   0  0  .210  .249  .334  .583 *2
   27 Cal Neeman          10     81 1957  28 CHC NL 122 445 415  37 107 17  1  39  22   5  87   3   2   3   8   0  0  .258  .298  .376  .674 *2
   28 Otis Brannan        10     79 1928  29 SLB AL 135 569 483  68 118 18  3  66  60   0  19   4  22   0   0   3  9  .244  .333  .356  .689 *4

Dukes is #20 here. Again this is a mixed bag. Harold Baines stands out as the class of this group, with a bunch of other productive players. All in all, though, it's not a great group.

We can't project Dukes' future based on 220 plate appearances. There's reason to be pessimistic, but the Nationals will be quite happy if Dukes has a career similar to Williams, Baines, or a number of other guys listed above.

Using the Team Batting Event Finder, I found all the cases where a batter reaching on error ended the game in 2007:

   Yr#    G# Date          Batter            Tm   Opp Pitcher           Score       Inn RoB Out Cnt Pit RBI Play Desc.
+-------+---+-------------+-----------------+---+----+-----------------+-----------+---+---+---+---+---+---+-------------------------+
       1   1 2007-04-03    Chris Iannetta    COL  ARI Jose Valverde     tied   3-3  b11 -2-   2 0-1   2   0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E5 (Ground Ball); Tulowitzki Scores/unER/No RBI 
       2   1 2007-07-26    Josh Fields       CHW  DET Zach Miner        tied   3-3  b 9 1--   0 1-1   3   0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E1 (throw) (Bunt); Podsednik Scores/unER/No RBI; Fields to 2B 
       3   1 2007-08-10    Cory Sullivan     COL  CHC Ryan Dempster     down   2-6  b 9 ---   2 2-2   5   0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E5 (throw) (Ground Ball); Sullivan out at 2B/2B-SS 
       4   1 2007-08-24    Kazuo Matsui      COL  WSN Jon Rauch         tied   5-5  b 9 -23   2 1-1   3   0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E6 (Ground Ball); Hawpe Scores/unER/No RBI; Torrealba to 3B 
       5   1 2007-09-17    Jason Bartlett    MIN  TEX Joaquin Benoit    tied   4-4  b 9 -2-   2 1-0   2   0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E4 (Pop Fly); Ford Scores/No RBI/unER 

The Rockies were the beneficiary of the error three different times, although only twice did they win the game. #3 on that list ended when Sullivan (the batter) reached on error and then was thrown out at second. I'm guessing he was trying to stretch, and with the Rockies down by 4 with 2 outs in the 9th, it was probably a bad play.

Just to see how often regular-season games end on errors, here is some data from the last few seasons, without further comment:

   Yr#    G# Date          Batter            Tm   Opp Pitcher           Score       Inn RoB Out Cnt Pit RBI Play Desc.
+-------+---+-------------+-----------------+---+----+-----------------+-----------+---+---+---+---+---+---+-------------------------+
       1   1 2006-05-01    Paul Lo Duca      NYM  WSN Gary Majewski     tied   1-1  b 9 12-   1 0-0   1   0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E1 (Ground Ball); Chavez Scores/No RBI/unER; Reyes to 3B 
       2   1 2006-05-06    Jason Kendall     OAK  TBD Tyler Walker      tied   2-2  b 9 -2-   2 1-2   4   0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E5 (Ground Ball); Payton Scores/unER/No RBI 
       3   1 2006-05-09    Bobby Abreu       PHI  NYM Aaron Heilman     tied   4-4  b 9 123   2 2-1   4   0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E1 (Ground Ball); Dellucci Scores/unER/No RBI; Rollins to 3B; Utley to 2B 
       4   1 2006-05-16    Damian Miller     MIL  PHI Ryan Franklin     tied   2-2  b 9 12-   0 0-0   1   0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E1 (Ground Ball); Hall Scores/No RBI/unER; Koskie to 2B 
       5   1 2006-05-20    Craig Monroe      DET  CIN Dave Weathers     tied   6-6  b10 1-3   2 0-0   1   0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E6 (Ground Ball); Guillen Scores/unER/No RBI; Young to 2B 
       6   1 2006-06-14    Jeremy Hermida    FLA  ATL Mike Remlinger    tied   5-5  b10 12-   0 0-0   1   0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E1 (Ground Ball); Abercrombie Scores/No RBI/unER; Aguila to 2B 
       7   1 2006-06-28    David Eckstein    STL  CLE Bob Wickman       tied   4-4  b 9 --3   2 1-0   2   0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E6 (Ground Ball); Miles Scores/unER/No RBI 

   Yr#    G# Date          Batter            Tm   Opp Pitcher           Score       Inn RoB Out Cnt Pit RBI Play Desc.
+-------+---+-------------+-----------------+---+----+-----------------+-----------+---+---+---+---+---+---+-------------------------+
       1   1 2005-04-16    Marco Scutaro     OAK  LAA Scot Shields      tied   0-0  b10 1--   0 0-0   1   0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E1 (throw)/Sacrifice Bunt; Swisher Scores/unER/No RBI; Scutaro to 2B 
       2   1 2005-05-22    Luis Rodriguez    MIN  MIL Matt Wise         tied   5-5  b11 123   1 0-1   2   0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E4/attempted forceout (Ground Ball); Ford Scores/No RBI/unER; Cuddyer to 3B; Stewart to 2B 
       3   1 2005-08-06    Nick Punto        MIN  BOS Mike Timlin       tied   3-3  b 9 -2-   0 0-0   1   0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E1 (throw)/Sacrifice Bunt; Cuddyer Scores/unER/No RBI 
       4   1 2005-09-18    Dave Roberts      SDP  WSN Joey Eischen      tied   1-1  b 9 12-   0 3-1   5   0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E1 (throw)/Sacrifice Bunt; Olivo Scores/unER/No RBI; Fick to 2B 

   Yr#    G# Date          Batter            Tm   Opp Pitcher           Score       Inn RoB Out Cnt Pit RBI Play Desc.
+-------+---+-------------+-----------------+---+----+-----------------+-----------+---+---+---+---+---+---+-------------------------+
       1   1 2004-05-26    Keith Ginter      MIL  LAD Duaner Sanchez    tied   1-1  b12 12-   0 1-1   3   0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E5 (throw)/Sacrifice Bunt; Jenkins Scores/No RBI/unER; Overbay to 3B 
       2   1 2004-06-22    Mark Loretta      SDP  ARI Mike Koplove      tied   1-1  b10 12-   1 0-1   2   0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E4/attempted forceout (Ground Ball); Greene Scores/unER/No RBI; Burroughs to 2B 
       3   1 2004-09-24    Mark Loretta      SDP  ARI Greg Aquino       tied   5-5  b 9 123   1 2-2   6   0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E5 (Ground Ball); Greene Scores/unER/No RBI; Vazquez to 3B; Payton to 2B 

My recent post on 35-year-olds showed that the top OPS+ seasons didn't include any 2B or SS, so I thought I'd list the top seasons since 1901 for each position, ranked by OPS+, for players over 35. (Note that my recent post was for exactly age 35, whereas this is for 35+.) Read the rest of this entry »

Best Pitchers from Age 25-28, 1950-2007, min. 700 IP - Baseball-Reference PI

It came up on Sox Therapy whether a six-year deal for Santana was a good deal or not. This only sort of deals with that, but here are the leaders in ERA+ from ages 25-28. You can look at the least and decide if you would have been happy with these pitchers for ages 29-34.

This isn't a stat post, but does relate to one of the features of the main B-R site. If you go to the search box on the main page (or any player or team page), did you know that you can shorten a player's name and still find him? Here's what I mean:

If you put in "mickey mantle" (without the quotes) it takes you right to The Mick's page.

But also if you put in "mick man" it also takes you to his page, because he's the only player with a first and last name combo that starts with those combinations of letters.

But if you put in "mickey ma", you actually get two players back: Mickey Mantle and Mickey Mahler.

If you do something silly like put in "mi ma", you get 176 hits.

I'm curious to find the fewest number of letters anybody can find tht gives the results of just one player (or umpire, manager, official, etc.) For example, I started with a guess of "x h", think of Xavier Hernandez.  But that also brings up both Fran Healy and his uncle Francis Healy, both of whom had the middle name of Xavier. If you do "x x", you do get just one player: Xavier Rescigno, who comes up because his nickname was Mr. X, and the nickname is also queried when you search by name. (By the way, if you search by "mr", you get all the players who had a "Mr" nickname such as Mr. October (Reggie), Mr. November (Jeter), Mr. Angel (Tim Salmon), Mr. Chips (Johnny Hudson), Mr. Cub (If I need to tell you who that is, then you might as well stop reading this blog altogether,) not to mention Ron Mrozinski.

I think there are probably lots of two-letter initials that can yield just one player. My challenge is: can you find two consecutive letters that yield just one player? For example, "yaz" yields just Carl Yastrzemski (even though Yaz is just his nickname and his last name actually starts with "Yas".) But "ya" yields 89 players.

Who can you find uniquely using just two consecutive letters?

He just got traded by the Mets to the Nationals. 

Last year, at age 22, while playing part-time in the outfield, he posted an OPS+ of 105.  Using the PI feature, you can find simillar players.

 Let's look for 22-year-olds who had an OPS+ between 100 and 110 while having 150-300 PA.  Turns out, Milledge was only the sixth player to do it.  I don't know why so many players there are moderns, but it's interesting.  Not a bad set of comps, really.  A Hall of Fame slamdunk, a man who has a shot if he ages well, two guys who flamed out and a man who only played because of the Federal League. 

Chipper Jones and Jorge Posada just completed excellent seasons, both being 35 years old.

Here are all seasons since 1901 for 35-year-olds with OPS+ of 150 or better, minimum 500 PA:

  Cnt Player            **OPS+**  PA Year Age Tm  Lg  G   AB  R   H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB IBB  SO HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Positions
+----+-----------------+--------+---+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+
    1 Babe Ruth            211   676 1930  35 NYY AL 145 518 150 186 28  9 49 153 136   0  61   1  21   0   0  10 10  .359  .493  .732 1.225 *97/1
    2 Ted Williams         201   526 1954  35 BOS AL 117 386  93 133 23  1 29  89 136   0  32   1   0   3  10   0  0  .345  .513  .635 1.148 *7
    3 Nap Lajoie           199   677 1910  35 CLE AL 159 591  94 227 51  7  4  76  60   0   0   5  21   0   0  26  0  .384  .445  .514  .959 *43
    4 Barry Bonds          188   607 2000  35 SFG NL 143 480 129 147 28  4 49 106 117  22  77   3   0   7   6  11  3  .306  .440  .688 1.128 *7
    5 Tris Speaker         182   693 1923  35 CLE AL 150 574 133 218 59 11 17 130  93   0  15   4  22   0   0   8  9  .380  .469  .610 1.079 *8
    6 Mark McGwire         177   661 1999  35 STL NL 153 521 118 145 21  1 65 147 133  21 141   2   0   5  12   0  0  .278  .424  .697 1.121 *3
    7 Hank Aaron           177   639 1969  35 ATL NL 147 547 100 164 30  3 44  97  87  19  47   2   0   3  14   9 10  .300  .396  .607 1.003 *9/3
    8 Honus Wagner         176   591 1909  35 PIT NL 137 495  92 168 39 10  5 100  66   0   0   3  27   0   0  35  0  .339  .420  .489  .909 *6/7
    9 Ty Cobb              170   612 1922  35 DET AL 137 526  99 211 42 16  4  99  55   0  24   4  27   0   0   9 13  .401  .462  .565 1.027 *8/9
   10 Chipper Jones        166   600 2007  35 ATL NL 134 513 108 173 42  4 29 102  82  10  75   0   0   5  21   5  1  .337  .425  .604 1.029 *5/D6
   11 Hank Greenberg       163   604 1946  35 DET AL 142 523  91 145 29  5 44 127  80   0  88   0   1   0  17   5  1  .277  .373  .604  .977 *3
   12 Lefty O'Doul         163   657 1932  35 BRO NL 148 595 120 219 32  8 21  90  50   0  20   7   5   0   0  11  0  .368  .423  .555  .978 *7
   13 Jack Fournier        161   649 1925  35 BRO NL 145 545  99 191 21 16 22 130  86   0  39   8  10   0   0   4  6  .350  .446  .569 1.015 *3
   14 Edgar Martinez       158   672 1998  35 SEA AL 154 556  86 179 46  1 29 102 106   4  96   3   0   7  13   1  1  .322  .429  .565  .994 *D/3
   15 Dwight Evans         156   657 1987  35 BOS AL 154 541 109 165 37  2 34 123 106   6  98   3   0   7  10   4  6  .305  .417  .569  .986 *3*9/D
   16 Johnny Mize          156   658 1948  35 NYG NL 152 560 110 162 26  4 40 125  94   0  37   4   0   0   7   4  0  .289  .395  .564  .959 *3
   17 Jim Thome            155   610 2006  35 CHW AL 143 490 108 141 26  0 42 109 107  12 147   6   0   7   4   0  0  .288  .416  .598 1.014 *D/3
   18 Jorge Posada         154   589 2007  35 NYY AL 144 506  91 171 42  1 20  90  74   7  98   6   0   3  18   2  0  .338  .426  .543  .969 *2/D3
   19 Frank Robinson       153   545 1971  35 BAL AL 133 455  82 128 16  2 28  99  72  11  62   9   1   8  21   3  0  .281  .384  .510  .894 *93/7
   20 Joe DiMaggio         151   606 1950  35 NYY AL 139 525 114 158 33 10 32 122  80   0  33   1   0   0  14   0  0  .301  .394  .585  .979 *8/3
   21 Tommy Henrich        151   673 1948  35 NYY AL 146 588 138 181 42 14 25 100  76   0  42   4   5   0  14   2  3  .308  .391  .554  .945 *93/78
   22 Larry Walker         150   553 2002  35 COL NL 136 477  95 161 40  4 26 104  65   6  73   7   0   4   8   6  5  .338  .421  .602 1.023 *9/D
   23 Al Oliver            150   687 1982  35 MON NL 160 617  90 204 43  2 22 109  61  15  59   4   1   4  11   5  2  .331  .392  .514  .906 *3
   24 Mickey Mantle        150   553 1967  35 NYY AL 144 440  63 108 17  0 22  55 107   7 113   1   0   5   9   1  1  .245  .391  .434  .825 *3

Chipper is 10th all time and Posada is 18th. Here's the interesting thing I noticed: if you check out the positions, 15 out of the 24 played at least a game at first base. However, Chipper is the only guy to play even a single game at third base, and Jorge is the only guy to play even a single game at catcher.

Readers, I ask for some help with this one.

Reader jackfish and I have been having a conversation about Orel Hershiser's record 59-inning scoreless streak, and neither of us can come up with the answer.

First, over on my comments page, Jack posted the following:

"I have been having a hard time following this & thought maybe you could help me. I have recently been reading about Orel Hershier & his 59 game streak of pitching scoreless baseball. I have read a number of books and web articles stating that the record stands at 59 consecutive scoreless innings. A number of sources all agree on this. No matter how I add it up I get 60 consecutive innings not 59. The last time he gave up a run was on 8-30. It was in the bottom of the 5th with two men out (which starts him off with 4 1/3 innings). Then he pitched five consecutive nine inning shutouts & finally ten innings of scoreless ball on 9-28. Thats 4 1/3 + 45 + 10 = 59 1/3. Then on April 5, 1989, he got two men out before giving up a run in the first inning to the Reds. Thats another 2/3 of an inning. shouldn’t his streak stand at 60 innings & not 59? Is this something that has been overlooked for nearly 20 years or is my math incorrect?"

Let me point PI subscribers to Hershiser's Game Logs for 1988. The streak started on August 30th. Also, let me remind you that Hershiser pitched some scoreless innings in the 1988 postseason that don't count for this streak.

Now, also posted on my comments page, here is my answer for Jack:

"It took some effort, but I figured it out. Hershiser’s streak is, for some reason, counted by full innings only. In other words, he is credit with 4 innings (not 4.1) in the Aug 30 1988 game, then 55 more innings in 1988. Then, his 1989 debut game gets credited as 0 innings since he gave up a run in the first.

Given that, I don’t know why Drysdale’s streak included partial innings. I don’t know if baseball made a new ruling about it or what.

To me, none of the streaks should include partial innings, given that outs in those innings may have contributed to run-scoring by advancing runners or even scoring runners."

I am of course making reference to Don Drysdale's streak, which was the previous record. In most places, I see it credited as 58 2/3 innings, which is why I wondered above about the distinction of partial innings vs. full innings. However, I have seen one or two places that say Drysdale's streak was 58 innings which, if the official record prior to Hershiser's streak, I think would give a consistent explanation.

Today Jack came back at me with this:

"I have been researching the Orel Hershiser streak for the last few days and I still can not find any rule change that would suggest partial innings pitched not being counted towards the streak."

To me, this is one of the problems with the internet. If you search about Hershiser's streak or Drysdale's streak, you can find lots of information. Little of it, however, is necessarily correct in view of MLB rules for scoreless streaks.

Somebody out there must know, though, the official MLB rules, what the official streak numbers are for Hershiser and Drysdale, and whether there was ever a rule change. Let's hear it.