The 2012 World Series has come and gone, with a number of players on both teams (Joaquin Benoit, Jose Valverde, Prince Fielder, Marco Scutaro, among others) making their World Series debut. Other players, though, have gone their entire careers without ever having a moment on baseball’s biggest stage. This piece is a tribute to those men.
Here’s an interesting set of players–these are guys with at least 20 batting runs, no more than 400 plate appearances, and a ratio between the two of at least 8 batting runs per 100 PAs.
| Rk | Player | PA | Rbat | Year | Tm | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | Pos | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kevin Mitchell | 380 | 36 | 1994 | CIN | 95 | 310 | 57 | 101 | 18 | 1 | 30 | 77 | .326 | .429 | .681 | 1.110 | *7/3 |
| 2 | Justin Morneau | 348 | 34 | 2010 | MIN | 81 | 296 | 53 | 102 | 25 | 1 | 18 | 56 | .345 | .437 | .618 | 1.055 | *3/D |
| 3 | Jim Thome | 340 | 32 | 2010 | MIN | 108 | 276 | 48 | 78 | 16 | 2 | 25 | 59 | .283 | .412 | .627 | 1.039 | *D |
| 4 | Hubie Brooks | 338 | 28 | 1986 | MON | 80 | 306 | 50 | 104 | 18 | 5 | 14 | 58 | .340 | .388 | .569 | .956 | *6 |
| 5 | Mark McGwire | 321 | 39 | 2000 | STL | 89 | 236 | 60 | 72 | 8 | 0 | 32 | 73 | .305 | .483 | .746 | 1.229 | *3/467 |
| 6 | Matt Williams | 318 | 30 | 1995 | SFG | 76 | 283 | 53 | 95 | 17 | 1 | 23 | 65 | .336 | .399 | .647 | 1.046 | *5 |
| 7 | Gary Sheffield | 274 | 26 | 1995 | FLA | 63 | 213 | 46 | 69 | 8 | 0 | 16 | 46 | .324 | .467 | .587 | 1.054 | *9/7 |
| 8 | Jack Clark | 249 | 22 | 1984 | SFG | 57 | 203 | 33 | 65 | 9 | 1 | 11 | 44 | .320 | .434 | .537 | .971 | *9/3 |
| 9 | Johnny Grubb | 243 | 20 | 1986 | DET | 81 | 210 | 32 | 70 | 13 | 1 | 13 | 51 | .333 | .412 | .590 | 1.002 | *D79 |
| 10 | Frank Thomas | 240 | 20 | 1990 | CHW | 60 | 191 | 39 | 63 | 11 | 3 | 7 | 31 | .330 | .454 | .529 | .983 | *3/D |
Pretty interesting, huh?
A few random notes:
With the Giants’ impressive sweep of the 2012 World Series, the National League claimed its third straight championship. The senior circuit has won each of the last three All-Star Games, affording its membership home field advantage in all three World Series. They’ve then vanquished their cross-newspaper rivals each time, only once playing enough games to render that advantage meaningful. That’s 15 wins and four losses for the small-ballers when it counts.
The only argument against the Nationals’ dominance is those pesky interleague games in the regular season, of which the burly sluggers have won 53.8% (407-349) since 2010. The message is clear: the American League is assembling the talent to compete its double-switching counterparts, but the junior circuit lacks the grit, hustle, and determination to win when it matters.
I recommend that the AL trade for Marco Scutaro this offseason. And see if they can get David Eckstein back.
Some folks keep writing that the Giants have gotten the breaks so far.
Breaks? Don’t break my heart!
I’m reading the biography Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball’s Super Showman, by G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. It’s quite enjoyable, if just a bit academic, and the quotes and main factual claims are thoroughly footnoted.
Because of a recent HHS thread about Tim Lincecum and Vida Blue, this passage in the book that touched on Blue’s amazing year in 1971 caught my eye: Continue reading
Including the postseason, the Giants have four 3-HR games at home this year. The last three have come in support of Barry Zito. In those three games, Zito has allowed 22 hits and 5 walks in 17.1 IP, but no HRs.
(Though beaten to publication by the New York Times and MLB.com, your humble narrator insists that he had the idea first. So there.)
Out of some 1,200 players who appeared in a MLB game this year, about 85 were born in Venezuela. Of the 15 who logged 400+ PAs this year, five will be fixtures in the World Series lineups:
Counting this year’s Yankees, teams starting 3 or more nonpitchers age 36+ in any LCS game have now lost 8 of 9 series, and teams doing that in more than one game have lost 7 of 8 series:
Eddie Yost, the aptly-dubbed Walking Man who was the Senators’ regular third baseman from 1947-58, died last week, three days past his 86th birthday. Obituaries ran in the Washington Post and the New York Times.
Yost hung up his spikes after 1962 as the all-time leader in games played at the hot corner with 2,008, having surpassed by 145 games the old record-holder, Pie Traynor; he now ranks ninth in that regard. He was fourth with 1,614 walks drawn (now 11th). From 1949-55, he played in 829 consecutive games, at that time the fifth-longest streak in MLB history (now ninth).
The Giants, owners of 19 modern pennants, and the Tigers (11) have never met in the World Series. And very few players have had good years with both teams: