One thing that the Yankees will not experience as a result of of Alex Rodriguez’s suspension for the full 2014 season: a dramatic drop in A-Rod’s games played at third base as compared to 2013. Alex only played in 27 games at third last season. Indeed, the guy who played the most games at third for the Yanks this past season was Jayson Nix, who himself appeared at third in only 41 games for the Yankees (Nix recently agreed on a minor league deal with Tampa for 2014).
It is extremely rare for a major league team to go a full season with no one player playing at least 42 games for them at third base. Before the 2013 Yankees, only five other teams have done that since 1901. After the jump, a look at those teams.
2005 Dodgers. Adrian Beltre had been the Dodgers’ primary starting third baseman every season from 1998 through 2004. Only Ron Cey has played more games at third for the Dodgers’ franchise than Beltre. After the ’04 season, Beltre signed with the Mariners as a free agent, and the Dodgers have been casting around off and on for a solid third baseman ever since, though they did get a solid year or two from Casey Blake and got a surprisingly valuable comeback season from the veteran Juan Uribe this past year. In 2005, in the immediate aftermath of Beltre’s exit, the Dodgers had six different guys start between 15 and 33 games at third. The player with the most innings played at third was a long-time minor-leaguer, Mike Edwards, who played only 14 more games in the majors after that 2005 season.
1950 Browns. The Browns’ regular third baseman after World War II had been Bob Dillinger, a .300+ batting average hitter who led the majors in both stolen bases and triples over the 1946-1949 period, and played in the All-Star game in 1949. But Baseball-Reference’s numbers suggest Dillinger was giving away nearly as much value with below-average defense as he was generating on offense, and the Browns may have agreed, as after his All-Star season in 1949 the Browns traded him to the Athletics. Without Dillinger in 1950, the Browns circulated through a different starting third baseman almost every month. Thereafter, the Browns franchise didn’t find a starting third baseman to rely on for long until they had relocated to Baltimore and Brooks Robinson became as close to a permanent fixture at third as anyone ever has.
1918 Red Sox. Larry Gardner had been a stalwart at third for the Red Sox from 1911 through 1917. To this day, Gardner trails only Wade Boggs in Wins Above Replacement accumulated by a Red Sox third baseman. Gardner also gave Boston the majors’ first-ever World Series-ending walk-off RBI (a sac fly off Christy Mathweson to clinch the 1912 Series). By 1918, however, Boston had decided Gardner was past his prime and Harry Frazee traded him to Connie Mack’s Athletics for a younger star, the first baseman Stuffy McInnis, who was in a salary dispute with Mack. The plan in Boston was apparently to use McInnis at third, but the Sox’ regular first baseman Dick Hoblitzell went into the Army (the First World War was on), which meant shifting McInnis to his natural spot at first. That left Boston scrambling for a reliable third baseman and they continued to do so for years thereafter.
1912 Tigers. Detroit’s regular third baseman both before and after 1912 was George Moriarty, who had some good seasons for the Tigers in the deadball era, and who later went on to manage the team and to umpire in the majors for many years. In 1912 the Tigers shifted Moriarty to first base, apparently to fill a hole over there and maybe also to kick-start Moriarty himself, who b-ref’s numbers suggest had a sub-par season in 1911. In any event, the experiment seemed to have left a gaping hole at third for the Tigers, and Moriarty was right back at third regularly in 1913.
1902 Orioles. The AL’s Baltimore franchise had player-manager John McGraw, as well as Roger Bresnahan and Joe Kelley, at third base in 1902, but McGraw jumped to the NL’s Giants part way through the season, and brought Bresnahan and Kelley, among others, with him. That season was the last with a major league team in Baltimore until 1954, as the Orioles’ spot in the AL was taken, beginning in 1903, by the New York franchise that the AL fervently sought to cement its major league status.
Nix led the team in time at 3rd base,
while he played more at another position (SS).
I thought of the Mets when I started reading this post. For most of their early (25 years or so)existence, an article in the winter/spring would appear in The Sporting News about how the Mets have solved their revolving door at third base with Charley Smith, Ken Boyer, Ed Charles, Amos Otis, Wayne Garrett, Bob Aspromonte, Joe Foy, Jim Fregosi. That’s just from about 1964 to 1972. The Dodgers went through a lot of ’em between Billy Cox and Ron Cey, too. They had to bring Jim Gilliam out of retirement twice to help win pennants in 65 and 66. John Kennedy couldn’t handle the New Frontier at the hot corner.
The problem with the Mets and third base is not that they had so many, it’s that they had so many BAD ones. The fates owed us David Wright.
Wayne Garrett was an underrated player for the Mets. He walked a huge number of times, a skill that was under-appreciated in that era. Also, Mets fans should not forget Howard Johnson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Johnson's), who was a very productive player for the team in the late 1980s.
Everytime the Mets’ struggles at third before David Wright, this comes to mind:
http://si.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1013219/1/index.htm
Wow, I butchered that… “before David Wright come up”
wx, thanks for that inspired piece by Steve Rushin. “Losie the Pooh,” indeed!
That SI piece is hilarious. But it is fair to note that as of the time the piece was written the Angels had employed more third basemen sine 1962 than the Mets. And the A’s, Rangers and Yankees were not far behind. Also Wayne Garrett was a good defensive player whose fielding percentage was above average.
In their first 10 seasons, the Mets had 8 players with at least 60 games in a season at 3rd base. That’s the second most in the period, behind the 9 players the Dodgers used (including Steve Garvey!)
is it just my impression, or is third base sort of a black hole position. Bill James comments at length in the NBJHBA—reference Robin Ventura—on the difficulties of three franchises, the Dodgers, the Mets, and worst of all, the White Sox, in filling the position over long decades. and I recall the Cubs having troubles there for years from the Fifties through the Nineties, minus the Santo era, not perhaps at the level this post suggests, but in putting a player in place who produced for more than a year or two.
I don’t have this impression regarding the other three infield positions, at any rate.
Well, the White Sox had Pete Ward, who gave them a few good years in the 1960s, and Bill Melton, who led the league in homers one season and was a pretty good 3B for a half-dozen years in the 1970s.
The Cubs of course traded away Bill Madlock after he won a couple batting titles in the mid ’70s. And Ron Cey in the ’80s was definitely on the downside of his career but was at least acceptable.
Between Santo and Madlock, for about a month in 1974, the Cubs employed trumpet-playing Carmen Fanzone at third base. He also performed the National Anthem prior to a game. Now that’s a Utility Player.
I certainly remember Carmen Fanzone. A name like that is hard to forget. He actually played part time for a few seasons with the Cubs, and wasn’t too bad in one of them. But generally as a 3B, he was a pretty good trumpet player.
In fact, he might have performed the Anthem more than once. I’m pretty sure I heard him do it.
The Cubs played a rookie at 3b for most of 1982:
Ryne Sandberg.
I think 3rd base is the hardest to fill because teams require both an offensive and defensive contribution from that player, whereas a dual contribution is only a nice to have for the other 3 infield spots.
Maybe you’ve solved the Pie Traynor enigma, Doug: For the length of his career Traynor hit well and fielded well, while all around him nobody but Willie Kamm in the other league came even close. In retrospect, therefore, the Pie looked delicious.
Supposedly, between Billy Cox and Ron Cey, half the draft-eligible males in Brooklyn and LA tried out for 3B with the Dodgers.
Fun find, birtelcom!
I checked the other infield positions, using the same standard. Here are the teams with no one logging at least 42 games at:
SS
— 1981 Twins
Strike year; Smalley started 37 of their 109 games, which projects to 55 in a full year, but he had lots of injuries so it’s hard to say how much of the missing games he’d have been able to play.
2B
— 1916 Pirates
This could be the all-time muddle at an infield position. The Buccos used SIX different 2Bs for 23 to 31 games each. The collective made 52 errors and turned 40 DPs.
— 1901 Giants
Ray Nelson played 39 games in a 140-G schedule, which projects to 43 G per 154. His .200 BA and 43 OPS+ were by far the best of the 3 guys they gave a regular shot at 2B; player-manager George Davis wound up using normal 3B Sammy Strang a lot at 2B.
— 1981 Cubs & Astros
More strike-year teams.
1B
— 1902 Orphans (Cubs)
— 1904 Naps (Indians)
— 1918 Tigers (a young Harry Heilmann led the brigade, with even Ty Cobb in on the act)
— 1981 Twins (their second appearance on these lists)
Nice follow-up, John. Continuing on the theme, no team since 1900 has gone a season without someone playing at least 42 games at catcher. Since 1900, the team with the fewest games played at catcher by the player the team used most frequently at catcher was the 1970 Phillies. That team used Mike Ryan in 46 games (but 42 starts) Tim McCarver at catcher in 44 games (all 44 as starter), Mike Compton in 40 games, Doc Edwards in 34 games.
Doc Edwards hadn’t played in the majors since 1965 and was working as the Phillies bullpen coach, but injuries to the team’s catchers led to Edwards being added to the active roster (he’d been a regular in AAA through 1969, so its not like he’d been out of competition for long). By 1973 Edwards was managing in the minors and continues (now at age 77!) to manage in independent pro baseball, since 2006 as skipper of the San Angelo Colts of what is now known as the United Baseball League.
Those ’70 Phillies tied a modern record by using 5 different catchers for 20+ games. The record’s now shared by 9 teams, lastly the 2013 Mariners. (I think Doc Edwards caught for them, too.)
The Mariners were the 8th modern team with no catcher logging more than 50 games. Most of those teams were awful — and then, there’s the 1902 Pirates, whose .741 W% is 2nd in modern history.
If you saw Henry Blanco play last year, the idea that he started 42 MLB games (and completed 33 of them) is painful to even imagine.
Only Bob Boone, Carlton Fisk and Rick Dempsey also have seasons with as many games started and completed at catcher, at age 41 or older.
Blanco had his moments, though. He became the 2nd-oldest (searchable) catcher to hit a grand slam, behind Fisk, and the oldest with 2 in one year.
Blanco was one of 3 players last year with a salami in a 4-0 win.
All 3 of his HRs last year followed a walk to a player hitting .213 or less.
No, John. Ruben Amaro has asked Doc Edwards to come back and catch for the ever-youthful 2014 Phillies.
That 1970 Phillies squad was about as bad as any non-expansion team I’ve ever seen-save the mid-2000’s/pre-Leyland Detroit Tigers. The Marlins don’t count since they’ll always be an expansion team
I read somewhere that the 2012 Padres featured three catchers with 50+ starts, making the them the first team with that dubious honor.
According to B-Ref, John Baker lead them with 63 games at Catcher, followed by Yasmani Grandal with 60 and Nick Hundley with 58. I just don´t know how to verify the number of starts of each one.
Luis: Hundley started 56 games, while Baker and Grandal started 52 games each. I looked at the 2012 game logs for each player and sorted by the “Innings” column; it’s easy to see from there how many games each started.
Thanks for the information and for the tip, RJ.
There’s an easier way. On B-R click on Teams, San Diego Padres, 2012, Other and Def. Line-ups. Scroll to the bottom and there are the results
Larry Gardner, mentioned above as being regarded as past his prime in 1917 by the Red Sox, went on to five more seasons that were nearly indistinguishable from the previous eight, including three years leading his Cleveland teammates in RBIs by a wide margin batting in the fifth position. Those Cleveland teams finished second, first, and second with Tris Speaker and a supporting cast of good to very good players. Besides Gardner, there were Steve O’Niell in his prime, Elmer Smith, Ray Chapman, Joe Sewell as Chapman’s replacement, Charlie Jamieson, Smokey Joe Wood in his outfield platoon days, and a pitching staff that was headed by Jim Bagby and Stan Covaleskie with the old Ray Caldwell and the young George Uhle in support.
A digressive comment, true, but it’s January.
My first thought with the problems at third base was the ChiSox, based in part on Richard Lindberg’s 1983 book.
http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/8827862
Birtlecom:
The Phillies just signed 40 yearo old Bobby Abreu coming off an impressive Venezuelan Winter Lesgue showing. Perhaps Scott Brosius is available?
1918 was a shortened year too, of course, by War, not a strike (those Red Sox played only 126 games, rather than 154). And it would appear that the 1918 Red Sox were the only team on the list (including the extended list to other infield positions) to overcome not having a regular third baseman and make the playoffs (in their case win the WS).
Thus, it’s sensible to position an buy on your specs through an web store.
It’s noticed that age-related macular damage could be the main reason for some of the cases of
low vision in old persons.