Quiz – Throwback Players (solved) |

The players in this quiz are mostly from yesteryear, with a couple of exceptions. What is the seasonal batting feat that distinguishes this group among players active since 1901?

Rk	Name
1	Ty Cobb
2	Honus Wagner
3	Max Carey
4	Eric Young
5	Tony Gwynn
6	George Case
7	George Sisler
8	Sam Rice
9	Tris Speaker

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 7/17/2014.

Bonus: name the player who is on pace in 2014 to join this group.

Congratulations to John Autin, with some help from Richard Chester and others. They teamed up to identify the quiz players as those with seasons of 50 stolen bases and 25 doubles, with doubles at least as numerous as strikeouts. That combination of speed, contact hitting and a little pop has become very rare with only two such post-war seasons, though Jose Altuve is currently on pace to join this group if he can keep his doubles total level with his strikeouts. More after the jump.

Here are those seasons. Part of the reason they’re so rare is that, with the exception of Young, players have needed black ink somewhere to record such a season. Thus, it’s not a surprise that Altuve is currently leading in hits and stolen bases.

Rk	Player	Year	SB	2B	SO	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	3B	HR	RBI	BB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	Pos
1	Eric Young	2000	54	40	39	33	CHC	NL	153	690	607	98	180	2	6	47	63	7	.297	.367	.399	.766	*4/H
2	Tony Gwynn	1987	56	36	35	27	SDP	NL	157	680	589	119	218	13	7	54	82	12	.370	.447	.511	.958	*9/H
3	George Case	1943	61	36	27	27	WSH	AL	141	660	613	102	180	5	1	52	41	14	.294	.341	.374	.715	*97/H
4	Max Carey	1923	51	32	28	33	PIT	NL	153	699	610	120	188	19	6	63	73	8	.308	.388	.452	.841	*8
5	Max Carey	1922	51	28	26	32	PIT	NL	155	732	629	140	207	12	10	70	80	2	.329	.408	.459	.868	*8/7
6	George Sisler	1922	51	42	14	29	SLB	AL	142	655	586	134	246	18	8	105	49	19	.420	.467	.594	1.061	*3/H
7	Sam Rice	1920	63	29	23	30	WSH	AL	153	687	624	83	211	9	3	80	39	30	.338	.381	.428	.809	*8/7
8	Ty Cobb	1917	55	44	34	30	DET	AL	152	672	588	107	225	24	6	102	61		.383	.444	.570	1.014	*89/H
9	Ty Cobb	1912	61	30	30	25	DET	AL	140	609	553	120	226	23	7	83	43	34	.409	.456	.584	1.040	*8
10	Tris Speaker	1912	52	53	36	24	BOS	AL	153	675	580	136	222	12	10	90	82	28	.383	.464	.567	1.031	*8
11	Ty Cobb	1911	83	47	43	24	DET	AL	146	654	591	147	248	24	8	127	44		.420	.467	.621	1.088	*8
12	Honus Wagner	1908	53	39	22	34	PIT	NL	151	641	568	100	201	19	10	109	54		.354	.415	.542	.957	*6
13	Honus Wagner	1906	53	38	31	32	PIT	NL	142	590	516	103	175	9	2	71	58		.339	.416	.459	.875	*6/95
14	Honus Wagner	1904	53	44	44	30	PIT	NL	132	558	490	97	171	14	4	75	59		.349	.423	.520	.944	*6/7384

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 7/18/2014.

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Mahogany

9 years ago

Hit .340 with 40 steals?
Bonus: Jose Altuve?

wlcmlc

Reply to Mahogany

Young topped out at .324

Lawrence Azrin

Reply to wlcmlc

#1,2;

…And Case’s highest BA was .320 in a 40+ SB year.

I do think it has something to do with stolen bases.

Richard Chester

Doug; I ran the PI for SB = 50+, SO less than 40 and HR between 7 and 10. I got a list of 7 names and they are all on your list. The name that did not show up was Sam Rice. So I figure I’m on the right trail, right?

John Nacca

HR + K X 2 = <SB, minimum 5 homers?

Author

Doug

Does not involve batting average or home runs.

Editor

John Autin

I tried 50+ steals, less than 50 SO, and SB at least 1.4 times SO. Got all nine listed players (and Altuve is on that pace) — but also 16 others not listed.

Reply to John Autin

I tried more than 50 SB, fewer than 40 SO and more than 40 XBH. I got all 9 players plus Harold Reynolds, Eddie Collins and Juan Pierre.

Reply to Richard Chester

But Altuve’s on pace for 49 SO — and if he’s not the one to join this group, who is?

Strikeouts and stolen bases are part of the answer. Plus one other stat.

Altuve is the one on pace to join the group.

I ran:
SB equal to or greater than 50
SO equal to or less than 40
Doubles greater than SO
I got the nine names plus Eddie Collins. Adding HR = 0 eliminates Collins.

Doug: Adding SLG equal to or greater than .370 works without considering HR which you said was not part of the answer. But now there are 4 stats involved, you said there were only three.

You’ve got the right idea. Doubles, SO and SB are the stats.

Just need to work out the query particulars a bit differently.

Reply to Doug

OK, it’s time: 50+ steals, less than 50 SO, at least 20 doubles (to knock out Collins 1917), and at least as many doubles as strikeouts (to project Altuve’s inclusion).

Close enough, JA. Well done.

The less than 50 SO is superfluous (since SO are constrained by doubles), and I used a 25 double minimum instead of 20 (any number from 19 to 28 works).