What distinguishes these eight players from baseball’s other greats? That’s for you to tell me when you find the career accomplishment that distinguishes these players from among all others?
| Rk | Name |
|---|---|
| 1 | Hank Aaron |
| 2 | Alex Rodriguez |
| 3 | Lou Gehrig |
| 4 | Willie Mays |
| 5 | Stan Musial |
| 6 | Jimmie Foxx |
| 7 | Ted Williams |
| 8 | Earle Combs |
Hint: the active player (assuming he can find work) who is closest to joining this group is Ichiro Suzuki.
Congratulations to David P, John Autin and bstar! They teamed up to identify that only these eight players had eight of more consecutive seasons scoring 100+ runs, and also had eight or more games in their careers scoring four or more runs. Those seasons and games are after the jump.
Here are the 100 run seasons for these players, each one including at least eight seasons consecutively (seasons lost to military service not counted).
| Rk ▴ | Name | Yrs | From | To | Age | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hank Aaron | 15 | 1955 | 1970 | 21-36 | Ind. Seasons |
| 2 | Alex Rodriguez | 13 | 1996 | 2008 | 20-32 | Ind. Seasons |
| 3 | Lou Gehrig | 13 | 1926 | 1938 | 23-35 | Ind. Seasons |
| 4 | Willie Mays | 12 | 1954 | 1965 | 23-34 | Ind. Seasons |
| 5 | Stan Musial | 11 | 1943 | 1954 | 22-33 | Ind. Seasons |
| 6 | Jimmie Foxx | 11 | 1929 | 1940 | 21-32 | Ind. Seasons |
| 7 | Ted Williams | 9 | 1939 | 1951 | 20-32 | Ind. Seasons |
| 8 | Earle Combs | 8 | 1925 | 1932 | 26-33 | Ind. Seasons |
And, their games scoring four or more runs.
| Rk ▴ | Player | #Matching | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lou Gehrig | 18 | Ind. Games |
| 2 | Alex Rodriguez | 15 | Ind. Games |
| 3 | Jimmie Foxx | 15 | Ind. Games |
| 4 | Ted Williams | 12 | Ind. Games |
| 5 | Earle Combs | 12 | Ind. Games |
| 6 | Willie Mays | 9 | Ind. Games |
| 7 | Hank Aaron | 9 | Ind. Games |
| 8 | Stan Musial | 8 | Ind. Games |
Charlie Gehringer just missed this group with eleven 4-run games and 7 consecutive 100 run seasons. Ichiro has a chance to join this group with one more 4-run game. Would be a nice way to cap a career, and it wouldn’t be the first time a 40 year-old has done so.
| Rk | Player | Age | Date | Tm | Opp | Rslt | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | ROE | BOP | Pos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dave Winfield | 42.237 | 1994-05-28 | MIN | DET | W 10-9 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 | DH |
| 2 | Ozzie Smith | 41.251 | 1996-09-02 | STL | HOU | W 8-7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | SS |
| 3 | Bob Thurman | 40.133 | 1957-09-24 (2) | CIN | CHC | W 11-9 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | LF |
| 4 | Reggie Jackson | 40.123 | 1986-09-18 | CAL | KCR | W 18-3 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | DH |
| 5 | Rickey Henderson | 40.103 | 1999-04-07 | NYM | FLA | W 6-0 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | LF |
| 6 | Paul Waner | 40.085 | 1943-07-10 | BRO | PIT | W 23-6 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | RF |
In the game at the top the list, Dave Winfield scored the walk-off run for the Twins in the 10th inning, and also scored the game-tying run in the 9th with none out, with Detroit escaping that frame with the bases loaded (Mike Henneman of the Tigers had come on for the save and ended up pitching all of the 9th and 10th innings to pick up the blown save and the loss).
Earle Combs is wondering how he was again ended up in such an august group: “I thought the Hall of Fame was for superstars, not just average players like me.”
What? This is facetious, yes, with the average?
6500 PA and a 19.6 WAA, from a Centerfielder?
This is not average.
Daryl Hamilton, he was average.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hamilda02.shtml
Easy, Voomo — That was an actual quote from Combs himself:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earle_Combs
Awww, poor Earle. Guess he hadn’t heard about WAR components in 1970.
Combs is one of a handful of players with 3000 PA to have a lifetime BA of .300+ after each and every PA of his career.
I was going to say 7+ consecutive seasons of 110+ runs scored but the statement about Ichiro seems to preclude that.
Well, at least Mays and Aaron didn’t do it either
On the right track
I’m going to guess that one of the criteria is at least 8 seasons of 100+ runs scored. Given the title of the quiz and the fact that Combs and Ichiro each have exactly 8 such seasons.
But I’m assuming there’s some sort of career component as well since Ichiro’s not yet part of the group.
??? In addition, they’ve all done something exactly 8 times:
Aaron & A Rod – 40 HR’s x 8
Lou Gehrig – .450 OBA x 8
Willie Mays – 165 OPS+ x 8
Stan Musial – 1.000 OPS x 8
Jimmie Foxx – .440 OBA x 8
Ted Williams – Led AL in BB x 8
This attempt to solve Doug’s riddle is what as known as a “stretch” or in some parlance a “reach”
Seems to me the key is what puts Combs in (the one non-power hitter) and Ichiro out. And what makes it challenging is that it’s a career accomplishment and Ichiro’s career was much longer than Combs’.
BTW, since we’re talking about runs and 8’s, Gehrig scored exactly 1,888 runs.
Dont know the answer.
Thought maybe it had to do with triples, but Alex Rod eliminates that.
Noticed, though, just how many XBH Jimmie Foxx had for a 9676 PA career.
Sorted by XBH, players with less than 8.75 PA per extra base hit:
1356 … (7.83) . George Ruth
1190 … (8.12) . Louis Gehrig
1122 … (8.71) . Manual Ramirez
1117 … (8.66) . Jimmie Foxx
1097 … (8.42) . Albert Pujols ?
1031 … (8.58) . David Ortiz ?
881 …. (8.71) . Joe DiMaggio
847 …. (8.45) . Juan Gonzales
791 …. (8.44) . Albert Belle
781 …. (7.81) . Hank Greenberg (best rate ever)
82 ….. (8.56) . Khris Davis ?
80 ….. (8.64) . Corey Dickerson ?
73 ….. (8.52) . Jose Abreu ?
17 ….. (8.65) . Rudy Pemberton
14 ….. (8.71) . Dave Staton
14 ….. (8.14) . D.T. Cromer
14 ….. (6.93) . Jorge Soler ?
11 ….. (8.64) . Andrew Susac ?
11 ….. (8.64) . Mark Funderburk
I think you just ruined Doug’s upcoming Mark Funderburk quiz. Way to go… 🙂
Besides Doug’s eight, only four others had 8 straight years of 100+ runs (since 1901):
— Mickey Mantle
— Frank Thomas (you know which one)
— Johnny Damon
— Ichiro
Testing if the runs threshold might be higher:
Aaron (in) had a low of 102 runs in his streak. Mantle and Thomas (both out) had lows of 104 and 102 in their streaks. So the basic criterion can’t be a higher threshold for the runs streak.
Also, Doug’s hint that Ichiro is the closest active player to “joining this group” implies that he actually has a chance to join the group. Ichiro had a low of 101 runs in his streak, as did Damon. This confirms the previous inference.
So it seems we’re looking for guys with 8 straight years of 100 runs PLUS another criterion — either another threshold for those specific seasons, or a career number.
Correcting myself: The second criterion can’t be another threshold for those same 100-run seasons, since Ichiro has a chance to join the group.
BTW John, right now you’re at exactly 5,555 comments! Crazy 5’s! 🙂
John – Since Arod is still active, it also implies that the other criteria can’t be lost (i.e., a ratio). Unless it’s a ratio that Arod is so far above it would be impossible for him to lose.
So it seems we’re looking for guys with 8 straight years of 100 runs PLUS another criterion
Absolutely correct.
Could it be 8 seasons of 100 runs plus 8 seasons of at least 30 doubles and triples in same seaon?
My answer works (Ichiro has only seven seasons with 30 combined doubles and triples) and the others have at least eight, though I doubt that was what you were going for.
Alas, robbs, Johnny Damon meets that extra criterion for all 10 of his consecutive 100-run years. Gotta keep the Caveman out of this one.
I think it has to be something unrelated to the the consecutive season string.
Like Ichiro breaking 600 career BBs or a certain amout of XBHs?
Something like that but it can’t be BB or XBH, he’s way behind Mantle. I thought perhaps it was a lifetime BA of .300 but Frank Thomas batted .301, Mantle and Damon were below .300.
The second part is doing something 8 or more times.
The something is strongly related to the first part.
Reaching base 230x in a season? nfw
It can’t be Times On Base, with or without errors. There’s no threshold at which Ichiro doesn’t have 8 seasons, while all of the targets do.
In trying to solve this I looked up Rickey Henderson. Didn’t have 8 straight seasons due to strike and/or injuries, buthe did have 13 plus 100 run seasons separated by 18 years (1980 to 1998).
I was leaning toward 8 OBP seasons of .360, but Mantle shatters that.
Doug, is it scoring 4 runs in a game at least 8 times, plus the 8 straight seasons of 100+ runs scored? I notice Ichiro has 7 games of 4 runs scored.
That’s it.
Good sleuthing.